 My name is Milena Georgieva and I am an associate professor in molecular biology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. I'm also lead editor at the cover of scientific journals and review it to many more. When we talk about academic papers, we are always puzzled by what type of academic paper should we choose, what structure should we input in it and how we will organize the content. There are different types of papers and there are more than 15-20 types, but when we refer to the research paper, we have to be aware that this is one of the most common types of papers that all of us have to write at a certain time of our academic career. What's important in the research paper is that it has a very specific structure. A specific structure that should be kept no matter what are the requirements of the journal because these structures are obligatory and the requirements of the journal can just mix them or can add it to the content or the length of it. But each research paper starts with an abstract and an introduction part. And we may think that they are very much similar. We have to be aware that they have different content, different length and different structure. And there are the first steps, introductory steps for the reader to our own research paper. And they are the most representative sections which help the reader understand whether he will continue to read our work or he will stop. I call them the business card of our research paper. Mainly this is relevant and true for the abstract. So what is the abstract? What content it contains and what is its structure? Questions which are very important because we start writing our paper with our research idea, but we also have to structure it in a perfect way. And the abstract is exactly this one paragraph which is in length no more than 250 words, which is very important. And in this small in size paragraph we are supposed to write the whole scientific idea that we work on. Also to present our research approaches and experimental ideas. And also to throw some of the descriptions of our main results and draw conclusions. Just imagine how in one paragraph this should be done. Well, first we need a plan, it's very important to have a plan and know what kind of abstract one is supposed to write. Because abstracts can be different types. They can be structured and they can be unstructured. This very much depends on the requirements of the journal and we should definitely refute these requirements before we start writing. The unstructured abstract is no more than 100, 150 words. It does not have any outline sections like introduction, materials and methods etc. But it is only one whole paragraph in which the first sentence is just briefly describe the scientific problem. Then we have the scientific research ideas and tasks that we set because we would like to address a specific research question. It should be addressed in the abstract. Then we provide some experimental and methodological approaches in order to prove the reader that these are some innovative novel methods that can fill the gaps in the scientific research that we would like to address. And then we draw our conclusions and present our results and also draw future perspectives. And this should be done in one paragraph very briefly, very neatly in a language that is easily comprehensible by the reader. Well, when we talk about structured abstracts we should know that they have specific outlines as sections. And the first one is the introduction part which is one to sentences briefly introducing the reader to the scientific topic. Then follow the section, the specific type of the problem which is one to three sentences that introduces the reader again into the specific research problem that we address with our work. Then follow the materials and methods that we use in order to approach and challenge the research gaps that we would like to fill with our research. Then we have the results very briefly and also we have the conclusion part which is very well neatly written in the type or in the form of only one sentence. So this is the structured abstract and it should be no more than 250 words, but again it depends on the requirements of the journal. So bear with this in mind when you start to write your abstract, first make a plan of your research, then decide what kind of an abstract you are supposed to write, whether it will be structured or unstructured. Then make a plan and decide what kind of sentences and content you will input in those sections in order to build a truly meaningful, neatly written and easily comprehensible abstract. Because the abstract is the business card of your research and this is the first thing that the reader reads while he is browsing around the scientific literature looking for a certain research. First we see the title, second we read the abstract and then we decide whether we shall proceed with reading and investigating the whole research paper. So this is very challenging to write it well, neatly and at the same time descriptively enough and also attractive for the reader.