Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40599667›Full record

ArticlePaediatrics & child health2025

Will ChatGPT-4 improve the quality of medical abstracts?

Jocelyn Gravel, Chloé Dion, Mandana Fadaei Kermani, Sarah Mousseau, Esli Osmanlliu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Paediatrics & child health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jocelyn GravelDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5901-4990
Chloé DionFaculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec.
Mandana Fadaei KermaniFaculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec.
Sarah MousseauDepartment of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3677-7116
Esli OsmanlliuDivision of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montréal, Québec.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5590-8866

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: ChatGPT received attention for medical writing. Our objective was to evaluate whether ChatGPT 4.0 could improve the quality of abstracts submitted to a medical conference by clinical researchers. Methods: This was an experimental study involving 24 international researchers (the participants) who provided one original abstract intended for submission at the 2024 Pediatric Academic Society (PAS) conference. We asked ChatGPT-4 to improve the quality of the abstract while adhering to PAS submission guidelines. Participants received the revised version and were tasked with creating a final abstract. The quality of each version (original, ChatGPT and final) was evaluated by the participants themselves using a numeric scale (0-100). Additionally, three co-investigators assessed abstracts blinded to the version. The primary analysis focused on the mean difference in scores between the final and original abstracts. Results: Abstract quality varied between the three versions with mean scores of 82, 65 and 90 for the original, ChatGPT and final versions, respectively. Overall, the final version displayed significantly improved quality compared to the original (mean difference 8.0 points; 95% CI: 5.6-10.3). Independent ratings by the co-investigators confirmed statistically significant improvements (mean difference 1.10 points; 95% CI: 0.54-1.66). Participants identified minor (n = 10) and major (n = 3) factual errors in ChatGPT's abstracts. Conclusion: ChatGPT 4.0 does not produce abstracts of better quality than the one crafted by researchers but it offers suggestions to help them improve their abstracts. It may be more useful for researchers encountering challenges in abstract generation due to limited experience or language barriers.

Indexed as

ChatGPTEditingMedical informatics

Identifiers

PMID40599667
PMCPMC12208364

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.