difference between abstract and introduction research paper

• Manuscript Preparation

Differentiating between the abstract and the introduction of a research paper

• 3 minute read
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While writing a manuscript for the first time, you might find yourself confused about the differences between an abstract and the introduction. Both are adjacent sections of a research paper and share certain elements. However, they serve entirely different purposes. So, how does one ensure that these sections are written correctly?

Knowing the intended purpose of the abstract and the introduction is a good start!

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a very short summary of all the sections of your research paper—the introduction, objectives, materials and methods, results, and conclusion. It ends by emphasising the novelty or relevance of your study, or by posing questions for future research. The abstract should cover all important aspects of the study, so that the reader can quickly decide if the paper is of their interest or not.

In simple terms, just like a restaurant’s menu that provides an overview of all available dishes, an abstract gives the reader an idea of what the research paper has to offer. Most journals have a strict word limit for abstracts, which is usually 10% of the research paper.

What is the purpose of an abstract?

The abstract should ideally induce curiosity in the reader’s mind and contain strategic keywords. By generating curiosity and interest, an abstract can push readers to read the entire paper or buy it if it is behind a paywall. By using keywords strategically in the abstract, authors can improve the chances of their paper appearing in online searches.

What is an introduction?

The introduction is the first section in a research paper after the abstract, which describes in detail the background information that is necessary for the reader to understand the topic and aim of the study.

What is the purpose of an introduction?

The introduction points to specific gaps in knowledge and explains how the study addresses these gaps. It lists previous studies in a chronological order, complete with citations, to explain why the study was warranted.

A good introduction sets the context for your study and clearly distinguishes between the knowns and the unknowns in a research topic.

Often, the introduction mentions the materials and methods used in a study and outlines the hypotheses tested. Both the abstract and the introduction have this in common. So, what are the key differences between the two sections?

Key differences between an abstract and the introduction:

• The word limit for an abstract is usually 250 words or less. In contrast, the typical word limit for an introduction is 500 words or more.
• When writing the abstract, it is essential to use keywords to make the paper more visible to search engines. This is not a significant concern when writing the introduction.
• The abstract features a summary of the results and conclusions of your study, while the introduction does not. The abstract, unlike the introduction, may also suggest future directions for research.
• While a short review of previous research features in both the abstract and the introduction, it is more elaborate in the latter.
• All references to previous research in the introduction come with citations. The abstract does not mention specific studies, although it may briefly outline previous research.
• The abstract always comes before the introduction in a research paper.
• Every paper does not need an abstract. However, an introduction is an essential component of all research papers.

If you are still confused about how to write the abstract and the introduction of your research paper while accounting for the differences between them, head over to Elsevier Author Services . Our experts will be happy to guide you throughout your research journey, with useful advice on how to write high quality research papers and get them published in reputed journals!

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Abstract vs. Introduction—What’s the Difference?

3-minute read

• 21st February 2022

If you’re a student who’s new to research papers or you’re preparing to write your dissertation , you might be wondering what the difference is between an abstract and an introduction.

Both serve important purposes in a research paper or journal article , but they shouldn’t be confused with each other. We’ve put together this guide to help you tell them apart.

What’s an Introduction?

In an academic context, an introduction is the first section of an essay or research paper. It should provide detailed background information about the study and its significance, as well as the researcher’s hypotheses and aims.

But the introduction shouldn’t discuss the study’s methods or results. There are separate sections for this later in the paper.

An introduction must correctly cite all sources used and should be about four paragraphs long, although the exact length depends on the topic and the style guide used.

What’s an Abstract?

While the introduction is the first section of a research paper, the abstract is a short summary of the entire paper. It should contain enough basic information to allow you to understand the content of the study without having to read the entire paper.

The abstract is especially important if the paper isn’t open access because it allows researchers to sift through many different studies before deciding which one to pay for.

Since the abstract contains only the essentials, it’s usually much shorter than an introduction and normally has a maximum word count of 200–300 words. It also doesn’t contain citations.

The exact layout of an abstract depends on whether it’s structured or unstructured. Unstructured abstracts are usually used in non-scientific disciplines, such as the arts and humanities, and usually consist of a single paragraph.

Structured abstracts, meanwhile, are the most common form of abstract used in scientific papers. They’re divided into different sections, each with its own heading. We’ll take a closer look at structured abstracts below.

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Structuring an Abstract

A structured abstract contains concise information in a clear format with the following headings:

●  Background: Here you’ll find some relevant information about the topic being studied, such as why the study was necessary.

●  Objectives: This section is about the goals the researcher has for the study.

●  Methods: Here you’ll find a summary of how the study was conducted.

●  Results: Under this heading, the results of the study are presented.

●  Conclusions: The abstract ends with the researcher’s conclusions and how the study can inform future research.

Each of these sections, however, should contain less detail than the introduction or other sections of the main paper.

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Abstract Vs. Introduction — Do you know the difference?

Ross wants to publish his research. Feeling positive about his research outcomes, he begins to draft his manuscript. After completing the abstract, he proceeds to write the introduction. That’s when he pauses in confusion. Do the abstract and introduction mean the same? How is the content for both the sections different?

This is a dilemma faced by several young researchers while drafting their first manuscript. An  abstract  is similar to a summary except that it is more concise and direct. Whereas, the  introduction  section of your paper is more detailed. It states why you conducted your study, what you wanted to accomplish, and what is your hypothesis.

This blog will allow us to learn more about the difference between the abstract and the introduction.

What Is an Abstract for a Research Paper?

An abstract provides the reader with a clear description of your research study and its results without the reader having to read the entire paper. The details of a study, such as precise methods and measurements, are not necessarily mentioned in the abstract. The abstract is an important tool for researchers who must sift through hundreds of papers from their field of study.

The abstract  holds more significance  in articles without open access. Reading the abstract would give an idea of the articles, which would otherwise require monetary payment for access. In most cases, reviewers will read the abstract to decide whether to continue to review the paper, which is important for you.

Your abstract should begin with a background or objective to clearly state why the research was done, its importance to the field of study, and any previous roadblocks encountered. It should include a very concise version of your methods, results, and conclusions but no references. It must be brief while still providing enough information so that the reader need not read the full article. Most journals ask that the abstract be no more than 200–250 words long.

Format of an Abstract

There are two general   formats — structured and unstructured. A  structured abstract   helps the reader find pertinent information  very quickly. It is divided into sections clearly defined by headings as follows:

• Background : Latest information on the topic; key phrases that pique interest (e.g., “…the role of this enzyme has never been clearly understood”).
• Objective : The research goals; what the study examined and why.
• Methods : Brief description of the study (e.g., retrospective study).
• Results : Findings and observations.
• Conclusions : Were these results expected? Whether more research is needed or not?

Authors get tempted to write too much  in an abstract but it is helpful to remember that there is usually a maximum word count. The main point is to relay the important aspects of the study without sharing too many details so that the readers do not have to go through the entire manuscript text for finding more information.

The  unstructured abstract  is often used in fields of study that do not fall under the category of science. This type of abstracts does not have different sections. It summarizes the manuscript’s objectives, methods, etc., in one paragraph.

Related: Create an impressive manuscript with a compelling abstract.   Check out these resources and improve your abstract writing process!

Lastly, you must check the author guidelines of the target journal. It will describe the format required and the maximum word count of your abstract.

What Is an Introduction?

Your introduction is the first section of your research paper . It is not a repetition of the abstract. It does not provide data about methods, results, or conclusions. However, it  provides more in-depth information  on the background of the subject matter. It also explains your hypothesis , what you attempted to discover, or issues that you wanted to resolve. The introduction will also explain if and why your study is new in the subject field and why it is important.

It is often a good idea to wait until the rest of the paper is completed before drafting your introduction. This will help you to stay focused on the manuscript’s important points. The introduction, unlike the abstract, should contain citations to references. The information will help guide your readers through the rest of your document. The key tips for writing an effective introduction :

• Beginning:  The importance of the study.
• Tone/Tense:  Formal, impersonal; present tense.
• Content:  Brief description of manuscript but without results and conclusions.
• Length:  Generally up to four paragraphs. May vary slightly with journal guidelines.

Once you are sure that possible doubts on the difference between the abstract and introduction are clear, review and submit your manuscript.

What struggles have you had in writing an abstract or introduction? Were you able to resolve them? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

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Abstract vs Introduction – Differences Explained

• By Dr Harry Hothi
• August 29, 2020

Any academic write up of a research study or project will require the inclusion of an abstract and introduction. If you pick up any example of a research paper for a journal, dissertation for a Masters degree or a PhD thesis, you’ll see the abstract, followed by the introduction. At first glance you’ll notice that the abstract is much shorter in length, typically a quarter or third of a page of A4. The introduction on the other hand is longer, taking up at least an entire page of writing.

Beyond the length, what are the differences in the content of the two sections? In short, the abstract is a summary of the entire study, describing the context, research aim, methods, results and key conclusions. The introduction gives more detail on the background of the subject area, the motivation for the study and states the aims and objectives.

Read on to learn more.

What is an Abstract?

The main purpose of an abstract is to succinctly give the reader an overview of why the study was needed, what the purpose of the project was, the research question, the key materials and methods that were used, the main results and what conclusions were drawn from this. Many abstracts also conclude with a sentence on the significance or impact of the research. These are sometimes also referred to as an executive summary.

The reader should have an understanding of the paper topic and what the study was about from the abstract alone. He or she can then decide if they want to read the paper or thesis in more detail.

Abstracts are particularly useful for researchers performing a literature review, which involves critically evaluating a large number of papers. Reading the abstract enables them to quickly ascertain the key points of a paper, helping them identify which ones to read in full.

Abstracts are also very important for learning more about the work performed in papers that are hidden behind academic journal paywalls (i.e. those that are not open access). Abstracts are always made freely available, allowing a researcher to understand the context and main point of the work and then decide if it’s worth paying to read the entire paper. These are sometimes referred to as the ‘de facto introduction’ to the research work as it’s usually the first section people read about your study, after the title page.

How do you Write an Abstract?

The majority of academic journals place a limit of 250 words on the length of the abstract in papers submitted to them. They do this to ensure you give a quick overview of only the most important information from your study, helping the reader decide if they want to read the whole paper too. Make sure you double check the specific requirements of your target journal before you start writing.

Universities or other academic institutions often allow up to 500 words for an abstract written for a doctoral thesis.

Abstracts can be either structured or unstructured in the way they are formatted. A structured abstract contains separate headings to guide the reader through the study. Virtually all STEM journals will require this format be used for a researcharticle. The exact names used for each heading can differ but generally there are defined as:

• Background. This is also sometimes called the Introduction. This section should give an overview of what is currently known about the research topic and what the gap in knowledge is. The reader should understand the problem your research will address; i.e. what was your study needed. Don’t include any references or citations in the abstract.
• Aim and Objective. Give a brief explanation of what the study intended to achieve and state the research question or questions that you proposed. Some authors also include the hypothesis here too.
• Materials and Methods. Use the methods section to describe what you investigated, what the study design was and how you carried it out.
• Results. Give an overview of your key findings.
• Discussion and Conclusion. Some journals may ask for these two terms to be used as separated headings. These sections explain why you may have obtained the results that you did, what this means and what the significance or impact of this might be.

An informative abstract should provide a concise summary of all the important points in your research project, including what the central question relating to the subject matter was. Make it interesting to read too; this may be the difference between your abstract being accepted or rejected if you decide to submit it to an upcoming conference. Reviewers for large conferences often have to read hundreds of abstracts so make sure yours stands out by being easy to read and follow.

It’s less common that you’ll be asked to write an unstructured abstract. If you are, however, be aware that the key difference is that an unstructured abstract does not include separate headings. The flow of the abstract text should still follow the 5 points listed above but they should all be written within one long paragraph.

What is the Introduction?

The introduction section is the first main written work presented after the abstract in your paper manuscript or thesis. In a research paper, the introduction will be followed by a section on the materials and methods. In thesis writing, the introduction will be followed by the literature review .

The main aim of introduction writing is to give the reader more detail on the background information of the study. It should include a brief description of the key current knowledge that exists based on the work presented in previous literature and where the gaps in knowledge are. The introduction should convey why your research was needed in order to add new understanding to your subject area. Make sure that you reference all the publications that you refer to.

When writing an introduction for a scientific paper you should also include the aim of your study and the research objectives/questions. If relevant, also include your hypothesis or (null hypothesis).

How do you Structure the Introduction?

The general rule of thumb for a research paper is to use size 12 Times New Roman font, double spaced. Write four separate paragraphs which together are no longer than one page in length. Structure the four paragraphs as follows:

• Set the context of the research study, giving background information about the subject area.
• Describe what is currently know from previously published work and what is poorly understood – i.e. the research gap.
• Explain how addressing this gap in knowledge is important for your research field – i.e. why this study is needed.
• Give a broad overview of the aims, objectives and hypothesis of the study.

You should not describe the research method used in this section nor any results and conclusions.

You should be clear now on what the differences between an abstract vs introduction are. The best way to improve your academic writing skills for these are to read other examples from other  research articles and start writing!

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The scope of the study is defined at the start of the study. It is used by researchers to set the boundaries and limitations within which the research study will be performed.

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• Key Differences

Know the Differences & Comparisons

Difference Between Abstract and Introduction

On the other hand, the abstract is like a short summary of an academic article or research paper, which discusses the purpose of the study and the outcome of the research. It usually summarizes the research topic, questions, participants, methods, outcome, data collected, analysis and conclusions. The article excerpt given hereunder discusses the difference between abstract and introduction.

Content: Abstract Vs Introduction

Comparison chart, definition of abstract.

An abstract can be described as a concise summary, often found in research work like thesis, dissertations, research articles, review, etc. which helps the reader to have an instant idea of the main purpose of the work. It is about a paragraph long of 150 to 250 words in general.

The information contained in the abstract should be sufficient enough to help the readers judge the nature and importance of the topic, the reasonableness of the strategy used in the investigation, nature of results and conclusions.

An abstract serves a number of purposes such as it allows the readers to get the gist of your paper, so as to decide whether to go through with the rest of the work. It is usually written after the writing of the paperwork is over and that too in the past tense.

An abstract rolls all the important information of the work into a single page, such as the context, general topic, central questions, problem under study, main idea, previous research findings, reasons, research methodology, findings, results, arguments, implications, conclusion and so on. To create an abstract one should pick the main statements from the above-mentioned sections, to draft an abstract.

Types of Abstract

• Descriptive Abstract : It briefly describes the abstract and the length is usually 100-200 words. It indicates the type of information contained in the paper, discusses the purpose of writing, objectives and methods used for research.
• Informative Abstract : As the name suggests, it is a detailed abstract which summarizes all the important points of the study. It includes results and conclusions, along with the purpose, objective, and methods used.

Definition of Introduction

Introduction means to present something to the readers, i.e. by giving a brief description or background information of the document. It is the first and foremost section which expresses the purpose, scope and goals, concerning the topic under study. As an introduction gives an overview of the topic, it develops an understanding of the main text.

An introduction is a gateway to the topic, as it is something which can create interest in the readers to read the document further. It is the crux of the document, which states what is to be discussed in the main body.

Elements of Introduction

An introduction has four basic elements namely: hook, background information, connect and thesis statement.

• Hook is the preliminary sentence of the introduction which is used to fasten the attention of the readers, and so it has to be interesting, attention-grabbing, and readable of course, so as to stimulate the readers to read the complete text.
• Background Information is the main part of the introduction, which presents the background of the research topic, including the problem under study, real-world situation, research questions, and a sneak peek of what the readers can expect from the main body.
• Connect , is a simple line which is used to link or say relate the background information with the research statement, by using words ideas or phrases, so as to ensure the flow and logic of writing the text.
• Thesis statement is the central point of the argument, which is usually a single sentence, whose points of evidence are to be talked about in the following text, i.e. the main body.

Key Differences Between Abstract and Introduction

The difference between abstract and introduction are discussed in the points:

• An abstract is a concise and accurate representation which gives an overview of the main points from the entire document. On the other hand, Introduction is the first section which makes the reader aware of the subject, by giving a brief description of the work, i.e. why the research is needed or important.
• While an abstract will give you an immediate overview of the paper, the introduction is the initial exposure to the subject under study.
• An abstract reports key points of the research, as well as it states why the work is important, what was the main purpose of research, what is the motivation behind choosing the subject, what you learned from the research, what you found out during the research and what you concluded, in a summarized way. As against, an introduction presents a direction to understand what exists in the upcoming portion of the document or book.
• As an abstract has its own introduction, main body and conclusion, it is a standalone document which summarizes the result of the findings and not just the list of topics discussed. As against, the introduction is not a standalone document or piece.
• The main purpose of an abstract is to provide a succinct summary of the research. Conversely, introduction aims at convincing the reader about the need for the research.
• An abstract contains the purpose, problem, methods used, result and conclusion. On the contrary, the introduction includes a hook, background information, connect and thesis statement.
• While abstract is found in a research paper, thesis and dissertations, the introduction is found in a wide range of texts.

An abstract gives a preview of the work, outlines the main points and helps the audience in decision making, i.e. whether they want to read the complete text or not. On the other hand, an introduction is the very first section of the work, which clarifies the purpose of writing.

Without an abstract and introduction, the readers might not be able to know what the work contains and what is the reason or motivation behind the research. So, these two are like thread which goes through the writing and creates an understanding in the reader about the topic under study. While writing these two, one should ensure that they accurately reflect what you cover in the document or book.

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September 20, 2023 at 1:15 am

fantastic explanations

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Abstract vs. Introduction

What's the difference.

The abstract and introduction are both important sections of a research paper or academic article, but they serve different purposes. The abstract is a concise summary of the entire paper, providing an overview of the research question, methodology, results, and conclusions. It is typically written in a single paragraph and is meant to give readers a quick understanding of the study without having to read the entire paper. On the other hand, the introduction is the first section of the paper and is more detailed. It provides background information on the topic, explains the research problem or question, and outlines the objectives and significance of the study. The introduction sets the stage for the rest of the paper and helps readers understand the context and motivation behind the research.

Further Detail

Introduction.

The introduction is an essential part of any academic or research paper. It serves as the opening section that provides background information, context, and sets the stage for the reader to understand the purpose and significance of the study. The introduction typically includes a thesis statement or research question, outlines the objectives, and highlights the main points that will be discussed in the paper.

One of the primary functions of the introduction is to grab the reader's attention and create interest in the topic. It often begins with a hook or an engaging anecdote to captivate the reader's curiosity. The introduction also provides a brief overview of the existing literature and research related to the topic, highlighting the gaps or limitations that the current study aims to address.

Furthermore, the introduction serves as a roadmap for the rest of the paper, outlining the structure and organization of the subsequent sections. It helps the reader understand the logical flow of the arguments and the overall structure of the paper. The introduction is typically longer than the abstract and provides more detailed information about the research topic.

In summary, the introduction acts as a bridge between the reader and the research paper, providing necessary background information, context, and setting the stage for the study.

The abstract, on the other hand, is a concise summary of the entire research paper. It is usually placed at the beginning of the paper, before the introduction, and provides a brief overview of the study's objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. The abstract aims to give the reader a quick understanding of the research without having to read the entire paper.

Unlike the introduction, the abstract is typically limited to a specific word count or character limit, often ranging from 150 to 300 words. Due to its brevity, the abstract focuses on the most important aspects of the research, highlighting the key findings and their implications. It does not provide an extensive background or literature review like the introduction does.

The abstract is written in a concise and objective manner, using clear and precise language. It avoids unnecessary details, jargon, or technical terms that may confuse the reader. The abstract should be able to stand alone and provide a comprehensive summary of the research, enabling readers to decide whether the paper is relevant to their interests or research.

Overall, the abstract serves as a condensed version of the entire research paper, providing a snapshot of the study's purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. It is designed to give readers a quick overview of the research without delving into the specifics.

While both the abstract and introduction play crucial roles in a research paper, they differ in several key aspects. Let's explore the main differences between these two sections:

1. Length and Detail

The most apparent difference between the abstract and introduction is their length and level of detail. The introduction is typically longer and more detailed, providing a comprehensive background, literature review, and outlining the structure of the paper. It delves into the topic, providing context and setting the stage for the study. On the other hand, the abstract is much shorter and concise, summarizing the key aspects of the research without going into extensive details.

2. Placement

Another significant difference is their placement within the research paper. The introduction is usually the first section after the abstract, serving as the opening of the paper. It provides the necessary background information and context before diving into the main body of the research. In contrast, the abstract is placed at the beginning of the paper, before the introduction, to provide a quick overview of the entire study.

The content of the abstract and introduction also differs. The introduction focuses on providing a comprehensive understanding of the research topic, including the background, literature review, objectives, and main points of the study. It aims to engage the reader and create interest in the research. On the other hand, the abstract summarizes the entire research paper, highlighting the key aspects such as the objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. It aims to give readers a quick understanding of the research without going into extensive details.

4. Audience

The target audience for the abstract and introduction also varies. The abstract is primarily aimed at researchers, scholars, and professionals who want to quickly assess the relevance and significance of the research. It helps them decide whether to read the full paper or not. In contrast, the introduction caters to a broader audience, including those who may not have in-depth knowledge of the subject. It provides the necessary background and context to make the research accessible to a wider range of readers.

Lastly, the abstract and introduction serve different purposes. The introduction aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the research topic, establish the research gap, and present the objectives and main points of the study. It sets the stage for the reader to understand the significance and relevance of the research. On the other hand, the abstract serves as a condensed summary of the entire research paper, allowing readers to quickly grasp the main findings and conclusions without reading the full paper.

In conclusion, while the abstract and introduction are both important sections of a research paper, they serve different purposes and have distinct attributes. The introduction provides a comprehensive background, context, and structure of the research paper, engaging the reader and setting the stage for the study. On the other hand, the abstract offers a concise summary of the entire research, highlighting the key aspects and enabling readers to quickly assess the relevance and significance of the study. Understanding the differences between these sections is crucial for researchers and readers alike to navigate and comprehend research papers effectively.

Comparisons may contain inaccurate information about people, places, or facts. Please report any issues.

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Abstract Vs Introduction: Key Similarities and Differences

Is an abstract the same as an introduction? This is one of the questions we receive most frequently, so we thought it would be a good idea to write an article about the abstract vs introduction problem. Most students don’t know how to differentiate between the two, especially if they are new to academic writing. Even though the two things are somewhat similar, there is at least one major difference between introduction and abstract. In this article, we will discuss the similarities and differences between the two. What is the difference between an abstract and an introduction? Let’s find out!

The Abstract Vs Introduction Problem

Introduction vs abstract: which one does what? Because many professors don’t explain these two terms to their students, it’s easy to confuse them. We consider that this is not the students’ fault. If they don’t know the difference between an abstract and an introduction, it’s easy to make a grave mistake. Of course, you will get penalized harshly for this. This blog post aims to provide information about abstract vs introduction scientific paper writers need to make sure they don’t get an F on their next essay.

Abstract and Introduction: What Are They?

So, let’s discuss abstract vs introduction APA style. An abstract is basically a summary of a complex paper (such as a thesis or a research paper).

The abstract summarizes all the different parts of the paper, including the research problem, the objectives, the methods, the results, and the conclusion. After reading the abstract, the reader should know exactly what the paper is about and how it is structured. The length of an abstract is around 250-300 words. The introduction, on the other hand, is there to give your readers an idea of what you are about to talk about and introduce your thesis statement.

It can contain a bit of background information, but it does not delve into the specifics of your research methods or results. Also, the introduction does not discuss the conclusion of the paper in any way.

The Key Difference Between Abstract and Introduction

OK, but what is the major difference between abstract and introduction? In simple terms, the abstract is a summary of the entire research paper. It briefly discusses the methods, results and conclusion. The introduction, on the other hand, is there to entice the reader to read the entire paper. It discusses just the background of the problem and the objectives of the paper. You will never see the conclusion being discussed in an introduction.

Is an APA abstract vs introduction different from MLA or other types of academic writing? No, the abstract and the introduction are just as different regardless of the academic writing style. You should never confuse one for the other because the consequences can be a rejected paper or at the very least a very low grade.

Introduction vs Abstract: The Similarities

Now that you know the main difference between an abstract and introduction, it’s time to talk about similarities. This should help you avoid any confusion:

• Both the introduction and the abstract are placed at the beginning of a research paper. In fact, an abstract can be considered a de-facto introduction.
• Both the abstract and the introduction are there to provide some information about the subject and about the objectives of your research paper.
• Both can be used as a way to attract the interest of a reader.

However, this is where the similarities end. Never assume that you can write an introduction in place of an abstract. Of course, you can’t write an abstract in place of an introduction either. This is the information about abstract vs introduction lab report writers need to know before they start writing their first paper. We know that sometimes writing an abstract can be more difficult than the introduction to abstract algebra in high school. However, with practice, you will quickly get the hang of it.

Abstract and Introduction Examples

To help you understand the meaning and role of an abstract better, we have written an example abstract for you and broken it down into pieces:

As of 2023, residual herbicide that is accumulating in certain crops is posing a growing threat to the rice-wheat rotation in northern India. (The background part) When it comes to pesticides and pesticide metabolites, green manure has been shown to stimulate ample co-mineralization. By incorporating it into the soil, the effects of the herbicide residue can be mitigated. (The objectives part) During a three-year study at the North Indian Wheat Research Institute, Azolla Pinata and A. Carolingiana have been used as green manure. The effects of the green manure on the Propanil and Buthachlor herbicides has been evaluated, as well as the mineralization and co-metabolization of the herbicides, using a process known as liquid chromatography. (The material and methods part) Initial results indicate that Azolla Pinata caused the Propanil herbicide to co-mineralize in 14 days. However, the green manure did not have the intended effect on the Buthachlor herbicide during the study. (The findings part) After analyzing the findings of the study, we can say for certain that Azolla Pinata used as green manure can prevent residual Propanil accumulation. (The conclusion part)

An example introduction for the paper would look something like this:

Residual herbicides are posing a growing threat to the systems of rice-wheat rotation in Northern India. According to a recent study by the North Indian Wheat Research Institute, Azolla Pinata is able to co-mineralize some herbicides. Understanding the process by which this happens is important for the future of Indian rice and wheat crops. This research paper aims to answer the following question: how does green manure co-mineralize certain herbicides? We will first analyze the soil and the herbicide accumulation, then we will discuss the effects of green manure, and finally we will analyze the potential applications.

Need Assistance?

Abstract versus introduction: I still don’t understand the difference! No problem, you are certainly not the only one. Many students are emailing us to get more information about these two important parts of their research papers. Instead of struggling to write something you don’t understand, why don’t you get some one on one help from our academic writing experts? In case you don’t know how to write the abstract or are struggling to write an excellent introduction for your paper, we can help you.

We can not only write you an abstract introduction, but also help you with the research and analysis part of your paper. It goes without saying that our writers and editors can also write your paper from scratch from start to finish. You will get an awesome essay that will thrill your professor. Getting a top grade is now easier than ever with our help.

We know that you are probably reluctant to get help from an online academic writing service. However, we can assure you that our experts will do a great job. All our papers are 100% original, written from scratch. We do not sell pre-written papers, period. And remember, getting quality assistance with your introduction and abstract is just one message away. What are you waiting for?

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What this handout is about

This handout provides definitions and examples of the two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. It also provides guidelines for constructing an abstract and general tips for you to keep in mind when drafting. Finally, it includes a few examples of abstracts broken down into their component parts.

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes a larger work. Components vary according to discipline. An abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain the scope, purpose, results, and contents of the work. An abstract of a humanities work may contain the thesis, background, and conclusion of the larger work. An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work being abstracted. While it contains key words found in the larger work, the abstract is an original document rather than an excerpted passage.

Why write an abstract?

You may write an abstract for various reasons. The two most important are selection and indexing. Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in a longer work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read it. Also, many online databases use abstracts to index larger works. Therefore, abstracts should contain keywords and phrases that allow for easy searching.

Say you are beginning a research project on how Brazilian newspapers helped Brazil’s ultra-liberal president Luiz Ignácio da Silva wrest power from the traditional, conservative power base. A good first place to start your research is to search Dissertation Abstracts International for all dissertations that deal with the interaction between newspapers and politics. “Newspapers and politics” returned 569 hits. A more selective search of “newspapers and Brazil” returned 22 hits. That is still a fair number of dissertations. Titles can sometimes help winnow the field, but many titles are not very descriptive. For example, one dissertation is titled “Rhetoric and Riot in Rio de Janeiro.” It is unclear from the title what this dissertation has to do with newspapers in Brazil. One option would be to download or order the entire dissertation on the chance that it might speak specifically to the topic. A better option is to read the abstract. In this case, the abstract reveals the main focus of the dissertation:

This dissertation examines the role of newspaper editors in the political turmoil and strife that characterized late First Empire Rio de Janeiro (1827-1831). Newspaper editors and their journals helped change the political culture of late First Empire Rio de Janeiro by involving the people in the discussion of state. This change in political culture is apparent in Emperor Pedro I’s gradual loss of control over the mechanisms of power. As the newspapers became more numerous and powerful, the Emperor lost his legitimacy in the eyes of the people. To explore the role of the newspapers in the political events of the late First Empire, this dissertation analyzes all available newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro from 1827 to 1831. Newspapers and their editors were leading forces in the effort to remove power from the hands of the ruling elite and place it under the control of the people. In the process, newspapers helped change how politics operated in the constitutional monarchy of Brazil.

From this abstract you now know that although the dissertation has nothing to do with modern Brazilian politics, it does cover the role of newspapers in changing traditional mechanisms of power. After reading the abstract, you can make an informed judgment about whether the dissertation would be worthwhile to read.

Besides selection, the other main purpose of the abstract is for indexing. Most article databases in the online catalog of the library enable you to search abstracts. This allows for quick retrieval by users and limits the extraneous items recalled by a “full-text” search. However, for an abstract to be useful in an online retrieval system, it must incorporate the key terms that a potential researcher would use to search. For example, if you search Dissertation Abstracts International using the keywords “France” “revolution” and “politics,” the search engine would search through all the abstracts in the database that included those three words. Without an abstract, the search engine would be forced to search titles, which, as we have seen, may not be fruitful, or else search the full text. It’s likely that a lot more than 60 dissertations have been written with those three words somewhere in the body of the entire work. By incorporating keywords into the abstract, the author emphasizes the central topics of the work and gives prospective readers enough information to make an informed judgment about the applicability of the work.

When do people write abstracts?

• when submitting articles to journals, especially online journals
• when applying for research grants
• when writing a book proposal
• when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or M.A. thesis
• when writing a proposal for a conference paper
• when writing a proposal for a book chapter

Most often, the author of the entire work (or prospective work) writes the abstract. However, there are professional abstracting services that hire writers to draft abstracts of other people’s work. In a work with multiple authors, the first author usually writes the abstract. Undergraduates are sometimes asked to draft abstracts of books/articles for classmates who have not read the larger work.

Types of abstracts

There are two types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. They have different aims, so as a consequence they have different components and styles. There is also a third type called critical, but it is rarely used. If you want to find out more about writing a critique or a review of a work, see the UNC Writing Center handout on writing a literature review . If you are unsure which type of abstract you should write, ask your instructor (if the abstract is for a class) or read other abstracts in your field or in the journal where you are submitting your article.

Descriptive abstracts

A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work. It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research. It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the purpose, methods, and scope of the research. Essentially, the descriptive abstract describes the work being abstracted. Some people consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short—100 words or less.

Informative abstracts

The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it. A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. That is, the writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the complete article/paper/book. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract (purpose, methods, scope) but also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. The length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is rarely more than 10% of the length of the entire work. In the case of a longer work, it may be much less.

Here are examples of a descriptive and an informative abstract of this handout on abstracts . Descriptive abstract:

The two most common abstract types—descriptive and informative—are described and examples of each are provided.

Informative abstract:

Abstracts present the essential elements of a longer work in a short and powerful statement. The purpose of an abstract is to provide prospective readers the opportunity to judge the relevance of the longer work to their projects. Abstracts also include the key terms found in the longer work and the purpose and methods of the research. Authors abstract various longer works, including book proposals, dissertations, and online journal articles. There are two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. A descriptive abstract briefly describes the longer work, while an informative abstract presents all the main arguments and important results. This handout provides examples of various types of abstracts and instructions on how to construct one.

Which type should I use?

Your best bet in this case is to ask your instructor or refer to the instructions provided by the publisher. You can also make a guess based on the length allowed; i.e., 100-120 words = descriptive; 250+ words = informative.

How do I write an abstract?

The format of your abstract will depend on the work being abstracted. An abstract of a scientific research paper will contain elements not found in an abstract of a literature article, and vice versa. However, all abstracts share several mandatory components, and there are also some optional parts that you can decide to include or not. When preparing to draft your abstract, keep the following key process elements in mind:

• Reason for writing: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger work?
• Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What is the main argument/thesis/claim?
• Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research.
• Results: Again, an abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.
• Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

(This list of elements is adapted with permission from Philip Koopman, “How to Write an Abstract.” )

All abstracts include:

• A full citation of the source, preceding the abstract.
• The most important information first.
• The same type and style of language found in the original, including technical language.
• Key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work.
• Clear, concise, and powerful language.

Abstracts may include:

• The thesis of the work, usually in the first sentence.
• Background information that places the work in the larger body of literature.
• The same chronological structure as the original work.

How not to write an abstract:

• Do not refer extensively to other works.
• Do not add information not contained in the original work.
• Do not define terms.

If you are abstracting your own writing

When abstracting your own work, it may be difficult to condense a piece of writing that you have agonized over for weeks (or months, or even years) into a 250-word statement. There are some tricks that you could use to make it easier, however.

Reverse outlining:

This technique is commonly used when you are having trouble organizing your own writing. The process involves writing down the main idea of each paragraph on a separate piece of paper– see our short video . For the purposes of writing an abstract, try grouping the main ideas of each section of the paper into a single sentence. Practice grouping ideas using webbing or color coding .

For a scientific paper, you may have sections titled Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each one of these sections will be longer than one paragraph, but each is grouped around a central idea. Use reverse outlining to discover the central idea in each section and then distill these ideas into one statement.

Cut and paste:

To create a first draft of an abstract of your own work, you can read through the entire paper and cut and paste sentences that capture key passages. This technique is useful for social science research with findings that cannot be encapsulated by neat numbers or concrete results. A well-written humanities draft will have a clear and direct thesis statement and informative topic sentences for paragraphs or sections. Isolate these sentences in a separate document and work on revising them into a unified paragraph.

If you are abstracting someone else’s writing

When abstracting something you have not written, you cannot summarize key ideas just by cutting and pasting. Instead, you must determine what a prospective reader would want to know about the work. There are a few techniques that will help you in this process:

Identify key terms:

Search through the entire document for key terms that identify the purpose, scope, and methods of the work. Pay close attention to the Introduction (or Purpose) and the Conclusion (or Discussion). These sections should contain all the main ideas and key terms in the paper. When writing the abstract, be sure to incorporate the key terms.

Highlight key phrases and sentences:

Instead of cutting and pasting the actual words, try highlighting sentences or phrases that appear to be central to the work. Then, in a separate document, rewrite the sentences and phrases in your own words.

Don’t look back:

After reading the entire work, put it aside and write a paragraph about the work without referring to it. In the first draft, you may not remember all the key terms or the results, but you will remember what the main point of the work was. Remember not to include any information you did not get from the work being abstracted.

Revise, revise, revise

No matter what type of abstract you are writing, or whether you are abstracting your own work or someone else’s, the most important step in writing an abstract is to revise early and often. When revising, delete all extraneous words and incorporate meaningful and powerful words. The idea is to be as clear and complete as possible in the shortest possible amount of space. The Word Count feature of Microsoft Word can help you keep track of how long your abstract is and help you hit your target length.

Example 1: Humanities abstract

Kenneth Tait Andrews, “‘Freedom is a constant struggle’: The dynamics and consequences of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1984” Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1997 DAI-A 59/02, p. 620, Aug 1998

This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so. The time period studied includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies. Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports. This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional change, but typically these groups acted in response to the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi.

Now let’s break down this abstract into its component parts to see how the author has distilled his entire dissertation into a ~200 word abstract.

What the dissertation does This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so.

How the dissertation does it The time period studied in this dissertation includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies.

What materials are used Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports.

Conclusion This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional change, but typically these groups acted in response to movement demands and the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi.

Keywords social movements Civil Rights Movement Mississippi voting rights desegregation

Example 2: Science Abstract

Luis Lehner, “Gravitational radiation from black hole spacetimes” Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 1998 DAI-B 59/06, p. 2797, Dec 1998

The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search for and analysis of detected signals. The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm. This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.

This science abstract covers much of the same ground as the humanities one, but it asks slightly different questions.

Why do this study The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals.

What the study does The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm.

Results This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.

Keywords gravitational radiation (GR) spacetimes black holes

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Belcher, Wendy Laura. 2009. Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press.

Koopman, Philip. 1997. “How to Write an Abstract.” Carnegie Mellon University. October 1997. http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html .

Lancaster, F.W. 2003. Indexing And Abstracting in Theory and Practice , 3rd ed. London: Facet Publishing.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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The difference between an abstract and an introduction.

Introductions and abstracts are two things that seem very similar, but are actually quite different. However, once you know the difference, they are easy to keep separate from each other.

An abstract is, at its most basic level, a summary. It outlines all of the important parts of your paper to the reader, so they can figure out if your paper is worth reading. This is why abstracts are important in the scientific field. They are a fast way for someone to analyze what is going to be said, and if that information is going to be beneficial for them.

An introduction provides the reader with detailed background information about a topic. This helps the reader make sense of what is going to be said later in the paper. If they do not understand the most basic parts of your topic, then they are not going to understand what you are trying to convey.

Now that you know the difference between the two, here is some advice for writing them:

The abstract is easiest to write last. By that point, you will have already written everything else, and you should know the important takeaways of your work. In the abstract, you should introduce your topic, discuss why you choose this topic, state your hypothesis, and reveal the results of your study. Remember, the abstract is like a summary. You should not go into a lot of detail here. Provide the reader with enough information that they can digest what you are saying. You will explain everything else in detail later in your paper. 

The introduction is one of the most important parts of your paper. However, introductions vary based on the genre of paper. For this blog post, introductions for scientific papers are going to be discussed because abstracts are a staple of scientific reports. An introduction for a scientific paper should explain the reasoning behind why you choose this experiment, provide background information about the topic, reference other studies done on similar topics, and state your hypothesis. You want to make sure your reader can understand what is going to be said later in the paper. 

Here are a few websites that have some more information about the two:

https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources/different-genres/writing-an-abstract

https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/writing-an-abstract-for-your-research-paper/

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/graduate_writing/graduate_writing_genres/graduate_writing_genres_abstracts_new.html

Introduction:

https://guides.lib.uci.edu/c.php?g=334338&p=2249903

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548565/

https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/writing-an-introduction-for-a-scientific-paper/

https://abrilliantmind.blog/how-to-write-the-introduction-of-scientific-article/

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Thank you. payment completed., you will receive an email from us to confirm your registration, please click the link in the email to activate your account., there was error during payment, orcid profile found in public registry, download history, structuring your research paper: knowing the difference between abstract, introduction, and conclusion.

• 18 October, 2023

Research papers serve as essential tools in the dissemination of knowledge and the advancement of academic disciplines. Academic papers follow a well-defined structure and format that assists readers in comprehending the content efficiently. They adhere to a well-defined structure and format, which is often referred to as IMRaD: Introduction, Methodology, Results, and Discussion. In addition to these core elements, there are three crucial components; the Abstract, Introduction, and Conclusion, which enhance the deliverance of your research rationale and findings. Understanding the nuanced functions of these sections is crucial for researchers seeking to enhance their paper's clarity, engagement, and influence in the academic and scientific community.

These three components play distinct roles in the structure and communication of a written work, be it a research paper, a thesis, a report, or an article. To write effectively, it's essential to grasp the unique functions and structure of each.

What is an Introduction?

The introduction serves as the opening of your written work, where you set the stage for what is to come. It helps to make the first impression on your readers. Its primary purpose is to provide readers with an overview of the subject matter and the context in which your work exists. 

Furthermore, a well-written introduction outlines the research problem and introduces the main thesis or argument. Some journals may refer to this section as 'Background,' and in others, it might not have a separate heading.

Key elements of an introduction include:

1. Opening Sentence: A compelling hook or opening sentence that grabs the reader's attention and motivates them to continue reading.

2. Thesis Statement: A concise thesis statement that outlines the main argument, purpose, or objective of your work.

3. Background Information: Necessary background information or context to help readers understand the topic.

4. Scope and Significance: A brief discussion of what will be covered and why it is relevant or important.

An introduction should be clear, engaging, and give readers a sense of what to expect. While it provides some insight into the content, it does not delve into the details or findings of the work.

What is an Abstract?

The abstract is a concise summary of the entire document. Its primary purpose is to give readers a quick overview of the key points, methods, findings, and conclusions of the work. They are typically found at the beginning of research papers and articles and are often used by readers to determine whether they want to read the full text. It serves as a preview of the work and helps readers quickly gauge its relevance.

Key elements of an abstract include:

1. Objective: A clear statement of the research objective or purpose.

2. Methods: A brief description of the research methods or approach used.

3. Results: Summary of the key findings or results.

4.  Conclusions: A concise statement of the main conclusions or implications.

These elements are usually presented in a standalone paragraph or a few paragraphs, depending on the specific journal's guidelines.

The length of an abstract varies, often ranging from 150 to 250 words, though it can be longer for some longer papers or theses. Furthermore, it also depends on the style and guidelines of the publication.

Watch this FREE informative webinar to learn more about writing strong abstracts and structuring your research article for publication. 

What is a Conclusion?

The conclusion, as the name suggests, marks the end of your written work. Its primary purpose is to summarize and reiterate the main points and findings discussed in the body of the text. 

Key elements of a conclusion include:

1. Restatement of Thesis: A restatement of the main thesis or argument.

2. Summary of Findings: A brief summary of the key findings and results.

3. Implications: Discussion of the implications of the findings and their significance.

4. Closing Thoughts: A final thought or reflection on the subject matter.

The conclusion is the final part of the paper, summarizing the key findings, their implications, and the main takeaways. In some formats, this section follows the 'Discussion' and may not have a distinct heading.

The conclusion should leave the reader with a sense of closure and a clear understanding of the key takeaways. It is not the place to introduce new information or ideas but rather to reinforce the ideas presented in the body of the work.

What’s the Difference Between Abstract, Introduction, and Conclusion?

To better understand the distinctions and relationships between these three sections, here is a table comparing the features or characteristics of the abstract, introduction, and conclusion for your better understanding:

While these sections serve different functions, it's crucial to avoid repeating the same information. The abstract provides an overview, the introduction sets the stage, and the conclusion wraps up the key points. Repetition can bore readers and waste valuable space. Make each section unique and tailored to its purpose.

The abstract, introduction, and conclusion are the pillars that support the structure and impact of research papers. Understanding their differences and functions is fundamental to effective academic writing. By delving into their relevance, we can uncover their true significance, ensuring that the message of our research reaches its intended audience with clarity and impact. 

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How to Write a Research Paper Introduction (with Examples)

The research paper introduction section, along with the Title and Abstract, can be considered the face of any research paper. The following article is intended to guide you in organizing and writing the research paper introduction for a quality academic article or dissertation.

The research paper introduction aims to present the topic to the reader. A study will only be accepted for publishing if you can ascertain that the available literature cannot answer your research question. So it is important to ensure that you have read important studies on that particular topic, especially those within the last five to ten years, and that they are properly referenced in this section. 1 What should be included in the research paper introduction is decided by what you want to tell readers about the reason behind the research and how you plan to fill the knowledge gap. The best research paper introduction provides a systemic review of existing work and demonstrates additional work that needs to be done. It needs to be brief, captivating, and well-referenced; a well-drafted research paper introduction will help the researcher win half the battle.

The introduction for a research paper is where you set up your topic and approach for the reader. It has several key goals:

• Present your research topic
• Capture reader interest
• Summarize existing research
• Position your own approach
• Define your specific research problem and problem statement
• Highlight the novelty and contributions of the study
• Give an overview of the paper’s structure

The research paper introduction can vary in size and structure depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or is a review paper. Some research paper introduction examples are only half a page while others are a few pages long. In many cases, the introduction will be shorter than all of the other sections of your paper; its length depends on the size of your paper as a whole.

• Break through writer’s block. Write your research paper introduction with Paperpal Copilot

Table of Contents

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The introduction in a research paper is placed at the beginning to guide the reader from a broad subject area to the specific topic that your research addresses. They present the following information to the reader

• Scope: The topic covered in the research paper
• Context: Background of your topic
• Importance: Why your research matters in that particular area of research and the industry problem that can be targeted

The research paper introduction conveys a lot of information and can be considered an essential roadmap for the rest of your paper. A good introduction for a research paper is important for the following reasons:

• It stimulates your reader’s interest: A good introduction section can make your readers want to read your paper by capturing their interest. It informs the reader what they are going to learn and helps determine if the topic is of interest to them.
• It helps the reader understand the research background: Without a clear introduction, your readers may feel confused and even struggle when reading your paper. A good research paper introduction will prepare them for the in-depth research to come. It provides you the opportunity to engage with the readers and demonstrate your knowledge and authority on the specific topic.
• It explains why your research paper is worth reading: Your introduction can convey a lot of information to your readers. It introduces the topic, why the topic is important, and how you plan to proceed with your research.
• It helps guide the reader through the rest of the paper: The research paper introduction gives the reader a sense of the nature of the information that will support your arguments and the general organization of the paragraphs that will follow. It offers an overview of what to expect when reading the main body of your paper.

What are the parts of introduction in the research?

A good research paper introduction section should comprise three main elements: 2

• What is known: This sets the stage for your research. It informs the readers of what is known on the subject.
• What is lacking: This is aimed at justifying the reason for carrying out your research. This could involve investigating a new concept or method or building upon previous research.
• What you aim to do: This part briefly states the objectives of your research and its major contributions. Your detailed hypothesis will also form a part of this section.

How to write a research paper introduction?

The first step in writing the research paper introduction is to inform the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important. This is generally accomplished with a strong opening statement. The second step involves establishing the kinds of research that have been done and ending with limitations or gaps in the research that you intend to address. Finally, the research paper introduction clarifies how your own research fits in and what problem it addresses. If your research involved testing hypotheses, these should be stated along with your research question. The hypothesis should be presented in the past tense since it will have been tested by the time you are writing the research paper introduction.

The following key points, with examples, can guide you when writing the research paper introduction section:

• Highlight the importance of the research field or topic
• Describe the background of the topic
• Present an overview of current research on the topic

Example: The inclusion of experiential and competency-based learning has benefitted electronics engineering education. Industry partnerships provide an excellent alternative for students wanting to engage in solving real-world challenges. Industry-academia participation has grown in recent years due to the need for skilled engineers with practical training and specialized expertise. However, from the educational perspective, many activities are needed to incorporate sustainable development goals into the university curricula and consolidate learning innovation in universities.

• Reveal a gap in existing research or oppose an existing assumption
• Formulate the research question

Example: There have been plausible efforts to integrate educational activities in higher education electronics engineering programs. However, very few studies have considered using educational research methods for performance evaluation of competency-based higher engineering education, with a focus on technical and or transversal skills. To remedy the current need for evaluating competencies in STEM fields and providing sustainable development goals in engineering education, in this study, a comparison was drawn between study groups without and with industry partners.

• State the purpose of your study
• Highlight the key characteristics of your study
• Describe important results
• Highlight the novelty of the study.
• Offer a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

Example: The study evaluates the main competency needed in the applied electronics course, which is a fundamental core subject for many electronics engineering undergraduate programs. We compared two groups, without and with an industrial partner, that offered real-world projects to solve during the semester. This comparison can help determine significant differences in both groups in terms of developing subject competency and achieving sustainable development goals.

Write a Research Paper Introduction in Minutes with Paperpal

Paperpal Copilot is a generative AI-powered academic writing assistant. It’s trained on millions of published scholarly articles and over 20 years of STM experience. Paperpal Copilot helps authors write better and faster with:

• Real-time writing suggestions
• In-depth checks for language and grammar correction
• Paraphrasing to add variety, ensure academic tone, and trim text to meet journal limits

With Paperpal Copilot, create a research paper introduction effortlessly. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through how Paperpal transforms your initial ideas into a polished and publication-ready introduction.

How to use Paperpal to write the Introduction section

Step 1: Sign up on Paperpal and click on the Copilot feature, under this choose Outlines > Research Article > Introduction

Step 2: Add your unstructured notes or initial draft, whether in English or another language, to Paperpal, which is to be used as the base for your content.

Step 3: Fill in the specifics, such as your field of study, brief description or details you want to include, which will help the AI generate the outline for your Introduction.

Step 4: Use this outline and sentence suggestions to develop your content, adding citations where needed and modifying it to align with your specific research focus.

Step 5: Turn to Paperpal’s granular language checks to refine your content, tailor it to reflect your personal writing style, and ensure it effectively conveys your message.

You can use the same process to develop each section of your article, and finally your research paper in half the time and without any of the stress.

The purpose of the research paper introduction is to introduce the reader to the problem definition, justify the need for the study, and describe the main theme of the study. The aim is to gain the reader’s attention by providing them with necessary background information and establishing the main purpose and direction of the research.

The length of the research paper introduction can vary across journals and disciplines. While there are no strict word limits for writing the research paper introduction, an ideal length would be one page, with a maximum of 400 words over 1-4 paragraphs. Generally, it is one of the shorter sections of the paper as the reader is assumed to have at least a reasonable knowledge about the topic. 2 For example, for a study evaluating the role of building design in ensuring fire safety, there is no need to discuss definitions and nature of fire in the introduction; you could start by commenting upon the existing practices for fire safety and how your study will add to the existing knowledge and practice.

When deciding what to include in the research paper introduction, the rest of the paper should also be considered. The aim is to introduce the reader smoothly to the topic and facilitate an easy read without much dependency on external sources. 3 Below is a list of elements you can include to prepare a research paper introduction outline and follow it when you are writing the research paper introduction. Topic introduction: This can include key definitions and a brief history of the topic. Research context and background: Offer the readers some general information and then narrow it down to specific aspects. Details of the research you conducted: A brief literature review can be included to support your arguments or line of thought. Rationale for the study: This establishes the relevance of your study and establishes its importance. Importance of your research: The main contributions are highlighted to help establish the novelty of your study Research hypothesis: Introduce your research question and propose an expected outcome. Organization of the paper: Include a short paragraph of 3-4 sentences that highlights your plan for the entire paper

Cite only works that are most relevant to your topic; as a general rule, you can include one to three. Note that readers want to see evidence of original thinking. So it is better to avoid using too many references as it does not leave much room for your personal standpoint to shine through. Citations in your research paper introduction support the key points, and the number of citations depend on the subject matter and the point discussed. If the research paper introduction is too long or overflowing with citations, it is better to cite a few review articles rather than the individual articles summarized in the review. A good point to remember when citing research papers in the introduction section is to include at least one-third of the references in the introduction.

The literature review plays a significant role in the research paper introduction section. A good literature review accomplishes the following: Introduces the topic – Establishes the study’s significance – Provides an overview of the relevant literature – Provides context for the study using literature – Identifies knowledge gaps However, remember to avoid making the following mistakes when writing a research paper introduction: Do not use studies from the literature review to aggressively support your research Avoid direct quoting Do not allow literature review to be the focus of this section. Instead, the literature review should only aid in setting a foundation for the manuscript.

Remember the following key points for writing a good research paper introduction: 4

• Avoid stuffing too much general information: Avoid including what an average reader would know and include only that information related to the problem being addressed in the research paper introduction. For example, when describing a comparative study of non-traditional methods for mechanical design optimization, information related to the traditional methods and differences between traditional and non-traditional methods would not be relevant. In this case, the introduction for the research paper should begin with the state-of-the-art non-traditional methods and methods to evaluate the efficiency of newly developed algorithms.
• Avoid packing too many references: Cite only the required works in your research paper introduction. The other works can be included in the discussion section to strengthen your findings.
• Avoid extensive criticism of previous studies: Avoid being overly critical of earlier studies while setting the rationale for your study. A better place for this would be the Discussion section, where you can highlight the advantages of your method.
• Avoid describing conclusions of the study: When writing a research paper introduction remember not to include the findings of your study. The aim is to let the readers know what question is being answered. The actual answer should only be given in the Results and Discussion section.

To summarize, the research paper introduction section should be brief yet informative. It should convince the reader the need to conduct the study and motivate him to read further. If you’re feeling stuck or unsure, choose trusted AI academic writing assistants like Paperpal to effortlessly craft your research paper introduction and other sections of your research article.

1. Jawaid, S. A., & Jawaid, M. (2019). How to write introduction and discussion. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 13(Suppl 1), S18.

2. Dewan, P., & Gupta, P. (2016). Writing the title, abstract and introduction: Looks matter!. Indian pediatrics, 53, 235-241.

3. Cetin, S., & Hackam, D. J. (2005). An approach to the writing of a scientific Manuscript1. Journal of Surgical Research, 128(2), 165-167.

4. Bavdekar, S. B. (2015). Writing introduction: Laying the foundations of a research paper. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 63(7), 44-6.

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Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

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Differences Between Abstract and Introduction of a Research Paper

The essential difference between abstract and introduction is that the abstract is a short summary of your entire study in this order: The objective of study, methods, results and conclusion. It shows the high points of your study plus a very brief background information. 

The introduction, on the other hand contains only some elements of the abstract. Therefore, you should expand the reasons that made you ask the specific research questions. Sildigra

What is a research paper abstract?

The abstract summarizes your work and attract reader’s attention with the most important points about your study. Often, this part should not exceed 250 words.

The content of the abstract

First of all, you provide the background and objectives of your study in a paragraph. Then you provide important details about the study plan, the number of participants, treatment or intervention, controls, etc. Finally, you will provide the most important results of your study. The language in the abstract section should be very clear even to the none-professionals. Buying Modafinil online

The Introduction of a research paper

The introduction of a research paper informs the readers about the study background. It makes it clear for the reader why you are conducting this study. Most journals ask for a brief introduction (500 words or fewer). Whether or not the journals ask you for limited introduction, you should make it as brief as possible.

Your introduction indicates to the reader what has led you to your main study questions. It does not need to provide all details or cite every study in the field. The introduction should start with a general statement and then narrow it down to your specific research question.

Some differences between abstract and introduction

• Abstract include results while introduction almost never include results. At maximum, depending on the journal, you can generalize your findings in a sentence.
• Abstract will provide a conclusion while introduction will almost never reveal any of the study findings to the reader.
• The abstract provides details about the methods and study design, while the introduction provides very brief information, such as “Here, using mice” or “In this study of patients with breast cancer.” Details such as numerical values will be kept for Material and Methods section.
• The abstract offers a brief background section, consisting of one or two sentences at most. The introduction, on the other hand, reveals the background succinctly but more expansively by providing the context for why you have asked the research questions and the chain of the evidence that has led to the study you conducted.
•  The language in the abstract will be more accessible to general readers and non-professionals. Therefore, it is better not to use jargon and abbreviations as much as possible. The introduction, in contrast, contains more details of interest to specialists and you are allowed to use abbreviations if required.  
• An abstract does not contain reference citations while an introduction does.
• An abstract usually contains 250 words or fewer, on the other hand, the word limitation of introduction is fewer than 500 in most journals, though in some journals the introduction can contain more than 500 words.

Some high profile journals have submission options that allow for the abstract to be used as the paper introduction. These submission categories are usually called “Letters” or “Short submissions.”  In such cases, the abstract plays the role of the introduction to the article and will be provided as a fully referenced paragraph that both introduces the study and summarizes its results and design.

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Abstract vs. Introduction: What is the actual difference?

Published on 07 Dec 2022

If you’ve never written a research paper, the number of boxes to check to complete it can be intimidating. Even if it’s not your first rodeo, there’s still so much to think about that it’s easy to get confused. 

The difference between an abstract and an introduction is a common concern for first-time research writers. 

While these parts may seem similar at first glance, they have distinct characteristics. Whether you’re writing a paper to submit to a journal, an academic conference , or for your MSc or PhD, crafting a good abstract and a unique introduction will save you hassle in the revision stages and increase the likelihood of your paper being accepted. 

What is the Difference Between an Abstract and an Introduction?

In around 250 words, an abstract summarizes the entire study and generates reader interest in your paper. An introduction is the first section of your paper. It covers background information, sets the context for your research, and is longer than an abstract (500 words or more).

The key difference between an abstract and an introduction is their purpose: 

• An abstract is an advertisement. 
• An introduction is a hook.

If you think of an abstract as an advertisement, it should be brief and summarize your paper entirely. People will have to spend their time (maybe even their money) reading your paper. So, your abstract should give them an initial idea of why your paper is relevant to them and what they can expect to learn.

Alternatively, thinking of your introduction as a “hook” means it’s the key to holding the long-term attention of a reader (once they’ve chosen to read your paper). An introduction isn’t about giving all of the research details, it’s about setting the scene for why the details matter.

Beyond purpose, the table below outlines the differences between abstracts and introductions:

Comparison table showing the key differences between an abstract and an introduction.

How to Write a Good Abstract

Your abstract is likely the first thing people will read. It’s a particularly important tool for researchers that have to sort through piles of potential papers to review. 

So, make it clear what your paper is about, why that topic is important, and what you found in your research. Here are 3 tips for writing a good abstract…

1. Consider your abstract format 

There are two basic formats for abstracts. Often, the journal or program you are submitting to will outline what style they expect: 

• A structured abstract includes section headings.
• An unstructured abstract is a single block of text.

Regardless of this structural difference, both of these formats focus on answering the same set of key questions for prospective readers:

• Context/Background: Why is this topic and this research important?
• Objective: What questions are you trying to answer in your research?
• Methods/Design: What are the basic details of your research? In general, how did you go about answering the research questions? 
• Results: What answers did you find? Were there any other observations?
• Conclusion/Takeaways: Were your results expected? Is more research needed?

2. Keep your abstract clear and concise

Your abstract should efficiently deliver information in a way that non-specialists can understand. Detailed descriptions and scientific slang terms don’t belong here. Also, check specific author guidelines to know if there’s a word limit for your abstract (250 words is a common limit).

3. Beat writer’s block by outlining your paper

Just because your abstract is the first thing people will read doesn’t mean it’s the first thing you have to write. It’s helpful to have an outline or loose draft of your entire paper before you write your abstract . Highlight the most important points in each section, then use them to help frame your abstract.

How to Write a Good Introduction

After people have decided to read your paper, it’s your introduction’s time to shine. A good introduction sets the tone for the reader. 

So, make sure that your introduction gives context to your research and makes it clear why your reader should care. Here are 3 tips for writing a great introduction…

1. Answer these questions in your introduction

Some content in your introduction may overlap with your abstract. But, your introduction should cover key questions slightly differently (and in more detail) than your abstract:

• Why is your field of research important?
• What background information is needed to understand your research (include references where applicable)?
• What earlier research impacts the context of your own or helps with understanding your research process?
• How is your research innovative or original?
• What are the sections included in the rest of the paper?

2. Don’t save your introduction for last

“Save your intro for last” is a common tip for various writing applications. But it doesn’t need to be a rule. As Rachael Cayley outlines in this blog post : “You don’t always have to wait until the end to write your introduction. You should review it again of course, but since it's the setup [for the rest of your paper], it’s worth writing first.” 

The introduction shows your reader what led to your research question. So, writing or outlining that part of the story early (and before you forget the details) can help provide accurate context.

3. Consider your introduction’s tone and tense

Use a formal, impersonal tone and speak primarily in the present tense. Double-check the tense used in each sentence or example since there’s a chance you’ll talk about past research in contrast with new processes. Avoid using emotional appeals as they are more suitable for conference presentations and public speaking.

FAQ: Top Abstract and Introduction Questions

Can i use my abstract as my introduction.

The short answer to this question: You shouldn’t. Unless the journal (or your research advisor) asks you to merge your abstract and introduction, it’s best to keep them unique.

Where can I find examples of abstracts and introductions?

This article by Kibin has 10 top-notch abstract examples to get you started. For a step-by-step guide to help you write an introduction, take a look at this article by Scribbr .

How do I write an abstract for an academic conference?

Conference abstract submission is unique. You may still be early in your research process and not have all the results yet. So, the things you include in your abstract will change. Check out our detailed article on writing an abstract for a conference to help you with this.

Apply What You Know About Abstracts and Introductions

Now that you know the key differences between an abstract and an introduction, it’s time to get started writing. If any points for your paper crossed your mind while reading this article, jot them down now to help with making your outline. And be sure to keep in mind: Your abstract is your advertisement. Your introduction is your hook.

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Core Differences

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11 Difference between Abstract and Introduction (With Table)

What is the main difference between abstract and introduction? Abstract is a summary of the entire study and generates readers’ interest into your paper. Introduction is the first section of the paper that covers background information and set of context for your research.

Write academic research paper can be intimidating due to the number of boxes to check for its completion. A good abstract and introduction will save you from hassles during revision stages to increase the likelihood of your paper being accepted.

Understanding the difference between introduction and abstract in research paper is vital. This post explains all the hidden differences and similarities between abstract and introduction. Take the time to read through the entire article.

Difference between Abstract and Introduction with Table

What is abstract.

An abstract is a concise and structured summary that provides an overview of the essential elements and findings of a research paper, thesis, article, or any scholarly document.

It serves as a standalone piece of writing that allows readers to quickly grasp the main objectives, methods, results, and conclusions of the study without having to read the entire document.

Typically, abstracts are placed at the beginning of the paper, immediately following the title and author information.

A well-written abstract should contain key information such as the research’s purpose or objectives, the methodology employed, the main results or findings, and the implications or significance of the study.

It is usually brief, ranging from 150 to 250 words, and is written in a clear, concise, and precise manner. Abstracts are invaluable for researchers, scholars, and academics as they help in deciding whether to delve deeper into the full paper, making them an essential part of academic communication and literature retrieval.

What Is Introduction?

An introduction in the context of academic or research writing is the initial section of a document, paper, thesis, or essay that serves several important functions. It typically spans one to several pages and plays a pivotal role in setting the stage for the reader.

Context Establishment : The introduction introduces the topic or subject matter of the research, providing essential background information. It often outlines the broader context in which the study is situated, including relevant historical, theoretical, or practical considerations.

Problem Statement : It articulates the research problem, question, or gap in the existing literature that the study aims to address. This helps the reader understand why the research is relevant and significant.

Objectives and Hypotheses : The introduction states the research objectives or goals and may include any hypotheses that will be tested during the study. This helps the reader anticipate the study’s direction.

Rationale : It explains why the research is necessary, highlighting its potential contributions to the field and its real-world implications.

Scope and Organization : The introduction outlines the scope and structure of the paper, providing a roadmap for what the reader can expect in the subsequent sections.

Main Difference between Abstract and Introduction

• An abstract offers a concise summary of the entire document’s main points, while the introduction provides initial insight into the subject’s importance.
• The abstract provides an immediate overview, whereas the introduction is the first exposure to the subject.
• An abstract summarizes key research points, its significance, purpose, motivation, findings, and conclusions. In contrast, an introduction guides readers on what to expect in the upcoming text.
• The abstract stands alone with its introduction, body, and conclusion, summarizing findings comprehensively. The introduction is not a standalone piece.
• The abstract’s primary purpose is succinctly summarizing research, while the introduction aims to convince readers of the research’s necessity.
• An abstract includes the research’s purpose, problem, methods, results, and conclusion, while the introduction features a hook, background, connection, and thesis statement.
• Abstracts appear in research papers, theses, and dissertations, whereas introductions are common in various types of texts.

Similarities between Abstract and Introduction

• Both appear at the beginning of a document.
• They provide an overview of the research’s subject.
• Both convey the paper’s purpose and scope.
• They help readers understand the document’s content.
• Both are integral parts of academic and research writing.

The abstract and introduction serve distinct yet complementary roles in academic and research writing. The abstract succinctly summarizes the entire document, offering a condensed version of its key points and findings, while the introduction sets the stage by providing context, background information, and the rationale behind the research.

While the abstract stands alone as a summary, the introduction engages readers and guides them into the subject matter. Together, they form the initial impressions and roadmap for the reader, facilitating comprehension and decision-making regarding further exploration of the document.

Understanding the differences between these two sections is crucial for effective communication in scholarly writing, ensuring that both the broader context and the specific content of the research are appropriately conveyed to the audience.

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Difference Between an Abstract and an Introduction

Sarah is eager to publish her research article and, fueled by her positive results, she embarks on drafting her research. After successfully completing the abstract, she confidently moves on to tackle the introduction. However, she suddenly finds herself stumped by a perplexing question: Do the abstract and introduction serve the same purpose? And how do they differ from each other?

This predicament is a common hurdle faced by many aspiring researchers when writing their inaugural research articles. Although an abstract provides a concise summary of the main points and findings of a research paper or article, an introduction presents an overview of the topic, context, and objectives of the study, leading to the main content.

Welcome to this article where we explore the differences between an abstract and an introduction. In this piece, we will dive into the different characteristics of these two sections in academic writing. Understanding the disparity between an abstract and an introduction is crucial for crafting well-structured research papers or articles. So, let’s delve into the specifics and unravel the differences between an abstract and an introduction!

Table of Contents

What is an Abstract?

An abstract is a concise summary of a research paper or article, providing an overview of the main objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Its purpose is to give readers a quick snapshot of the entire work without delving into the details. Typically shorter in length, consisting of a paragraph or a few paragraphs, the abstract acts as a standalone summary that captures the essence of the research.

What is an Introduction?

The introduction plays a crucial role in setting the stage for the research. It introduces the topic, provides background information, and outlines the scope and purpose of the paper or article. Unlike the abstract, the introduction is longer, ranging from a few paragraphs to several pages. It establishes the context, discusses previous research, and introduces the specific objectives and structure of the work.

Purpose and Length

The purpose of an abstract is to provide a concise summary of the research, condensing the key points and conclusions into a brief overview. It aims to give readers a glimpse of the entire work in a succinct manner. Abstracts are often limited to a specific word count or character limit, commonly ranging from 150 to 300 words. In contrast, the introduction serves to engage readers, provide background information, and prepare them for the subsequent sections of the paper or article. It allows for a more detailed discussion of the topic, providing a comprehensive understanding for the reader. As a result, the length of an abstract is relatively shorter, while the introduction allows for more extensive content and exploration.

Content and Placement

An abstract focuses on summarizing the entire paper or article, highlighting the main objectives, methods, results, and conclusions . It provides a bird’s-eye view of the research, presenting the key findings without going into specific details. The abstract is usually placed at the beginning of the paper or article, before the introduction, to provide readers with a concise overview before they delve into the full text.

In contrast, the introduction aims to establish the context of the research. It discusses the significance of the topic, presents relevant background information , and sets the foundation for the study. The introduction introduces the research questions, objectives, and hypothesis , giving readers a clear understanding of the purpose and scope of the work. It is typically located at the beginning of the paper or article, after the abstract (if present), and serves as a bridge between the abstract and the main body of the text.

Readership and Tense

The abstract is often read by individuals who want a quick understanding of the research without going through the entire paper or article. It should be concise, informative, and engaging, capturing the attention of readers and providing them with the main points in a condensed form. When writing the abstract, the past tense is generally used since it summarizes the completed work.

In contrast, the introduction targets readers who are interested in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the topic and the research. It aims to engage their interest, provide relevant background information, and establish the rationale for the study. The present tense is usually employed in the introduction as it introduces the topic and provides current context and background information for the readers.

Details and Citation

An abstract does not typically include specific details or elaborate explanations. It presents a summary of the research without going into the nuances or intricacies. The abstract aims to give readers an overview of the research without overwhelming them with excessive details. In most cases, citations or references are not included in the abstract.

In contrast, the introduction allows for more detailed explanations, providing readers with the necessary background information and context for the study. It may include citations or references to relevant literature to support the claims and provide a foundation for the research. The introduction aims to give readers a comprehensive understanding of the topic and its significance, preparing them for the subsequent sections of the paper or article.

Here’s a table highlighting the key differences between an abstract and an introduction:

In summary, the abstract and the introduction serve distinct purposes in academic writing. While the abstract provides a concise summary of the entire research, the introduction sets the stage, introduces the topic, and establishes the context. Understanding the differences between these two sections is crucial for crafting well-structured and informative research papers or articles. By effectively utilizing both the abstract and the introduction, researchers can engage readers, provide a comprehensive overview of their work, and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their respective fields.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What information should be included in an abstract and an introduction.

An abstract should include a brief overview of the research problem, the research objectives, the methodology employed, the main findings or results, and the implications or significance of the study. In contrast, an introduction should provide background information on the topic, identify the research problem, state the research objectives and research questions, and outline the structure of the paper.

What is the length and placement of an abstract and an introduction?

The abstract is typically a standalone section placed at the beginning of a research paper and is usually limited to a specific word count or character limit, such as 150-300 words. The introduction follows the abstract and is a more extensive section that sets the stage for the research and is approximately 10-15% of the total length of the paper, usually ranging from 500-1000 words maximum.

Can an abstract be used as a substitute for an introduction?

No, an abstract cannot serve as a substitute for an introduction. While an abstract provides a summary of the entire paper, it lacks the comprehensive background information and contextualization that an introduction offers. The introduction provides the necessary foundation for readers to understand the significance and relevance of the research.

Are there any formatting differences between an abstract and an introduction?

In terms of formatting, an abstract is typically a single, concise paragraph that is often written in a structured format with subheadings such as Background, Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusion. While, an introduction is more flexible and can be organized in multiple paragraphs, providing a narrative flow that introduces the topic gradually.

Is there a specific order in which the abstract and introduction should be written?

It is generally recommended to write the abstract and introduction after completing the main body of the research paper. This allows the author to have a clear understanding of the research findings and the overall structure of the paper, enabling them to summarize and introduce the content more effectively.

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Cultural Relativity and Acceptance of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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There is a debate about the ethical implications of using human embryos in stem cell research, which can be influenced by cultural, moral, and social values. This paper argues for an adaptable framework to accommodate diverse cultural and religious perspectives. By using an adaptive ethics model, research protections can reflect various populations and foster growth in stem cell research possibilities.

INTRODUCTION

Stem cell research combines biology, medicine, and technology, promising to alter health care and the understanding of human development. Yet, ethical contention exists because of individuals’ perceptions of using human embryos based on their various cultural, moral, and social values. While these disagreements concerning policy, use, and general acceptance have prompted the development of an international ethics policy, such a uniform approach can overlook the nuanced ethical landscapes between cultures. With diverse viewpoints in public health, a single global policy, especially one reflecting Western ethics or the ethics prevalent in high-income countries, is impractical. This paper argues for a culturally sensitive, adaptable framework for the use of embryonic stem cells. Stem cell policy should accommodate varying ethical viewpoints and promote an effective global dialogue. With an extension of an ethics model that can adapt to various cultures, we recommend localized guidelines that reflect the moral views of the people those guidelines serve.

Stem cells, characterized by their unique ability to differentiate into various cell types, enable the repair or replacement of damaged tissues. Two primary types of stem cells are somatic stem cells (adult stem cells) and embryonic stem cells. Adult stem cells exist in developed tissues and maintain the body’s repair processes. [1] Embryonic stem cells (ESC) are remarkably pluripotent or versatile, making them valuable in research. [2] However, the use of ESCs has sparked ethics debates. Considering the potential of embryonic stem cells, research guidelines are essential. The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) provides international stem cell research guidelines. They call for “public conversations touching on the scientific significance as well as the societal and ethical issues raised by ESC research.” [3] The ISSCR also publishes updates about culturing human embryos 14 days post fertilization, suggesting local policies and regulations should continue to evolve as ESC research develops. [4]  Like the ISSCR, which calls for local law and policy to adapt to developing stem cell research given cultural acceptance, this paper highlights the importance of local social factors such as religion and culture.

I.     Global Cultural Perspective of Embryonic Stem Cells

Views on ESCs vary throughout the world. Some countries readily embrace stem cell research and therapies, while others have stricter regulations due to ethical concerns surrounding embryonic stem cells and when an embryo becomes entitled to moral consideration. The philosophical issue of when the “someone” begins to be a human after fertilization, in the morally relevant sense, [5] impacts when an embryo becomes not just worthy of protection but morally entitled to it. The process of creating embryonic stem cell lines involves the destruction of the embryos for research. [6] Consequently, global engagement in ESC research depends on social-cultural acceptability.

a.     US and Rights-Based Cultures

In the United States, attitudes toward stem cell therapies are diverse. The ethics and social approaches, which value individualism, [7] trigger debates regarding the destruction of human embryos, creating a complex regulatory environment. For example, the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibited federal funding for the creation of embryos for research and the destruction of embryos for “more than allowed for research on fetuses in utero.” [8] Following suit, in 2001, the Bush Administration heavily restricted stem cell lines for research. However, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 was proposed to help develop ESC research but was ultimately vetoed. [9] Under the Obama administration, in 2009, an executive order lifted restrictions allowing for more development in this field. [10] The flux of research capacity and funding parallels the different cultural perceptions of human dignity of the embryo and how it is socially presented within the country’s research culture. [11]

b.     Ubuntu and Collective Cultures

African bioethics differs from Western individualism because of the different traditions and values. African traditions, as described by individuals from South Africa and supported by some studies in other African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, follow the African moral philosophies of Ubuntu or Botho and Ukama , which “advocates for a form of wholeness that comes through one’s relationship and connectedness with other people in the society,” [12] making autonomy a socially collective concept. In this context, for the community to act autonomously, individuals would come together to decide what is best for the collective. Thus, stem cell research would require examining the value of the research to society as a whole and the use of the embryos as a collective societal resource. If society views the source as part of the collective whole, and opposes using stem cells, compromising the cultural values to pursue research may cause social detachment and stunt research growth. [13] Based on local culture and moral philosophy, the permissibility of stem cell research depends on how embryo, stem cell, and cell line therapies relate to the community as a whole. Ubuntu is the expression of humanness, with the person’s identity drawn from the “’I am because we are’” value. [14] The decision in a collectivistic culture becomes one born of cultural context, and individual decisions give deference to others in the society.

Consent differs in cultures where thought and moral philosophy are based on a collective paradigm. So, applying Western bioethical concepts is unrealistic. For one, Africa is a diverse continent with many countries with different belief systems, access to health care, and reliance on traditional or Western medicines. Where traditional medicine is the primary treatment, the “’restrictive focus on biomedically-related bioethics’” [is] problematic in African contexts because it neglects bioethical issues raised by traditional systems.” [15] No single approach applies in all areas or contexts. Rather than evaluating the permissibility of ESC research according to Western concepts such as the four principles approach, different ethics approaches should prevail.

Another consideration is the socio-economic standing of countries. In parts of South Africa, researchers have not focused heavily on contributing to the stem cell discourse, either because it is not considered health care or a health science priority or because resources are unavailable. [16] Each country’s priorities differ given different social, political, and economic factors. In South Africa, for instance, areas such as maternal mortality, non-communicable diseases, telemedicine, and the strength of health systems need improvement and require more focus. [17] Stem cell research could benefit the population, but it also could divert resources from basic medical care. Researchers in South Africa adhere to the National Health Act and Medicines Control Act in South Africa and international guidelines; however, the Act is not strictly enforced, and there is no clear legislation for research conduct or ethical guidelines. [18]

Some parts of Africa condemn stem cell research. For example, 98.2 percent of the Tunisian population is Muslim. [19] Tunisia does not permit stem cell research because of moral conflict with a Fatwa. Religion heavily saturates the regulation and direction of research. [20] Stem cell use became permissible for reproductive purposes only recently, with tight restrictions preventing cells from being used in any research other than procedures concerning ART/IVF.  Their use is conditioned on consent, and available only to married couples. [21] The community's receptiveness to stem cell research depends on including communitarian African ethics.

c.     Asia

Some Asian countries also have a collective model of ethics and decision making. [22] In China, the ethics model promotes a sincere respect for life or human dignity, [23] based on protective medicine. This model, influenced by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), [24] recognizes Qi as the vital energy delivered via the meridians of the body; it connects illness to body systems, the body’s entire constitution, and the universe for a holistic bond of nature, health, and quality of life. [25] Following a protective ethics model, and traditional customs of wholeness, investment in stem cell research is heavily desired for its applications in regenerative therapies, disease modeling, and protective medicines. In a survey of medical students and healthcare practitioners, 30.8 percent considered stem cell research morally unacceptable while 63.5 percent accepted medical research using human embryonic stem cells. Of these individuals, 89.9 percent supported increased funding for stem cell research. [26] The scientific community might not reflect the overall population. From 1997 to 2019, China spent a total of $576 million (USD) on stem cell research at 8,050 stem cell programs, increased published presence from 0.6 percent to 14.01 percent of total global stem cell publications as of 2014, and made significant strides in cell-based therapies for various medical conditions. [27] However, while China has made substantial investments in stem cell research and achieved notable progress in clinical applications, concerns linger regarding ethical oversight and transparency. [28] For example, the China Biosecurity Law, promoted by the National Health Commission and China Hospital Association, attempted to mitigate risks by introducing an institutional review board (IRB) in the regulatory bodies. 5800 IRBs registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry since 2021. [29] However, issues still need to be addressed in implementing effective IRB review and approval procedures.

The substantial government funding and focus on scientific advancement have sometimes overshadowed considerations of regional cultures, ethnic minorities, and individual perspectives, particularly evident during the one-child policy era. As government policy adapts to promote public stability, such as the change from the one-child to the two-child policy, [30] research ethics should also adapt to ensure respect for the values of its represented peoples.

Japan is also relatively supportive of stem cell research and therapies. Japan has a more transparent regulatory framework, allowing for faster approval of regenerative medicine products, which has led to several advanced clinical trials and therapies. [31] South Korea is also actively engaged in stem cell research and has a history of breakthroughs in cloning and embryonic stem cells. [32] However, the field is controversial, and there are issues of scientific integrity. For example, the Korean FDA fast-tracked products for approval, [33] and in another instance, the oocyte source was unclear and possibly violated ethical standards. [34] Trust is important in research, as it builds collaborative foundations between colleagues, trial participant comfort, open-mindedness for complicated and sensitive discussions, and supports regulatory procedures for stakeholders. There is a need to respect the culture’s interest, engagement, and for research and clinical trials to be transparent and have ethical oversight to promote global research discourse and trust.

d.     Middle East

Countries in the Middle East have varying degrees of acceptance of or restrictions to policies related to using embryonic stem cells due to cultural and religious influences. Saudi Arabia has made significant contributions to stem cell research, and conducts research based on international guidelines for ethical conduct and under strict adherence to guidelines in accordance with Islamic principles. Specifically, the Saudi government and people require ESC research to adhere to Sharia law. In addition to umbilical and placental stem cells, [35] Saudi Arabia permits the use of embryonic stem cells as long as they come from miscarriages, therapeutic abortions permissible by Sharia law, or are left over from in vitro fertilization and donated to research. [36] Laws and ethical guidelines for stem cell research allow the development of research institutions such as the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, which has a cord blood bank and a stem cell registry with nearly 10,000 donors. [37] Such volume and acceptance are due to the ethical ‘permissibility’ of the donor sources, which do not conflict with religious pillars. However, some researchers err on the side of caution, choosing not to use embryos or fetal tissue as they feel it is unethical to do so. [38]

Jordan has a positive research ethics culture. [39] However, there is a significant issue of lack of trust in researchers, with 45.23 percent (38.66 percent agreeing and 6.57 percent strongly agreeing) of Jordanians holding a low level of trust in researchers, compared to 81.34 percent of Jordanians agreeing that they feel safe to participate in a research trial. [40] Safety testifies to the feeling of confidence that adequate measures are in place to protect participants from harm, whereas trust in researchers could represent the confidence in researchers to act in the participants’ best interests, adhere to ethical guidelines, provide accurate information, and respect participants’ rights and dignity. One method to improve trust would be to address communication issues relevant to ESC. Legislation surrounding stem cell research has adopted specific language, especially concerning clarification “between ‘stem cells’ and ‘embryonic stem cells’” in translation. [41] Furthermore, legislation “mandates the creation of a national committee… laying out specific regulations for stem-cell banking in accordance with international standards.” [42] This broad regulation opens the door for future global engagement and maintains transparency. However, these regulations may also constrain the influence of research direction, pace, and accessibility of research outcomes.

e.     Europe

In the European Union (EU), ethics is also principle-based, but the principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity, and vulnerability are interconnected. [43] As such, the opportunity for cohesion and concessions between individuals’ thoughts and ideals allows for a more adaptable ethics model due to the flexible principles that relate to the human experience The EU has put forth a framework in its Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being allowing member states to take different approaches. Each European state applies these principles to its specific conventions, leading to or reflecting different acceptance levels of stem cell research. [44]

For example, in Germany, Lebenzusammenhang , or the coherence of life, references integrity in the unity of human culture. Namely, the personal sphere “should not be subject to external intervention.” [45]  Stem cell interventions could affect this concept of bodily completeness, leading to heavy restrictions. Under the Grundgesetz, human dignity and the right to life with physical integrity are paramount. [46] The Embryo Protection Act of 1991 made producing cell lines illegal. Cell lines can be imported if approved by the Central Ethics Commission for Stem Cell Research only if they were derived before May 2007. [47] Stem cell research respects the integrity of life for the embryo with heavy specifications and intense oversight. This is vastly different in Finland, where the regulatory bodies find research more permissible in IVF excess, but only up to 14 days after fertilization. [48] Spain’s approach differs still, with a comprehensive regulatory framework. [49] Thus, research regulation can be culture-specific due to variations in applied principles. Diverse cultures call for various approaches to ethical permissibility. [50] Only an adaptive-deliberative model can address the cultural constructions of self and achieve positive, culturally sensitive stem cell research practices. [51]

II.     Religious Perspectives on ESC

Embryonic stem cell sources are the main consideration within religious contexts. While individuals may not regard their own religious texts as authoritative or factual, religion can shape their foundations or perspectives.

The Qur'an states:

“And indeed We created man from a quintessence of clay. Then We placed within him a small quantity of nutfa (sperm to fertilize) in a safe place. Then We have fashioned the nutfa into an ‘alaqa (clinging clot or cell cluster), then We developed the ‘alaqa into mudgha (a lump of flesh), and We made mudgha into bones, and clothed the bones with flesh, then We brought it into being as a new creation. So Blessed is Allah, the Best of Creators.” [52]

Many scholars of Islam estimate the time of soul installment, marked by the angel breathing in the soul to bring the individual into creation, as 120 days from conception. [53] Personhood begins at this point, and the value of life would prohibit research or experimentation that could harm the individual. If the fetus is more than 120 days old, the time ensoulment is interpreted to occur according to Islamic law, abortion is no longer permissible. [54] There are a few opposing opinions about early embryos in Islamic traditions. According to some Islamic theologians, there is no ensoulment of the early embryo, which is the source of stem cells for ESC research. [55]

In Buddhism, the stance on stem cell research is not settled. The main tenets, the prohibition against harming or destroying others (ahimsa) and the pursuit of knowledge (prajña) and compassion (karuna), leave Buddhist scholars and communities divided. [56] Some scholars argue stem cell research is in accordance with the Buddhist tenet of seeking knowledge and ending human suffering. Others feel it violates the principle of not harming others. Finding the balance between these two points relies on the karmic burden of Buddhist morality. In trying to prevent ahimsa towards the embryo, Buddhist scholars suggest that to comply with Buddhist tenets, research cannot be done as the embryo has personhood at the moment of conception and would reincarnate immediately, harming the individual's ability to build their karmic burden. [57] On the other hand, the Bodhisattvas, those considered to be on the path to enlightenment or Nirvana, have given organs and flesh to others to help alleviate grieving and to benefit all. [58] Acceptance varies on applied beliefs and interpretations.

Catholicism does not support embryonic stem cell research, as it entails creation or destruction of human embryos. This destruction conflicts with the belief in the sanctity of life. For example, in the Old Testament, Genesis describes humanity as being created in God’s image and multiplying on the Earth, referencing the sacred rights to human conception and the purpose of development and life. In the Ten Commandments, the tenet that one should not kill has numerous interpretations where killing could mean murder or shedding of the sanctity of life, demonstrating the high value of human personhood. In other books, the theological conception of when life begins is interpreted as in utero, [59] highlighting the inviolability of life and its formation in vivo to make a religious point for accepting such research as relatively limited, if at all. [60] The Vatican has released ethical directives to help apply a theological basis to modern-day conflicts. The Magisterium of the Church states that “unless there is a moral certainty of not causing harm,” experimentation on fetuses, fertilized cells, stem cells, or embryos constitutes a crime. [61] Such procedures would not respect the human person who exists at these stages, according to Catholicism. Damages to the embryo are considered gravely immoral and illicit. [62] Although the Catholic Church officially opposes abortion, surveys demonstrate that many Catholic people hold pro-choice views, whether due to the context of conception, stage of pregnancy, threat to the mother’s life, or for other reasons, demonstrating that practicing members can also accept some but not all tenets. [63]

Some major Jewish denominations, such as the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, are open to supporting ESC use or research as long as it is for saving a life. [64] Within Judaism, the Talmud, or study, gives personhood to the child at birth and emphasizes that life does not begin at conception: [65]

“If she is found pregnant, until the fortieth day it is mere fluid,” [66]

Whereas most religions prioritize the status of human embryos, the Halakah (Jewish religious law) states that to save one life, most other religious laws can be ignored because it is in pursuit of preservation. [67] Stem cell research is accepted due to application of these religious laws.

We recognize that all religions contain subsets and sects. The variety of environmental and cultural differences within religious groups requires further analysis to respect the flexibility of religious thoughts and practices. We make no presumptions that all cultures require notions of autonomy or morality as under the common morality theory , which asserts a set of universal moral norms that all individuals share provides moral reasoning and guides ethical decisions. [68] We only wish to show that the interaction with morality varies between cultures and countries.

III.     A Flexible Ethical Approach

The plurality of different moral approaches described above demonstrates that there can be no universally acceptable uniform law for ESC on a global scale. Instead of developing one standard, flexible ethical applications must be continued. We recommend local guidelines that incorporate important cultural and ethical priorities.

While the Declaration of Helsinki is more relevant to people in clinical trials receiving ESC products, in keeping with the tradition of protections for research subjects, consent of the donor is an ethical requirement for ESC donation in many jurisdictions including the US, Canada, and Europe. [69] The Declaration of Helsinki provides a reference point for regulatory standards and could potentially be used as a universal baseline for obtaining consent prior to gamete or embryo donation.

For instance, in Columbia University’s egg donor program for stem cell research, donors followed standard screening protocols and “underwent counseling sessions that included information as to the purpose of oocyte donation for research, what the oocytes would be used for, the risks and benefits of donation, and process of oocyte stimulation” to ensure transparency for consent. [70] The program helped advance stem cell research and provided clear and safe research methods with paid participants. Though paid participation or covering costs of incidental expenses may not be socially acceptable in every culture or context, [71] and creating embryos for ESC research is illegal in many jurisdictions, Columbia’s program was effective because of the clear and honest communications with donors, IRBs, and related stakeholders.  This example demonstrates that cultural acceptance of scientific research and of the idea that an egg or embryo does not have personhood is likely behind societal acceptance of donating eggs for ESC research. As noted, many countries do not permit the creation of embryos for research.

Proper communication and education regarding the process and purpose of stem cell research may bolster comprehension and garner more acceptance. “Given the sensitive subject material, a complete consent process can support voluntary participation through trust, understanding, and ethical norms from the cultures and morals participants value. This can be hard for researchers entering countries of different socioeconomic stability, with different languages and different societal values. [72]

An adequate moral foundation in medical ethics is derived from the cultural and religious basis that informs knowledge and actions. [73] Understanding local cultural and religious values and their impact on research could help researchers develop humility and promote inclusion.

IV.     Concerns

Some may argue that if researchers all adhere to one ethics standard, protection will be satisfied across all borders, and the global public will trust researchers. However, defining what needs to be protected and how to define such research standards is very specific to the people to which standards are applied. We suggest that applying one uniform guide cannot accurately protect each individual because we all possess our own perceptions and interpretations of social values. [74] Therefore, the issue of not adjusting to the moral pluralism between peoples in applying one standard of ethics can be resolved by building out ethics models that can be adapted to different cultures and religions.

Other concerns include medical tourism, which may promote health inequities. [75] Some countries may develop and approve products derived from ESC research before others, compromising research ethics or drug approval processes. There are also concerns about the sale of unauthorized stem cell treatments, for example, those without FDA approval in the United States. Countries with robust research infrastructures may be tempted to attract medical tourists, and some customers will have false hopes based on aggressive publicity of unproven treatments. [76]

For example, in China, stem cell clinics can market to foreign clients who are not protected under the regulatory regimes. Companies employ a marketing strategy of “ethically friendly” therapies. Specifically, in the case of Beike, China’s leading stem cell tourism company and sprouting network, ethical oversight of administrators or health bureaus at one site has “the unintended consequence of shifting questionable activities to another node in Beike's diffuse network.” [77] In contrast, Jordan is aware of stem cell research’s potential abuse and its own status as a “health-care hub.” Jordan’s expanded regulations include preserving the interests of individuals in clinical trials and banning private companies from ESC research to preserve transparency and the integrity of research practices. [78]

The social priorities of the community are also a concern. The ISSCR explicitly states that guidelines “should be periodically revised to accommodate scientific advances, new challenges, and evolving social priorities.” [79] The adaptable ethics model extends this consideration further by addressing whether research is warranted given the varying degrees of socioeconomic conditions, political stability, and healthcare accessibilities and limitations. An ethical approach would require discussion about resource allocation and appropriate distribution of funds. [80]

While some religions emphasize the sanctity of life from conception, which may lead to public opposition to ESC research, others encourage ESC research due to its potential for healing and alleviating human pain. Many countries have special regulations that balance local views on embryonic personhood, the benefits of research as individual or societal goods, and the protection of human research subjects. To foster understanding and constructive dialogue, global policy frameworks should prioritize the protection of universal human rights, transparency, and informed consent. In addition to these foundational global policies, we recommend tailoring local guidelines to reflect the diverse cultural and religious perspectives of the populations they govern. Ethics models should be adapted to local populations to effectively establish research protections, growth, and possibilities of stem cell research.

For example, in countries with strong beliefs in the moral sanctity of embryos or heavy religious restrictions, an adaptive model can allow for discussion instead of immediate rejection. In countries with limited individual rights and voice in science policy, an adaptive model ensures cultural, moral, and religious views are taken into consideration, thereby building social inclusion. While this ethical consideration by the government may not give a complete voice to every individual, it will help balance policies and maintain the diverse perspectives of those it affects. Embracing an adaptive ethics model of ESC research promotes open-minded dialogue and respect for the importance of human belief and tradition. By actively engaging with cultural and religious values, researchers can better handle disagreements and promote ethical research practices that benefit each society.

This brief exploration of the religious and cultural differences that impact ESC research reveals the nuances of relative ethics and highlights a need for local policymakers to apply a more intense adaptive model.

[1] Poliwoda, S., Noor, N., Downs, E., Schaaf, A., Cantwell, A., Ganti, L., Kaye, A. D., Mosel, L. I., Carroll, C. B., Viswanath, O., & Urits, I. (2022). Stem cells: a comprehensive review of origins and emerging clinical roles in medical practice.  Orthopedic reviews ,  14 (3), 37498. https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.37498

[2] Poliwoda, S., Noor, N., Downs, E., Schaaf, A., Cantwell, A., Ganti, L., Kaye, A. D., Mosel, L. I., Carroll, C. B., Viswanath, O., & Urits, I. (2022). Stem cells: a comprehensive review of origins and emerging clinical roles in medical practice.  Orthopedic reviews ,  14 (3), 37498. https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.37498

[3] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2023). Laboratory-based human embryonic stem cell research, embryo research, and related research activities . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/blog-post-title-one-ed2td-6fcdk ; Kimmelman, J., Hyun, I., Benvenisty, N.  et al.  Policy: Global standards for stem-cell research.  Nature   533 , 311–313 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/533311a

[4] International Society for Stem Cell Research. (2023). Laboratory-based human embryonic stem cell research, embryo research, and related research activities . International Society for Stem Cell Research. https://www.isscr.org/guidelines/blog-post-title-one-ed2td-6fcdk

[5] Concerning the moral philosophies of stem cell research, our paper does not posit a personal moral stance nor delve into the “when” of human life begins. To read further about the philosophical debate, consider the following sources:

Sandel M. J. (2004). Embryo ethics--the moral logic of stem-cell research.  The New England journal of medicine ,  351 (3), 207–209. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp048145 ; George, R. P., & Lee, P. (2020, September 26). Acorns and Embryos . The New Atlantis. https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/acorns-and-embryos ; Sagan, A., & Singer, P. (2007). The moral status of stem cells. Metaphilosophy , 38 (2/3), 264–284. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24439776 ; McHugh P. R. (2004). Zygote and "clonote"--the ethical use of embryonic stem cells.  The New England journal of medicine ,  351 (3), 209–211. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp048147 ; Kurjak, A., & Tripalo, A. (2004). The facts and doubts about beginning of the human life and personality.  Bosnian journal of basic medical sciences ,  4 (1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.17305/bjbms.2004.3453

[6] Vazin, T., & Freed, W. J. (2010). Human embryonic stem cells: derivation, culture, and differentiation: a review.  Restorative neurology and neuroscience ,  28 (4), 589–603. https://doi.org/10.3233/RNN-2010-0543

[7] Socially, at its core, the Western approach to ethics is widely principle-based, autonomy being one of the key factors to ensure a fundamental respect for persons within research. For information regarding autonomy in research, see: Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, & National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (1978). The Belmont Report. Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research.; For a more in-depth review of autonomy within the US, see: Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of Biomedical Ethics . Oxford University Press.

[8] Sherley v. Sebelius , 644 F.3d 388 (D.C. Cir. 2011), citing 45 C.F.R. 46.204(b) and [42 U.S.C. § 289g(b)]. https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/6c690438a9b43dd685257a64004ebf99/$file/11-5241-1391178.pdf

[9] Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, H. R. 810, 109 th Cong. (2001). https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/hr810/text ; Bush, G. W. (2006, July 19). Message to the House of Representatives . National Archives and Records Administration. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060719-5.html

[10] National Archives and Records Administration. (2009, March 9). Executive order 13505 -- removing barriers to responsible scientific research involving human stem cells . National Archives and Records Administration. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/removing-barriers-responsible-scientific-research-involving-human-stem-cells

[11] Hurlbut, W. B. (2006). Science, Religion, and the Politics of Stem Cells.  Social Research ,  73 (3), 819–834. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40971854

[12] Akpa-Inyang, Francis & Chima, Sylvester. (2021). South African traditional values and beliefs regarding informed consent and limitations of the principle of respect for autonomy in African communities: a cross-cultural qualitative study. BMC Medical Ethics . 22. 10.1186/s12910-021-00678-4.

[13] Source for further reading: Tangwa G. B. (2007). Moral status of embryonic stem cells: perspective of an African villager. Bioethics , 21(8), 449–457. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8519.2007.00582.x , see also Mnisi, F. M. (2020). An African analysis based on ethics of Ubuntu - are human embryonic stem cell patents morally justifiable? African Insight , 49 (4).

[14] Jecker, N. S., & Atuire, C. (2021). Bioethics in Africa: A contextually enlightened analysis of three cases. Developing World Bioethics , 22 (2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12324

[15] Jecker, N. S., & Atuire, C. (2021). Bioethics in Africa: A contextually enlightened analysis of three cases. Developing World Bioethics, 22(2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12324

[16] Jackson, C.S., Pepper, M.S. Opportunities and barriers to establishing a cell therapy programme in South Africa.  Stem Cell Res Ther   4 , 54 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/scrt204 ; Pew Research Center. (2014, May 1). Public health a major priority in African nations . Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/05/01/public-health-a-major-priority-in-african-nations/

[17] Department of Health Republic of South Africa. (2021). Health Research Priorities (revised) for South Africa 2021-2024 . National Health Research Strategy. https://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/National-Health-Research-Priorities-2021-2024.pdf

[18] Oosthuizen, H. (2013). Legal and Ethical Issues in Stem Cell Research in South Africa. In: Beran, R. (eds) Legal and Forensic Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32338-6_80 , see also: Gaobotse G (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[19] United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. (1998). Tunisia: Information on the status of Christian conversions in Tunisia . UNHCR Web Archive. https://webarchive.archive.unhcr.org/20230522142618/https://www.refworld.org/docid/3df0be9a2.html

[20] Gaobotse, G. (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[21] Kooli, C. Review of assisted reproduction techniques, laws, and regulations in Muslim countries.  Middle East Fertil Soc J   24 , 8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43043-019-0011-0 ; Gaobotse, G. (2018) Stem Cell Research in Africa: Legislation and Challenges. J Regen Med 7:1. doi: 10.4172/2325-9620.1000142

[22] Pang M. C. (1999). Protective truthfulness: the Chinese way of safeguarding patients in informed treatment decisions. Journal of medical ethics , 25(3), 247–253. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.25.3.247

[23] Wang, L., Wang, F., & Zhang, W. (2021). Bioethics in China’s biosecurity law: Forms, effects, and unsettled issues. Journal of law and the biosciences , 8(1).  https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsab019 https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab019/6299199

[24] Wang, Y., Xue, Y., & Guo, H. D. (2022). Intervention effects of traditional Chinese medicine on stem cell therapy of myocardial infarction.  Frontiers in pharmacology ,  13 , 1013740. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.1013740

[25] Li, X.-T., & Zhao, J. (2012). Chapter 4: An Approach to the Nature of Qi in TCM- Qi and Bioenergy. In Recent Advances in Theories and Practice of Chinese Medicine (p. 79). InTech.

[26] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students.  Stem cells international ,  2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[27] Luo, D., Xu, Z., Wang, Z., & Ran, W. (2021). China's Stem Cell Research and Knowledge Levels of Medical Practitioners and Students.  Stem cells international ,  2021 , 6667743. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6667743

[28] Zhang, J. Y. (2017). Lost in translation? accountability and governance of Clinical Stem Cell Research in China. Regenerative Medicine , 12 (6), 647–656. https://doi.org/10.2217/rme-2017-0035

[29] Wang, L., Wang, F., & Zhang, W. (2021). Bioethics in China’s biosecurity law: Forms, effects, and unsettled issues. Journal of law and the biosciences , 8(1).  https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsab019 https://academic.oup.com/jlb/article/8/1/lsab019/6299199

[30] Chen, H., Wei, T., Wang, H.  et al.  Association of China’s two-child policy with changes in number of births and birth defects rate, 2008–2017.  BMC Public Health   22 , 434 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12839-0

[31] Azuma, K. Regulatory Landscape of Regenerative Medicine in Japan.  Curr Stem Cell Rep   1 , 118–128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-015-0012-6

[32] Harris, R. (2005, May 19). Researchers Report Advance in Stem Cell Production . NPR. https://www.npr.org/2005/05/19/4658967/researchers-report-advance-in-stem-cell-production

[33] Park, S. (2012). South Korea steps up stem-cell work.  Nature . https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2012.10565

[34] Resnik, D. B., Shamoo, A. E., & Krimsky, S. (2006). Fraudulent human embryonic stem cell research in South Korea: lessons learned.  Accountability in research ,  13 (1), 101–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989620600634193 .

[35] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[36] Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies.  https://www.aabb.org/regulatory-and-advocacy/regulatory-affairs/regulatory-for-cellular-therapies/international-competent-authorities/saudi-arabia

[37] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia.  BMC medical ethics ,  21 (1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

[38] Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: Interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics , 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6

Culturally, autonomy practices follow a relational autonomy approach based on a paternalistic deontological health care model. The adherence to strict international research policies and religious pillars within the regulatory environment is a great foundation for research ethics. However, there is a need to develop locally targeted ethics approaches for research (as called for in Alahmad, G., Aljohani, S., & Najjar, M. F. (2020). Ethical challenges regarding the use of stem cells: interviews with researchers from Saudi Arabia. BMC medical ethics, 21(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-020-00482-6), this decision-making approach may help advise a research decision model. For more on the clinical cultural autonomy approaches, see: Alabdullah, Y. Y., Alzaid, E., Alsaad, S., Alamri, T., Alolayan, S. W., Bah, S., & Aljoudi, A. S. (2022). Autonomy and paternalism in Shared decision‐making in a Saudi Arabian tertiary hospital: A cross‐sectional study. Developing World Bioethics , 23 (3), 260–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/dewb.12355 ; Bukhari, A. A. (2017). Universal Principles of Bioethics and Patient Rights in Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/124; Ladha, S., Nakshawani, S. A., Alzaidy, A., & Tarab, B. (2023, October 26). Islam and Bioethics: What We All Need to Know . Columbia University School of Professional Studies. https://sps.columbia.edu/events/islam-and-bioethics-what-we-all-need-know

[39] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics.  Research Ethics ,  17 (2), 228-241.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[40] Ababneh, M. A., Al-Azzam, S. I., Alzoubi, K., Rababa’h, A., & Al Demour, S. (2021). Understanding and attitudes of the Jordanian public about clinical research ethics.  Research Ethics ,  17 (2), 228-241.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120966779

[41] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East.  Nature  510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[42] Dajani, R. (2014). Jordan’s stem-cell law can guide the Middle East.  Nature  510, 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/510189a

[43] The EU’s definition of autonomy relates to the capacity for creating ideas, moral insight, decisions, and actions without constraint, personal responsibility, and informed consent. However, the EU views autonomy as not completely able to protect individuals and depends on other principles, such as dignity, which “expresses the intrinsic worth and fundamental equality of all human beings.” Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[44] Council of Europe. Convention for the protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (ETS No. 164) https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=164 (forbidding the creation of embryos for research purposes only, and suggests embryos in vitro have protections.); Also see Drabiak-Syed B. K. (2013). New President, New Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Policy: Comparative International Perspectives and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Laws in France.  Biotechnology Law Report ,  32 (6), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1089/blr.2013.9865

[45] Rendtorff, J.D., Kemp, P. (2019). Four Ethical Principles in European Bioethics and Biolaw: Autonomy, Dignity, Integrity and Vulnerability. In: Valdés, E., Lecaros, J. (eds) Biolaw and Policy in the Twenty-First Century. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 78. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05903-3_3

[46] Tomuschat, C., Currie, D. P., Kommers, D. P., & Kerr, R. (Trans.). (1949, May 23). Basic law for the Federal Republic of Germany. https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80201000.pdf

[47] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Germany . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-germany

[48] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Finland . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-finland

[49] Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Spain . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-spain

[50] Some sources to consider regarding ethics models or regulatory oversights of other cultures not covered:

Kara MA. Applicability of the principle of respect for autonomy: the perspective of Turkey. J Med Ethics. 2007 Nov;33(11):627-30. doi: 10.1136/jme.2006.017400. PMID: 17971462; PMCID: PMC2598110.

Ugarte, O. N., & Acioly, M. A. (2014). The principle of autonomy in Brazil: one needs to discuss it ...  Revista do Colegio Brasileiro de Cirurgioes ,  41 (5), 374–377. https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-69912014005013

Bharadwaj, A., & Glasner, P. E. (2012). Local cells, global science: The rise of embryonic stem cell research in India . Routledge.

For further research on specific European countries regarding ethical and regulatory framework, we recommend this database: Regulation of Stem Cell Research in Europe . Eurostemcell. (2017, April 26). https://www.eurostemcell.org/regulation-stem-cell-research-europe   

[51] Klitzman, R. (2006). Complications of culture in obtaining informed consent. The American Journal of Bioethics, 6(1), 20–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265160500394671 see also: Ekmekci, P. E., & Arda, B. (2017). Interculturalism and Informed Consent: Respecting Cultural Differences without Breaching Human Rights.  Cultura (Iasi, Romania) ,  14 (2), 159–172.; For why trust is important in research, see also: Gray, B., Hilder, J., Macdonald, L., Tester, R., Dowell, A., & Stubbe, M. (2017). Are research ethics guidelines culturally competent?  Research Ethics ,  13 (1), 23-41.  https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016116650235

[52] The Qur'an  (M. Khattab, Trans.). (1965). Al-Mu’minun, 23: 12-14. https://quran.com/23

[53] Lenfest, Y. (2017, December 8). Islam and the beginning of human life . Bill of Health. https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2017/12/08/islam-and-the-beginning-of-human-life/

[54] Aksoy, S. (2005). Making regulations and drawing up legislation in Islamic countries under conditions of uncertainty, with special reference to embryonic stem cell research. Journal of Medical Ethics , 31: 399-403.; see also: Mahmoud, Azza. "Islamic Bioethics: National Regulations and Guidelines of Human Stem Cell Research in the Muslim World." Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2022. https://doi.org/10.36837/ chapman.000386

[55] Rashid, R. (2022). When does Ensoulment occur in the Human Foetus. Journal of the British Islamic Medical Association , 12 (4). ISSN 2634 8071. https://www.jbima.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2-Ethics-3_-Ensoulment_Rafaqat.pdf.

[56] Sivaraman, M. & Noor, S. (2017). Ethics of embryonic stem cell research according to Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, and Islamic religions: perspective from Malaysia. Asian Biomedicine,8(1) 43-52.  https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0801.260

[57] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[58] Lecso, P. A. (1991). The Bodhisattva Ideal and Organ Transplantation.  Journal of Religion and Health ,  30 (1), 35–41. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27510629 ; Bodhisattva, S. (n.d.). The Key of Becoming a Bodhisattva . A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. http://www.buddhism.org/Sutras/2/BodhisattvaWay.htm

[59] There is no explicit religious reference to when life begins or how to conduct research that interacts with the concept of life. However, these are relevant verses pertaining to how the fetus is viewed. (( King James Bible . (1999). Oxford University Press. (original work published 1769))

Jerimiah 1: 5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”

In prophet Jerimiah’s insight, God set him apart as a person known before childbirth, a theme carried within the Psalm of David.

Psalm 139: 13-14 “…Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

These verses demonstrate David’s respect for God as an entity that would know of all man’s thoughts and doings even before birth.

[60] It should be noted that abortion is not supported as well.

[61] The Vatican. (1987, February 22). Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation Replies to Certain Questions of the Day . Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[62] The Vatican. (2000, August 25). Declaration On the Production and the Scientific and Therapeutic Use of Human Embryonic Stem Cells . Pontifical Academy for Life. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20000824_cellule-staminali_en.html ; Ohara, N. (2003). Ethical Consideration of Experimentation Using Living Human Embryos: The Catholic Church’s Position on Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology . Retrieved from https://article.imrpress.com/journal/CEOG/30/2-3/pii/2003018/77-81.pdf.

[63] Smith, G. A. (2022, May 23). Like Americans overall, Catholics vary in their abortion views, with regular mass attenders most opposed . Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/05/23/like-americans-overall-catholics-vary-in-their-abortion-views-with-regular-mass-attenders-most-opposed/

[64] Rosner, F., & Reichman, E. (2002). Embryonic stem cell research in Jewish law. Journal of halacha and contemporary society , (43), 49–68.; Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[65] Schenker J. G. (2008). The beginning of human life: status of embryo. Perspectives in Halakha (Jewish Religious Law).  Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics ,  25 (6), 271–276. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-008-9221-6

[66] Ruttenberg, D. (2020, May 5). The Torah of Abortion Justice (annotated source sheet) . Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/234926.7?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

[67] Jafari, M., Elahi, F., Ozyurt, S. & Wrigley, T. (2007). 4. Religious Perspectives on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. In K. Monroe, R. Miller & J. Tobis (Ed.),  Fundamentals of the Stem Cell Debate: The Scientific, Religious, Ethical, and Political Issues  (pp. 79-94). Berkeley: University of California Press.  https://escholarship.org/content/qt9rj0k7s3/qt9rj0k7s3_noSplash_f9aca2e02c3777c7fb76ea768ba458f0.pdf https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520940994-005

[68] Gert, B. (2007). Common morality: Deciding what to do . Oxford Univ. Press.

[69] World Medical Association (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA , 310(20), 2191–2194. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053 Declaration of Helsinki – WMA – The World Medical Association .; see also: National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. (1979).  The Belmont report: Ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations-and-policy/belmont-report/read-the-belmont-report/index.html

[70] Zakarin Safier, L., Gumer, A., Kline, M., Egli, D., & Sauer, M. V. (2018). Compensating human subjects providing oocytes for stem cell research: 9-year experience and outcomes.  Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics ,  35 (7), 1219–1225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-018-1171-z https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6063839/ see also: Riordan, N. H., & Paz Rodríguez, J. (2021). Addressing concerns regarding associated costs, transparency, and integrity of research in recent stem cell trial. Stem Cells Translational Medicine , 10 (12), 1715–1716. https://doi.org/10.1002/sctm.21-0234

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[72] Krosin, M. T., Klitzman, R., Levin, B., Cheng, J., & Ranney, M. L. (2006). Problems in comprehension of informed consent in rural and peri-urban Mali, West Africa.  Clinical trials (London, England) ,  3 (3), 306–313. https://doi.org/10.1191/1740774506cn150oa

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[76] Stem Cell Tourism: False Hope for Real Money . Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). (2023). https://hsci.harvard.edu/stem-cell-tourism , See also: Bissassar, M. (2017). Transnational Stem Cell Tourism: An ethical analysis.  Voices in Bioethics ,  3 . https://doi.org/10.7916/vib.v3i.6027

[77] Song, P. (2011) The proliferation of stem cell therapies in post-Mao China: problematizing ethical regulation,  New Genetics and Society , 30:2, 141-153, DOI:  10.1080/14636778.2011.574375

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Mifrah Hayath

SM Candidate Harvard Medical School, MS Biotechnology Johns Hopkins University

Olivia Bowers

MS Bioethics Columbia University (Disclosure: affiliated with Voices in Bioethics)

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Differences in quality of anticoagulation care delivery according to ethnoracial group in the United States: A scoping review

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• Published: 11 May 2024

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• Sara R. Vazquez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9267-8980 1 ,
• Naomi Y. Yates 2 ,
• Craig J. Beavers 3 , 4 ,
• Darren M. Triller 3 &
• Mary M. McFarland 5  

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Anticoagulation therapy is standard for conditions like atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism, and valvular heart disease, yet it is unclear if there are ethnoracial disparities in its quality and delivery in the United States. For this scoping review, electronic databases were searched for publications between January 1, 2011 – March 30, 2022. Eligible studies included all study designs, any setting within the United States, patients prescribed anticoagulation for any indication, outcomes reported for ≥ 2 distinct ethnoracial groups. The following four research questions were explored: Do ethnoracial differences exist in 1) access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy, 2) quality of anticoagulation therapy management, 3) clinical outcomes related to anticoagulation care, 4) humanistic/educational outcomes related to anticoagulation therapy. A total of 5374 studies were screened, 570 studies received full-text review, and 96 studies were analyzed. The largest mapped focus was patients’ access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy (88/96 articles, 91.7%). Seventy-eight articles made statistical outcomes comparisons among ethnoracial groups. Across all four research questions, 79 articles demonstrated favorable outcomes for White patients compared to non-White patients, 38 articles showed no difference between White and non-White groups, and 8 favored non-White groups (the total exceeds the 78 articles with statistical outcomes as many articles reported multiple outcomes). Disparities disadvantaging non-White patients were most pronounced in access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy (43/66 articles analyzed) and quality of anticoagulation management (19/21 articles analyzed). Although treatment guidelines do not differentiate anticoagulant therapy by ethnoracial group, this scoping review found consistently favorable outcomes for White patients over non-White patients in the domains of access to anticoagulation therapy for guideline-based indications and quality of anticoagulation therapy management. No differences among groups were noted in clinical outcomes, and very few studies assessed humanistic or educational outcomes.

Graphical Abstract

Scoping Review: Differences in quality of United States anticoagulation care delivery by ethnoracial group. AF = atrial fibrillation; AMS = anticoagulation management service; DOACs = direct oral anticoagulants; INR = international normalized ratio; PSM = patient self-management; PST = patient self-testing

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Introduction

It is well-established that in the United States (US) ethnoracial disparities exist in various aspects of health care. Specifically, persons identifying with an ethnoracial minority group may have more challenging access to health care, worse clinical outcomes, and higher dissatisfaction with care compared to White persons [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. There are differences by ethnoracial group in the prevalence of the three most common indications for which anticoagulants are prescribed, stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF), treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE), and valvular heart disease [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Specifically, VTE is most prevalent in Black patients compared to White and Asian patients, whereas AF is most prevalent in White patients compared to Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients [ 9 , 10 , 15 ]. Calcific heart valve disease has the most relevance to the US population, and epidemiologic data has shown that aortic stenosis is more prevalent in White patients compared to Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients [ 17 ]. Despite these epidemiologic differences, there is no evidence to suggest there should be any difference in treatment strategies across ethnoracial patient groups.

While studies have demonstrated genotypic differences that may result in different warfarin dose requirements[ 18 ], and early studies may indicate genotypic differences in direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) response [ 19 ], no US-based labeling or guidelines recommend a difference in prescription or delivery of anticoagulation care based on race or ethnicity. However, it is unclear if there are in fact differences in the type and quality of anticoagulation therapy, which is standard of care for each of these conditions [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. Anticoagulants remain in the top three classes of drugs causing adverse drug events (primarily bleeding) in the United States, according to the 2014 National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention. One of the goals of the National Action Plan was to identify patient populations at higher risk for these adverse drug events to inform the development of targeted harm reduction strategies [ 25 ]. If ethnoracial minority patients are receiving sub-optimal anticoagulation therapy in certain measurable areas of anticoagulation quality, it is vital to highlight the areas of disparity so that these can be explored and care optimized. Anticoagulation providers often have high frequency contact with their patients and can be a reliable connection between disproportionately affected patients and a system in need of change. Systematic reviews of ethnoracial disparities in AF and VTE have been conducted. The AF review assessed AF prevalence among racial groups as well as differences in symptoms and management, including stroke prevention with warfarin or DOACs [ 9 ]. The VTE review specifically assessed VTE prevalence and racial differences in COVID-19 and did report the use of any prophylactic anticoagulation, but this was not part of the analysis [ 26 ]. No review of racial disparities in quality of anticoagulation therapy was found in search results conducted prior to protocol.

In this study we aimed to identify any potential ethnoracial disparities in anticoagulation care quality in the US. The decision to limit the study to a US population was based on our observation that the US has a unique history of interactions between racial and ethnic groups that may not necessarily be reflected by studies conducted in other countries. Additionally, health care delivery systems vary widely across the world, and we wanted to include the data most relevant to the potential racial disparities existing in the US health care system. The term “race” was used to identify a group of people with shared physical characteristics believed to be of common ancestry whereas the term “ethnicity” refers to a group of people with shared cultural traditions [ 27 ]. We recognize these terms may be far more complex. In order to encompass both the physical and cultural aspects of a patient’s identity we have chosen to use the term “ethnoracial” for this study [ 27 ]. Highlighting existing differences will serve as a stimulus for institutions and clinicians to assess current services, implement quality improvement measures, and inform future research efforts to deliver optimal anticoagulation care for all patients. The scoping review protocol was registered December 22, 2021 to Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/9SE7H [ 28 ].

We conducted this scoping review with guidance from the 2020 version of the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis and organized to Arksey's five stages: 1) identifying the research question, 2) identifying relevant studies, 3) study selection, 4) charting the data and 5) collating, summarizing and reporting the results [ 29 , 30 ]. For transparency and reproducibility, we followed the PRISMA-ScR and PRISMA-S reporting guidelines in reporting our results [ 31 ]. We used Covidence (Veritas Health Innovation,) an online systematic reviewing platform to screen and select studies. Citation management and duplicate detection and removal was accomplished with EndNote, version 19 (Clarivate Analytics.) Data was charted from our selected studies using REDCap, an electronic data capture tool hosted at the University of Utah [ 32 ].

Literature searching

An information specialist developed and translated search strategies for the online databases using a combination of keywords and controlled subject headings unique to each database along with team feedback. Peer review of the strategies was conducted by library colleagues using the PRESS guidelines. [ 33 ] Electronic databases searched included Medline (Ovid) 2011–2022, Embase (embase.com) 2011–2022, CINAHL Complete (Ebscohost) 2011–2022, Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest) 2011–2022, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (Ovid) 2011–2022, Scopus (scopus.org) 2011–2022 and Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics) 2011–2022. Limits included a date range from January 1, 2011 to March 30—April 19, 2022, as not all database results were exported on the same day. See Supplemental File 1 for detailed search strategies. A search of grey literature was not conducted due to time and resource constraints.

Study Selection

For inclusion, each study required two votes by independent reviewers for screening of titles and abstracts followed by full-text review. A third reviewer provided the deciding vote. Data extraction was performed by two independent reviewers, and consensus on any discrepancies was reached via discussion between the reviewers. The data form was piloted by two team members using sentinel articles prior to data extraction.

Eligible studies included all types of study designs in any setting with a population of patients of any age or gender located within the US who were prescribed anticoagulant therapy for any indication, published between January 1, 2011 – March 30, 2022 in order to capture contemporary and clinically relevant practices.

We defined the following research questions for this scoping review as described in Table  1 .

Studies must have reported any of these anticoagulation care delivery outcomes for at least 2 distinct racial or ethnic groups. We excluded genotyping studies and non-English language articles at full text review, as we had no funding for translation services. In checking references of included studies, no additional studies met inclusion criteria. In accordance with scoping review methodology, no quality assessment of included studies was conducted as our goal was to rapidly map the literature. As this is a scoping review of the literature, no aggregate or pooled analysis was performed; however, for ease of interpretation, when assessing for the directionality of the outcomes in the various studies, we categorized studies into Favoring White Group, Favoring Non-White Group, and No Differences Among Ethnoracial Groups. If studies had mixed outcomes of favoring one group for one outcome and no difference for another, then the study was categorized with the favoring group.

A PRISMA flow diagram in Fig.  1 depicts search results, exclusions, and inclusions. The search strategies retrieved 6900 results with 1526 duplicates removed. Following title and abstract screening of 5374 references, 570 articles received full-text review. The most common reason for the exclusion of 474 studies was that outcomes were not reported for two distinct ethnoracial groups (171 studies). Ninety-six studies underwent data extraction.

PRISMA Flow Diagram

Study characteristics-overall

Fifty of the 96 studies were published between 2011 and 2018 (an average of 6.25 articles per year that compared outcomes between two ethnoracial groups) and 43 of 96 studies were published in the years 2019–2021 (average 14.3 articles per year; 2022 excluded here because only 4 months of data was captured) (Fig.  2 ). Most studies analyzed an outpatient population (65.6%) for an indication of stroke prevention in AF (67.7%) in patients taking warfarin (71.9%) or DOACs (49.0%). Study population size was heterogenous, ranging from a study size of 24 patients to over 1.3 million patients (median 5,238 patients) in the 69 studies that reported population size by racial group. When stratified by size, 60.9% of the articles in the scoping review (42 articles) represented < 10,000 patients (Table  2 ).

Number of Articles by Publication Year. *2022 excluded from this figure since the search period did not capture the entire year

Study characteristics-by ethnoracial group

There were 50 studies (52.1%) where race or ethnicity was either mentioned in the title or objective of the article, with 24 of these published over the 7-year period 2011–2018 and 26 published over the 3-year period 2019 to first quarter 2022. The method for reporting race or ethnicity was unclear or unspecified in most studies (77.1%) and 16 articles (16.7%) utilized self-reporting of race or ethnicity. Most studies analyzed White or Caucasian racial groups (94.8%), followed by Black or African-American (80.2%), and many studies grouped all other racial groups into an “Other” category (41.7%) (Fig.  3 ).

Number of Articles by Ethnoracial Groups. *For study inclusion, a study had to compare outcomes for least two distinct ethnoracial groups 

White patients accounted for a median 77% of study populations, Black patients 9.5%, Hispanic/Latino patients 6.2%, “Other” racial groups 5.3%, and Asian patients 2.5%.

Study outcomes-overall

Of the 4 research questions, most studies included in this review analyzed patients’ access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy (88/96 articles, 91.7%), clinical outcomes (42/96 articles, 43.8%), or quality of anticoagulation management (24/96 articles, 25.0%), while very few addressed humanistic or educational outcomes (5/96 articles, 5.2%) (Fig.  4 ). Many studies addressed multiple outcomes within the single study.

Number of Articles Mapped by Research Question

Seventy-eight of the 96 included studies provided statistical comparisons between ethnoracial groups, and these data are presented below.

Outcomes for research question 1: Do ethnoracial differences exist in access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy?

Anticoagulation for a guideline-based indication.

This question focused on patients who had an indication for anticoagulation actually receiving an anticoagulant, specifically AF and VTE prophylaxis (based on risk stratification) and acute VTE. The majority of the AF studies (25/34 studies) demonstrated White patients receiving anticoagulation at significantly higher rates compared to non-White patients [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ], while the six VTE studies largely demonstrated no difference among ethnoracial groups [ 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ].

DOACs as first-line therapy for AF or VTE

Eighteen individual studies statistically assessed the outcome of DOAC as first-line therapy (compared to warfarin) for AF (15 studies), VTE treatment (2 studies), or both indications (1 study). Twelve of the 15 AF studies showed a significantly higher proportion of White patients received DOACs as first-line therapy compared to non-White patients [ 36 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 54 , 55 , 67 , 68 ]. Of those 12, 9 specifically compared White patients to Black patients. Both VTE treatment studies and the study that assessed both AF and VTE indications showed significantly higher DOAC prescribing rates for White patients compared to Black patients [ 69 , 70 , 71 ].

Anticoagulant therapy adherence/persistence

The eight studies that addressed anticoagulation therapy adherence/persistence showed variability in outcome directionality by ethnoracial group: 5 no difference [ 41 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ], 2 showed better treatment adherence/persistence for White patients compared to Black patients[ 76 ] or non-White patients [ 77 ], and one showed better treatment adherence/persistence for White patients compared to Hispanic patients, but no difference in White versus Black patients [ 78 ].

Figure  5 summarizes the outcome directionality for Research Question 1 regarding access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy. Overall, the areas of disparity identified included anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation and preferential use of DOAC therapy for AF and VTE treatment.

Outcome Directionality for the 4 Research Questions and their Subcategories. AC = anticoagulant; AMS = anticoagulation management service; INR = international normalized ratio; PST = patient self-testing; PSM = patient self-management

Research question 2: Do ethnoracial differences exist in the quality of anticoagulation therapy management?

A total of 21 studies assessed quality of anticoagulation therapy management: Warfarin time in therapeutic range (TTR)/INR (International Normalized Ratio) control 12 studies, appropriate anticoagulant dosing 3 studies, enrollment in an anticoagulation management service 5 studies, and PST/PSM one study.

In statistical comparisons of INR control in warfarin patients, all 12 studies (7 assessed mean or median TTR, 5 assessed other measures of INR control such as days spent above/below range, gaps in INR monitoring) showed White patients had favorable INR control compared to non-White patients (most comparisons included Black patients) [ 41 , 75 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 ]. Enrollment in an anticoagulation management service was statistically compared among ethnoracial groups in 5 studies, and this opportunity favored White patients compared to other racial groups in four of the five [ 41 , 82 , 86 , 88 ]. Two of the three studies that statistically analyzed appropriate anticoagulant dosing showed a higher rate of appropriate DOAC dosing in White patients compared to non-White patients [ 41 , 89 ], and the third showed no difference among ethnoracial groups for enoxaparin dosing in the emergency department [ 90 ]. The one study assessing access to PST/PSM showed that more White patients used PST compared to Black or Hispanic patients[ 91 ] (Fig.  5 ).

Research question 3: Do ethnoracial differences exist in the clinical outcomes related to anticoagulation care?

Articles assessing clinical outcomes among ethnoracial groups primarily assessed bleeding (15 articles) or thrombosis (9 articles) outcomes, and 8 articles assessing anticoagulation related hospitalization or mortality. One article addressed a net clinical outcome including major bleeding, stroke or systemic embolism, and death from any cause. This was included in the bleeding outcomes category so that it was not double-counted in the other two outcome categories. Additional details about the 24 unique studies that statistically assessed clinical outcomes including the study design, population size, ethnoracial groups studied, anticoagulants used, and statistical outcomes measured can be found in Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 .

Sixteen studies statistically assessed bleeding outcomes of varying definitions (major bleeding 13 studies, clinically relevant non-major bleeding 3 studies, any bleeding 3 studies, bleeding otherwise defined 3 studies). Six studies demonstrated no difference in bleeding outcomes by ethnoracial group [ 55 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 , 96 ]9 reported that White patients had lower rates of bleeding compared to Black or Asian patients,[ 53 , 80 , 83 , 85 , 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 ]. In the remaining study, Asian patients had a more favorable net clinical outcome compared to non-Asian patients [ 102 ].

Nine studies statistically assessed thrombosis outcomes among ethnoracial groups, including stroke/systemic embolism (5 studies), recurrent VTE (3 studies), or any thrombosis (1 study). The stroke outcomes by racial group were heterogeneous, with 3 studies showing better outcomes for White patients compared to Black patients[ 103 , 104 , 105 ] and two studies showing no difference in outcomes when White patients were compared to Non-White patients [ 55 , 95 ]. In three of the four VTE studies there were no differences in outcomes by ethnoracial group [ 61 , 93 , 96 ], and in one study White patients had more favorable outcomes compared to Black patients [ 106 ].

Nine studies assessed anticoagulation-related hospitalizations or mortality by ethnoracial group. Outcomes were mixed, as four studies showed no difference in hospitalizations or mortality among ethnoracial groups,[ 89 , 95 , 96 , 107 ], three studies showed White patients had a lower rate of hospitalizations[ 85 , 105 ] or mortality[ 104 , 105 ] Another study showed lower rate of mortality or hospice after intracranial hemorrhage in Black and Other race patients [ 108 ].(Fig.  5 ).

Research question 4: Do ethnoracial differences exist in the humanistic/educational outcomes related to anticoagulation therapy?

The five studies reporting this category of outcomes were heterogeneous. Of the two studies assessing anticoagulation knowledge, one showed no difference by ethnoracial group [ 109 ], and the other favored the non-White group in appropriately estimating bleeding risk [ 110 ]. One study assessed an atrial fibrillation quality of life score at 2-year follow-up after AF diagnosis and found the outcomes favored White patients [ 79 ]. Another study assessed satisfaction with VTE care and found no difference among ethnoracial groups [ 111 ]. A third study found no difference in the percentage of racial groups having a cost conversation when initiating DOAC therapy (78% Whites, 72.2% non-Whites)[ 112 ] (Fig.  5 ).

Overall outcome directionality for all four research questions is shown in Fig.  6 . A total of 79 articles demonstrated favorable outcomes for White patients compared to non-White patients, 38 articles showed no difference between White and non-White groups, and 8 articles had outcomes favoring non-White groups (the total exceeds the 78 articles with statistical outcomes as many articles reported multiple outcomes). The biggest areas of disparity between White and non-White groups are access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy and quality of anticoagulation therapy management. Clinical outcomes relating to anticoagulation care had the least difference among ethnoracial groups. Relatively few studies assessed potential ethnoracial disparities in humanistic and educational outcomes.

Outcome Directionality for All 4 Research Questions

This scoping review assessing ethnoracial differences in the quality of anticoagulation care and its delivery to patients in the United States encompassed eleven full years of literature and resulted in the inclusion of 96 studies, 78 of which contained statistical outcomes comparisons among ethnoracial groups. The most common reason for study exclusion was that outcomes were not reported for at least two distinct ethnoracial groups. We observed that beginning in 2019 and following the racial unrest of 2020, the density of articles addressing ethnoracial disparities in anticoagulation care more than doubled. During the entire study period, half of studies had race or ethnicity as the focus or objective of the paper, but this was largely driven by articles published after 2019.

Only 16% of included articles documented self-reporting of racial identity, with most of the remainder using an unspecified method for documenting racial identity. It is likely that many studies utilize demographic information extracted from an electronic medical record (EMR), but it is often unclear if that is truly self-reported race. A second element this scoping review identified was that many studies analyzed two or three ethnoracial groups and then categorized all others into a heterogenous “Other” category. For example, frequently studies would categorize patients as White, Black, and “Other.” It is unclear whether those in a racial category labeled as “Other” had an unknown or missing racial identity in the EMR, or intentionally chose not to disclose. It is also likely that study investigators decided to classify ethnoracial groups with lower population sizes into a miscellaneous category. There were few studies (15%) that specifically assessed patients identifying as Native American/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial. While Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity, most studies categorized it as a separate “race” category. Of the 37 studies that analyzed “Asian” patient populations, none specifically defined “Asian” beyond that. The US Census Bureau defines “Asian” race as a person having origins of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent [ 113 ]. This broad definition encompasses many different ethnicities which could represent variability in health outcomes if better defined and more frequently analyzed. These may be opportunities for EMR systems to improve transparency for how race, ethnicity, and language preference are captured and for those designing research studies to be thoughtful and intentional about analyzing the ethnoracial identities of the study population, perhaps in alignment with the minimum 5 racial categories utilized by the US Census Bureau, the National Institutes of Health, and the Office of Management and Budget (White, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, with permission for a “some other race” category and the option to select multiple races) [ 113 ]. Since 2017 Clinicaltrials.gov has required the reporting of race/ethnicity if collected, and there is good compliance with this requirement, but less so in publication of the work [ 114 ].

We examined the proportion of ethnoracial groups represented for each of the disease states in the studies included in this scoping review, relative to disease state prevalence and found a discrepancy. For AF, prevalence in White patients was 11.3%, in Black patients 6.6%, and in Hispanic patients 7.8% [ 15 ]. However, the representation in AF studies in this review were 74% White, 13% Black, and 8% Hispanic. Assessing VTE incidence by race is more difficult, as studies have shown regional and time variation, with Black patients typically having a higher incidence compared to other ethnoracial groups [ 16 ]. In this review, however, of the studies assessing VTE treatment or prophylaxis, only 16% of the patient population identified as Black, whereas 70% identified as White. There were only 3 studies that assessed a valvular heart disease population, making ethnoracial group representation difficult to assess.

The majority of studies captured in this review analyzed patients in the outpatient setting, for the anticoagulation indication of stroke prevention in AF, taking either warfarin or DOAC. Few studies involved the acute care setting or injectable anticoagulants, representing an area for future study of potential ethnoracial disparities.

Overall, the majority of studies in this scoping review addressed ethnoracial disparities in patients’ access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy, clinical outcomes related to anticoagulation care, and quality of anticoagulation management. A research gap identified was more study is needed to assess gaps in educational outcomes such as anticoagulation and disease state knowledge, shared decision-making willingness and capability, and humanistic outcomes such as quality of life or satisfaction with anticoagulation therapy.

In analyzing the first research question regarding ethnoracial differences in access to guideline-based anticoagulation therapy, the majority of studies addressed use of any anticoagulation for stroke prevention in AF in patients above a threshold risk score and the preferential use of DOACs as first-line therapy instead of warfarin for AF. In both categories, patients in a non-White ethnoracial group (particularly Black patients) received recommended therapy less often than patients identified as White. It is unclear why this is the case. It could be on the patient, provider, and/or system level. It is possible that some studies more successfully adjusted for covariates than others. Sites or settings with systematic processes like order sets or clinical decision support systems in place for standard prescribing may be more successful in equitably prescribing indicated therapies. In one large study in the Veterans Affairs population of AF patients, even after adjusting for numerous variables that included clinical, demographic, socioeconomic, prescriber, and geographic site factors, DOAC prescribing remained lower in Asian and Black patients when compared with White patients. The authors in that study postulate that non-White populations may be less receptive to novel therapies due to historical mistrust of the health care system or have reduced access to education about the latest treatments, and they give the example of direct-to-consumer advertising [ 42 ]. It has also previously been demonstrated that prescribing of oral anticoagulation and particularly DOACs is lower in non-White patients [ 41 ]. These are difficult to capture as standard covariates, which is why further study is needed. We examined the publication dates for both access categories to see if perhaps there was a lack of contemporary data skewing the outcomes. However, for both anticoagulation for a guideline-based indication and DOACs as first-line therapy, the majority of articles came from the time period 2019–2021 (24 of 40 articles, and 15 of 18 articles, respectively), well after guideline updates preferentially recommended DOACs [ 34 , 35 ]. Also, there were relatively few studies addressing guideline-based therapy for VTE treatment and prophylaxis, making assessment of disparities difficult. Regarding access, it is well established that race and ethnicity often determine a patient’s socioeconomic status and that low socioeconomic status and its correlates (e.g., reduced education, income, and healthcare access) are associated with poorer health outcomes [ 115 ]. However, at each level of income or education, Black patients experience worse health outcomes than Whites [ 116 ]. So, low socioeconomic status does not fully explain poorer health outcomes for non-White individuals.

After examining access to appropriate and preferred anticoagulation therapy, the second research question of this scoping review examined potential ethnoracial disparities in the quality of anticoagulation therapy management. INR control measures such as time in therapeutic INR range are a surrogate measure of both thrombotic and bleeding outcomes and frequently used as a way to assess quality of warfarin therapy. The studies identified in this review showed clear disparity between White and non-White patient groups (especially Black patients), however all twelve studies comparing TTR among ethnoracial groups were published prior to 2019. This could be due to the decline in warfarin prescribing relative to increases in DOAC prescribing [ 117 , 118 , 119 ], but there remain patient populations that require or choose warfarin, so this marker of anticoagulation control remains relevant and requires continued reassessment. There were relatively few studies assessing other markers of anticoagulation management quality such as anticoagulation management service enrollment, appropriate DOAC dosing, and access to quality improvement strategies like PST or PSM. Few studies assessed educational outcomes, yet this may have relevance to the above anticoagulation care quality question. For those patients who remain on warfarin, dietary Vitamin K consistency is an example of a key educational point that links directly to INR control. It is unclear if there are disparities in this type of education among ethnoracial groups that may have more far-reaching effects.

Of note, clinical outcomes related to anticoagulant therapy seemed to have the fewest areas of disparity, although the number of articles was small. This suggests that if patients have access to high quality anticoagulation therapy, there is a promising sign that optimal clinical outcomes can be achieved for all ethnoracial groups.

There are some limitations of this scoping review that warrant consideration. First, we chose fairly broad inclusion criteria (all anticoagulants, all study types) because a review of this type had never been performed before. This resulted in a relatively large number of included articles for a scoping review. Second, there is likely a high degree of heterogeneity among patient populations and outcomes definitions. However, as this is a scoping review with the goal to present an overview of the literature and not report on composite outcomes, a risk of bias assessment was not performed. Third is our decision to group patients into White and non-White groups for assessment of outcome directionality. In doing so, we may have missed subtle differences in outcomes between various non-White ethnoracial groups. Fourth, in our main search we included all studies that reported outcomes, but due to scope, we only reported outcome directionality for studies that statistically compared outcomes between ethnoracial groups. Finally, due to the large number of studies that required review and analysis, this was a lengthy undertaking and we are certain that additional studies have been published since the closure of our search period.

In line with the 2014 National Action Plan for Adverse Drug Event Prevention’s goal of identifying patient populations at higher risk of adverse drug events, this scoping review highlights several areas where quality of anticoagulation care can be optimized for all patients. Future research opportunities in ethnoracial differences in the quality of anticoagulation care are summarized in Table  3 . While the scoping review focused exclusively on the evaluation of peer-reviewed manuscripts, the heterogeneity of terminology and methodologies identified in the published papers may have implications for national health policy relating to the quality and safety of care (e.g.the Medicare Quality Payment Program) [ 120 ]. To accurately and reliably quantify important disparities in AC-related care and support effective improvement initiatives, attention and effort will need to be invested across the full continuum of quality measure development [ 121 ], measure endorsement [ 122 ], measure selection, and status assignment within value-based payment programs (e.g., required/optional, measure weighting) [ 123 ]. The findings of the scoping review may be of utility to such efforts, and the development and implementation of suitable quality measures will likely be of value to future research efforts in this important therapeutic area.

Conclusions

Treatment guidelines do not recommend differentiating anticoagulant therapy by ethnoracial group, yet this scoping review of the literature demonstrates consistent directionality in favor of White patients over non-White patients in the domains of access to anticoagulation therapy for guideline-based indications, prescription of preferred anticoagulation therapies, and quality of anticoagulation therapy management. These data should serve as a stimulus for an assessment of current services, implementation of quality improvement measures, and inform future research to make anticoagulation care quality more equitable.

Data Availability

Data are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the following individuals for their work in screening articles for this scoping review: April Allen, PharmD, CACP; Allison Burnett, PharmD, PhC, CACP; Stacy Ellsworth, RN, MSN, CCRC; Danielle Jenkins, MBA, RN, BSN, CRNI; Amanda Katz, MBA; Lea Kistenmacher, Julia Mulheman, PharmD; Surhabi Palkimas, PharmD, MBA; Terri Schnurr, RN, CCRC; Deborah Siegal, MD, MSc, FRCPC; Kimberly Terry, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP; and Terri Wiggins, MS.

The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Anticoagulation Forum in the development of this manuscript. The Anticoagulation Forum is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of care for patients taking antithrombotic medications.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation was performed by Sara Vazquez, Naomi Yates, and Mary McFarland. Data collection and analysis were performed by Sara Vazquez, Naomi Yates, Craig Beavers, and Darren Triller. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Sara Vazquez and all authors edited subsequent drafts. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Vazquez, S.R., Yates, N.Y., Beavers, C.J. et al. Differences in quality of anticoagulation care delivery according to ethnoracial group in the United States: A scoping review. J Thromb Thrombolysis (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11239-024-02991-2

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International comparison of China’s digitalization level and its enlightenment

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft

• Zongyuan Huang, 
• Miaomiao Qin

• Published: May 16, 2024
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014
• Peer Review
• Reader Comments

The global digital wave has flourished in recent years, and the digital technology revolution has emerged. Digitalization plays an undeniable role in promoting modern economic and social development in multiple aspects such as economy, society, innovation, public services and sustainable development, China’s digitalization application is also developing rapidly. In order to better measure the current situation of China’s digitalization development level, this paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system of digitalization development from four dimensions of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation ability and international competitiveness, and tests the index system. The entropy method is used to measure the level of digitalization development between China and the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other major developed countries in the world, and the coefficient of variation method, kernel density estimation and Dagum Gini coefficient method are used to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics and regional differences of digitalization development level of seven countries. This paper makes a comparative analysis between China and major developed countries from the historical perspective of the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm. With a view to summarizing and exploring from it and drawing on the advanced experiences accumulated by the developed countries over a long period of time, so as to provide China with useful insights and bases for further enhancing its digitalization development level.

Citation: Huang Z, Qin M (2024) International comparison of China’s digitalization level and its enlightenment. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0303014. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014

Editor: Joanna Rosak-Szyrocka, Czestochowa University of Technology: Politechnika Czestochowska, POLAND

Received: September 18, 2023; Accepted: April 16, 2024; Published: May 16, 2024

Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Qin. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

1. Introduction

With the development of information technology, the important role of digitization in modern economic development is becoming increasingly prominent. The so-called digitalization refers to a new economic paradigm that utilizes digital technology to promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the modern economy and society. For modern economic development, digitalization can greatly improve economic efficiency and resource utilization efficiency by improving production and operational processes. Through automation and intelligence, costs can be reduced, time and labor demand can be reduced, and more accurate predictions and plans can be achieved. Digitalization can also change the form of products and services, provide personalized solutions, and bring more innovation opportunities for enterprises and organizations, creating new business models and market opportunities, thereby promoting innovation and adding value. Digitalization can also enhance value creation by increasing data-driven insights and decision-making capabilities through data analysis and mining. In addition, digitalization plays a better role in expanding markets and reducing transaction costs, promoting employment and human resource development, and supporting sustainable development, which means that it can promote economic development and form more efficient production and management methods, increase opportunities for innovation and growth, expand market potential, and support sustainable development, thereby bringing about a stronger and more competitive economic system.

The concept of a "digital economy" was first explicitly proposed at the G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016 [ 1 ]. Since then, digitalization has rapidly become a highly valued theme in the economic development strategies of countries around the world. The digital strategic layout of major countries in the world is mainly reflected in: in terms of infrastructure construction, the United States has vigorously established advanced digital infrastructure, including high-speed broadband networks and full coverage of 5G technology, created a good digital environment by providing fast and reliable internet connectivity, and promoted research and development of cutting-edge digital technologies to consolidate the innovation advantages of key core technologies in the digital economy; in 2018, the German federal government put forward the construction of digital infrastructure, digital transformation innovation action, and full integration of digital technology into the innovation strategy; Japan continues to improve the digital talent training system, focusing on innovation in infrastructure and science and technology; the British government continues to activate the innovation effectiveness, focusing on data acquisition, talent training, research transformation and industry development [ 2 ]. It can be seen that there are commonalities in the digitalization strategy layout of major countries in the world, in which the three aspects of infrastructure construction, talent training and scientific and technological innovation play an important role. Taking this as the starting point, this paper compares and analyzes the digitalization development level between China and major developed countries by constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system for digitalization development, and the research aims to clarify the current situation of digitalization development in China.

Currently, countries around the world have launched digitalization development strategies to seize important opportunity windows. Developed countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan have accumulated long-term experience, while China is in the catch-up stage [ 3 ]. In view of this, this paper reviews and analyzes the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm in major developed countries and China, with a view to clearly understanding the gaps and shortcomings in China on the basis of learning from the advanced experience of other countries, so as to find out the effective ways and countermeasures of China’s digitalization development.

2. Literature review

2.1 relevant research on digitalization development.

To accurately evaluate the level of digitalization development in various countries, domestic and foreign scholars have conducted discussions and analyses from different perspectives. For example, Andres et al. studied the development of the digital economy in 214 countries including China, Brazil, and France from 1990 to 2004 mainly from three aspects: factor endowment, population agglomeration, and Internet development [ 4 ]. Chinn and Fairlie measured the development level of the digital economy in 161 countries from 1990 to 2001 in terms of income, regulation, and infrastructure [ 5 ]. Wunnava and Leiter respectively studied the current status of the digital economy in various countries from three dimensions: telecommunications infrastructure, sound implementation of economic laws and regulations, and personal quality [ 6 ]. Crenshaw and Robison studied the development level of the digital economy in various countries from three aspects: foreign investment, major city clusters, and manufacturing exports [ 7 ]. Lam et al. used interpolation simulation methods to study the development of Vietnam’s digital economy from 1997 to 2002 from four aspects: Internet popularity, technical equipment, legal factors, and historical factors [ 8 ]. Domestic scholars have also conducted research on the evaluation of the digital economy from multiple perspectives. For example, Pan Wei and Han Botang conducted research from five aspects: total economic output, labor capital input, R&D capital input, urbanization level, and information technology factors, to analyze the digitalization level of urban agglomerations in the Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta urban agglomerations [ 9 ]. Yang Daoling and Li Xiangli studied the digital economy development level of 64 countries along the "Belt and Road" except China in 2016 from three aspects of ICT foundation, ICT application, and ICT industry by using the dimensionless method and grading method [ 10 ]. Zhang Bochao and Shen Kaiyan analyzed the development level of the digital economy in 42 countries along the Belt and Road, including China, Mongolia and Singapore, from three perspectives: factor endowment and infrastructure, information technology, business and innovation environment [ 11 ]. Dong Youde and Mi Xiaoxiao measured the development level of the digital economy in 104 Asian and European countries from 2009 to 2016, including China and Russia, from three dimensions: system and innovation environment, infrastructure construction and information technology application [ 12 ]. In addition, domestic scholars also have conducted an evaluation and analysis of regional digital capabilities and industrial digital transformation [ 13 – 15 ], the digital transformation of enterprises is mostly based on theoretical analysis [ 16 ]. From this, it can be seen that there are still few studies on the comparative analysis of the digitalization level between China and the major developed countries, which is unfavorable for our country to better promote the digitalization development level and speed up the development of the digital economy. Starting from a comparative analysis of the digitalization development level between China and major developed countries around the world, this article delves into and analyzes the main problems that still exist in China’s digitalization development. Starting from a new perspective of the synergy between technological economic paradigms and digital economic development, it seeks effective ways and methods to further enhance China’s digitalization development. This will be beneficial for further promoting the high-quality development of China’s digital economy.

2.2 Measurement of digitalization level

From the existing research results, domestic and foreign scholars have regarded digital technology as an important index for measuring the level of digitalization [ 17 – 21 ], although some scholars use a single index for evaluation [ 22 , 23 ]. More scholars believe that the level of digitalization should be measured from multiple dimensions [ 24 – 33 ]. However, from the evaluation of national digitalization development level, there is currently no recognized measurement standard and unified evaluation system, and there are few targeted comparative analysis studies on the digitalization development level between China and major developed countries.

There are two difficulties in evaluating the digitalization development level in various countries: one is how to select reasonable and feasible indices, and the other is how to determine the weight of the evaluation index system through correct and objective weighting. On the basis of drawing on previous research results and considering factors such as the scientificity, effectiveness, rationality, reliability, and accessibility of indices and data, this paper measures the digitalization development level in China and the world’s major developed countries from the four dimensions of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation capability and international competitiveness, which are characterized by highlighting the significance in the process of digitalization, and these indices have a certain portrayal ability for depicting the application level of digital technology.

3. Research methods

The direct use of digital technology to form indices is certainly the most ideal, but due to the lack of effective statistical data in this area, most scholars in practical research work adopt a comprehensive index system method composed of relevant data. Based on the existing research results, this paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for digitalization development, which consists of 4 first-level indices and 12 second-level indices, including talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation ability and international competitiveness (see Table 1 for details). The data used in this paper are from the World Bank database, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Trade Organization database, and the China National Statistical Yearbook, and the data period is 2012–2021. In order to make the table more beautiful, we use the letters A-D to arrange the primary and secondary indices. The letters in the following table are shown in Table 1 .

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t001

In terms of talents in the digital field, the importance of talents in the digital field for digitalization development cannot be ignored. Therefore, this paper selects the two indices of R&D researchers per million people and education expenditure as a percentage of GDP to reflect a country’s situation and level in terms of talents in the digital field from the perspectives of human resources and education funds respectively. In terms of digital infrastructure construction, digital devices play an important role in the construction of digital infrastructure to connect users and infrastructure, support data transmission and processing, and promote cloud computing services and innovative digital products and services. Therefore, this paper selects the number of mobile phone users, the number of fixed broadband subscribers, the number of mobile broadband subscribers and the Internet penetration rate as four secondary indices to measure digital infrastructure construction. In terms of digitalization innovation capacity, digitalization innovation capacity is the key to achieve digitalization sustainable development. Therefore, this paper selects the number of patent applications accepted and the number of patent applications granted to evaluate a country’s potential for scientific and technological innovation, and telecommunications, computer and information services percentage change, and ICT frontier technology readiness index to evaluate the conditions and potential of a country in the construction of digital economy and information society. In terms of international competitiveness, information and communication technology (ICT) product exports percentage of total product exports and digitally-deliverable services exports percentage of total trade in services can measure digitization level of goods and services from an export perspective.

Where, m is the number of evaluators, N is the sample size, and R i is the rank sum.

The results of Kendall’s W coefficient and P-value for 12 indices in seven countries were calculated as shown in Table 2 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t002

Kendall coefficient consistency test results show that the significance P-value of the overall data of China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Korea are all 0.000***, which presents significance at the level and rejects the original hypothesis, so the data present consistency. Meanwhile, the Kendall coordination coefficient W values of the model are 0.986, 0.985, 0.963, 0.964, 0.982, 0.987 and 0.991, which are above 0.8, indicating excellent consistency. This therefore indicates that the selected indices have a high degree of consistency among the seven countries and can be used to compare and evaluate the performance of the seven countries on these indices.

• 1. Entropy value method

As a commonly used decision analysis method, the entropy method has a strong comprehensive analysis ability for complex decision problems, especially for multi-attribute decision problems such as digital development level evaluation, and can better avoid the bias caused by subjective influence. It considers multiple evaluation indices comprehensively and normalizes the entropy value obtained from each selection scheme, thus making the results more comparable and intuitive, which is convenient for decision-makers to make decisions.

• (1) Standardized processing

The different units of each index in the evaluation index system of the digitalization development level will affect the research results. Firstly, it is necessary to standardize the original data before calculating. If the extreme value "0" appears after standardization, 0.001 translation processing must be carried out on the standardized value in order to eliminate the impact of the extreme value "0" in the subsequent calculation process, namely Y ij = Y’ ij +d, d = 0.001.

Among them, X ij and Y ij respectively represent the initial data and the standardized data.Y ij ∈[0,1], maxX ij and minX ij represent the maximum and minimum values in the index. Where i = 1,… 2… m represents the year, j = 1, 2… n indicates the number of indices.

• (2) Entropy method for determining index weights

• (3) Calculate the comprehensive index of digitalization development level

• 2. Coefficient of variation method

The coefficient of variation is a measure of the degree of dispersion of an observed series, expressed as the standard deviation divided by the mean of the data set. The coefficient of variation method is often used to compare the differences between two or more data sets, which can more objectively evaluate the variability of different data sets for effective comparison and analysis. Therefore, the coefficient of variation is chosen as another index to measure the differences in digitalization development in this paper. The higher the value of variation coefficient, the greater the degree of data dispersion, indicating that a country’s digitalization development level is more unbalanced. The coefficient of variation can be divided into five levels according to the degree of fluctuation, as shown in Table 3 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t003

• 3. Kernel density estimation

K (x) is the kernel function, h>0 is a smoothing parameter, called bandwidth; and σ is the sample standard deviation.

• 4. Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition method

Dagum (1997) proposed the Gini coefficient decomposition method by subgroup, which effectively solved the problem of the source of spatial differentiation and cross-overlap among subsamples, and could examine the degree of spatial differentiation of digitalization development in seven countries. The Dagum Gini coefficient method is used in this paper to analyze the differences in digitalization development of seven countries. The basic definition of Gini coefficient is shown in Eq ( 11 ), where y ji (y hr ) is the digitalization development of a country in the region of j(h), represents the mean value of the digitalization development of each country, n represents the number of countries, k is the number of regions, and nj(nh) is the number of countries in the j(h) region.

The Gini coefficient G representing the aggregate can thus be further decomposed into the sum of the intra-regional (within-group) variance contribution Gw, the inter-regional (between-group) variance contribution Gb, and the super variable density contribution Gt. The overall differences are further decomposed and represented by the following equations.

Eq ( 13 ) reflects the Gini coefficient Gjj of digital development in region j. Eq ( 14 ) represents the contribution rate Gw of intra-regional differences in the region to the overall differences. Eq ( 15 ) reflects the inter-group Gini coefficient Gjh between region j and region h. Eq ( 16 ) reflects the contribution rate Gnb of the inter-regional net worth differences to the overall difference. Formula ( 17 ) describes the contribution G t of super-variable density. In general, the smaller the intra-group Gini coefficient, the closer the gap between countries within the group. The larger the intra-group Gini coefficient, the greater the gap between countries within the group.

4. Data results and analysis

4.1 data results and analysis.

The weights of 12 indices in the four dimensions of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation capability and international competitiveness are calculated respectively by the Formulas in steps ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) of the entropy method (see Table 4 ). Finally, the composite index scores of four dimensions and the total composite index scores of digitalization development as well as the trend of changes were obtained (see Tables 5 and 6 ).

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t004

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t005

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t006

In order to analyze the problem more clearly and intuitively, the scatter plot is drawn according to the total score of comprehensive digitalization development index of the seven countries in Table 6 , as shown in Fig 1 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.g001

The total score of digitalization development is calculated from the comprehensive index scores of the four dimensions of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation capability and international competitiveness of the seven countries in Table 5 . It can be seen from Table 6 that the United States ranked first in digitalization development level among the seven countries in 2020 and 2021, and it can be seen from Fig 1 that the country’s balance of digitalization development level from 2012 to 2021 is better. The UK had a higher level of digitalization development in 2012, but the overall fluctuation was large, which can be seen more intuitively from Fig 1 . France showed a year-on-year increase in the digitalization development level from 2012 to 2020, and the total score of digitalization development in Germany ranked third among the seven countries. However, it can be seen from Fig 1 that Germany’s digitalization development in the decade from 2012 to 2021 is extremely uneven. Japan’s digitalization development level is lower than that of the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but higher than that of Korea and China, which can be seen in Fig 1 as an uneven development. Except for 2019, Korea’s digitalization development level showed an increasing trend year by year from 2014 to 2021, but the country’s digitalization development is poorly balanced as shown in Fig 1 . China’s digitalization development level is the lowest among the seven countries, and its development is relatively slow. Fig 1 showed that China’s digitalization development is also poorly balanced.

As can be seen from Table 5 , in terms of talents in the digital field, the United States and France scored the highest among the seven countries. From 2012 to 2014, the United States also scored the highest among the seven countries in terms of talents in the digital field, which is related to the fact that the United States has taken the development of talents in the digital field as an important national strategy earlier and has made outstanding achievements in this field. Compared to other countries, China and Korea scored lower in terms of talents in the digital field. In terms of digital infrastructure construction, China, the United States, Japan and Korea has shown a year-on-year increase in the level of digital infrastructure development from 2012 to 2021, but China’s digital infrastructure construction level is the lowest among the seven countries, indicating that there is still a certain gap between China and other countries in this respect. In terms of digitalization innovation capability, China has the lowest score, indicating that there is still a large gap between China and the other six countries in this respect, which can be more intuitively reflected in Fig 2 . From Fig 2 , it can be seen that China’s digitalization innovation capability has significantly improved in 2021 compared to 2020. On the whole, from 2012 to 2021, Japan, Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom experienced significant fluctuations in their digitalization innovation capabilities, while the United States and France have a substantial increase in their digitalization innovation capabilities.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.g002

As can be seen from Table 5 , China also had the lowest score in terms of international competitiveness, and the United States ranked first. In 2020 and 2021, the United States has already reached a higher level than that of other six countries in international competitiveness.

In order to further compare the differences among the digitalization development of seven countries, this paper calculates the coefficient of variation value of 12 indices in seven countries, as shown in Table 7 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t007

As can be seen from Table 7 , from an overall perspective, China’s coefficient of variation is relatively large, indicating that China’s digitalization development level is more unbalanced, and that there are obvious imbalances in terms of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation capability and international competitiveness. Compared with China, on the whole, other countries have smaller coefficient of variation values, indicating that these six countries have made more balanced and stable progress in digitalization development.

In addition, by observing the smoothness of the Gaussian kernel density estimation curve of a country’s digitalization development, we can initially understand the equilibrium and stability of the country’s digitalization level. The bandwidth in Gaussian kernel density estimation determines the smoothness of the estimation, that is, the wider the bandwidth, the smoother the curve of the kernel density estimation will be. In this paper, the kernel density estimation method is used to calculate the broadband h values of seven countries, and the kernel density estimation graph is plotted, as shown in Fig 3 . Among the seven countries, the broadband h value of the United States is the largest, which is 0.159. It can be seen from Fig 3 that the digitalization development of this country presents a smooth kernel density distribution, indicating that the overall development level of this country in the digitalization field is relatively balanced, and the gap between various indices will not be too large, and the development is relatively stable. Germany, France, Japan, China, the United Kingdom and Korea have broadband h values of 0.150, 0.129, 0.118, 0.105, 0.093 and 0.089, respectively. If the broadband value is smaller, the kernel density distribution fluctuates greatly, which may mean that there is a large difference in the level of digitalization development, the development is not balanced or the development is in a violent fluctuation.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.g003

In order to measure the intra-group and inter-group gaps in the digitalization development of seven countries, Dagum Gini coefficient method is adopted in this paper and these gaps are analyzed in depth. China, Japan and South Korea are divided into Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States into both sides of the Atlantic, and Germany and France into Europe. Table 8 describes the overall, intra-regional and inter-regional Gini coefficients of the digitalization development index of seven countries. It can be found that the overall Gini coefficients of the digitalization development index of seven countries show a fluctuating and decreasing trend, experiencing an upward, a downward, a small upward, a downward, a small upward, and a downward trend during the period of 2012–2021. This indicates that the overall differences in the digitalization development of the seven countries are showing a narrowing trend, which means that the countries are gradually increasing the importance of digitalization development, and there is a significant effect of digitalization development in the seven countries by 2021.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t008

As an important index for identifying cross-overlap phenomenon between regions, it can be seen from Fig 4 that the contribution rate of super variable density to the overall digitalization development in 2012, 2013 and 2016 was 46.91%, 54.55% and 39.93% respectively, indicating that intra-group and inter-group differences contributed significantly to the overall differences. In other years, the inter-group contribution is much greater than the intra-group contribution, which means that the regional differences in digitalization development in the seven countries mainly stem from inter-regional differences. The implication from the results of Gini coefficient and contribution rate is that the focus of regional differences in digitalization in seven countries should be the coordinated development of digitalization among regions.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.g004

As can be seen from Table 9 , from the perspective of intra-group differences, the Gini coefficients in the three regions all show a downward trend of varying degrees. In particular, the intra-regional differences in the digitalization development of Europe show a particularly obvious downward trend, with a decrease of 23.7%, followed by Asia, where the intra-regional Gini coefficients in the digitalization development of Asia decrease by 9.5% from 2012 to 2021. The smallest decline, 8.1 per cent, was seen on both sides of the Atlantic. Meanwhile, the average intra-regional Gini coefficients of the three regions from 2012 to 2021 are ranked from lowest to highest, and it is found that the intra-regional difference is the smallest in Europe (0.0393), followed by both sides of the Atlantic (0.0754), and the largest intra-regional difference is in Asia (0.1138). Overall, the intra-regional Gini coefficient showed a fluctuating downward trend, indicating that the intra-regional imbalances in digitalization development in the seven countries have been improved. From a horizontal comparison of inter-regional differences, the average value of inter-regional differences in the global digital economy are ranked from small to large as both sides of the Atlantic and Europe (0.1024), Asia and Europe (0.1778), and Asia and both sides of the Atlantic (0.1792). It can be found that the inter-regional differences between Asia and both sides of the Atlantic are still large. In the future, it is still necessary to focus on improving the level of digitalization development in the Asian region in the future.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t009

4.2 Difference analysis of digitalization development level

In order to further research the causes of the differences in the level of digitalization development, we first define the definition of digitalization level construction. The construction of digitalization level refers to the promotion of informatization and intelligent development through digital technology in various economic, social and political fields, to enhance the digital capacity and development level of organizations and society, including the construction of infrastructure, informatization management, and application systems, data management and analysis capacity, talent cultivation and innovation capacity, and other aspects. Furthermore, the construction of the digitalization level mainly relies on the integrated elements of technological innovation, data management and sharing, policy support, talent cultivation and development, as well as public participation and digital innovation awareness cultivation to promote it.

In the comprehensive development level of these factors, the reason why China and the above major developed countries have a big difference, an important influencing factor is that China and these countries are in different stages of economic development. The above-mentioned major developed countries have already entered into the digitalization technological economy paradigm earlier, but our country’s industrialization started late, and have not fully entered the stage of digitalization technological economy paradigm in the industrial structure [ 34 ]. Therefore, in order to effectively promote China’s digitalization development by upgrading the comprehensive development level of these elements, it is necessary to first vigorously promote the continuous innovation of the techno-economic paradigm, because different techno-economic paradigms will lead to different digitalization development paths. For example, the information technology revolution has become the dominant techno-economic paradigm in the past few decades, and the popularization and application of information technology have transformed people’s lifestyles, business models, and social interactions, driving a new round of economic growth. In addition, different countries and regions have different techno-economic paradigms, and their impact on digitalization development varies. It can be seen that the techno-economic paradigm has an important impact on the level of digitalization development, and the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm promotes the improvement of the level of digital construction, which in turn supports the optimization of the new techno-economic paradigm to achieve high-quality and sustainable digitalization development. In order to further clarify this issue, this paper first combs, we also need to deeply sort out, review, and analyze the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm in major developed countries and China.

4.2.1 The evolution of the techno-economic paradigm in the United States.

The different stages of technological development in the United States and its techno-economic paradigm exhibit different characteristics, the details of which are shown in Table 10 .

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t010

4.2.2 The evolution of the British techno-economic paradigm.

The first and second technological revolutions represented by the factory production of textiles and the era of steam power and railways, the United Kingdom has been at the forefront of the world and promoted the development of the world economy. In this process, the British government has gradually formed an innovation system composed of enterprises, universities, government, scientific research institutions, and other non-profit organizations [ 37 ]. The techno-economic paradigm has evolved and developed from liberalization to government-guided, from innovation-enabling to innovation-service, and from the globalization of international cooperation to knowledge-based.

• The techno-economic paradigm of liberalization Before the 1990s, the UK government took the approach of less meddling and non-interference except in defense science and technology.
• Government-led techno-economic paradigm With the rapid development of the electronics industry, the impact of science and technology on the economy has become increasingly prominent. The United Kingdom has released its first technology white paper and elevated technological innovation to a national strategic level, emphasizing that the government should play a leading role [ 38 ]. The government started to increase investment in technological innovation, the implementation of the patent box system, and actively guide innovation resources to the convergence of enterprises. At the same time, the British government put science and technology management, business and industry under the same department for management, and set up an independent United Kingdom Research and Innovation Agency (UKRI).
• Innovation-enabling techno-economic paradigm The government has set up science and technology-based think tanks for policy formulation, consultation and suggestions; The National Foundation for Science, Technology and the Arts regularly organizes various seminars and exchanges on a regular basis, carries out research on innovation methods and trends, and continuously finances innovation projects to foster the innovation capacity of enterprises. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is responsible for intellectual property policy formulation, system operation, maintenance, etc., to accelerate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. In addition, the government has increased research and development relief and promoted research data sharing in an open environment.
• Innovative service-oriented techno-economic paradigm The Government has implemented the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Program (KTP) to support technology development, cooperation between public research institutions and enterprises, and to promote innovation through cooperation between industry and academia. The government has established the National Center for University-Industry Cooperation (NCUB) to build a digital platform for industry-academia cooperation; and has constructed science and technology innovation parks, university incubators, and university technology transfer offices to promote knowledge transfer and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
• Globalized techno-economic paradigm of international cooperation The country has proposed the construction of a globalized innovation network, and has signed strategic agreements on international scientific and technological cooperation with the United States, Canada, China, and other countries to establish close scientific research partnerships.
• Knowledge-based techno-economic paradigm The UK has formed a knowledge creation system composed of universities, non-governmental institutions public research institutions, etc. The seven major research councils, divided by different fields, are nongovernmental public institutions, managing a total of nearly 20 research institutes to promote the dissemination of science, the development of science and technology and its application in their respective fields, and to cultivate research-oriented personnel [ 39 ]. Public research institutions are owned by the government, and public funds mainly finance public scientific research tasks.

4.2.3 The evolution of the French techno-economic paradigm.

With the development of science and technology, France has roughly gone through the traditional industrial period, the stage of state-directed economic development, the rise of scientific research and innovation, and the stages of independent innovation, and the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm has gone from traditional industry to state-directed economic development, then to the development of a knowledge-based economy and high technology, and ultimately to the era of the digital economy.

• Techno-economic paradigm of the traditional industrial period The traditional industrial period was mainly dominated by traditional industries, such as textiles, metallurgy, and other sectors. Under this paradigm, factories were central to industrialization, mass production, and standardized production were characteristic, and the division of labor was clear. In addition, the traditional industrial period was characterized by an economic paradigm dominated by industrial capital and the centralization of large enterprises. In this period, although it possessed a certain degree of technological strength and innovation in some areas, overall there was still a gap compared with the industrially advanced countries.
• Techno-economic paradigm of national guidance for economic development After the Second World War, France adopted a state-directed economic development model. France divides national research institutions into two categories: "science and technology" and "industry and trade" [ 40 ]. The former is mainly responsible for basic research, applied basic research, and basic frontier cross-research, while the latter focuses on national defense, energy security, and other related fields to carry out application and development research and a small amount of basic research. At the same time, France established the "Office of the Secretary of State for Scientific Research and Technological Progress" to promote the orderly conduct of scientific research activities [ 41 ]. The government promotes the construction of heavy industry and infrastructure through the establishment and continuous improvement of the national science and technology program system, the system of scientific and technological decision-making and consulting system, evaluation, and scientific and technological achievements transformation system. During this period, France made important breakthroughs in the fields of aerospace, nuclear energy, and high-speed railroads.
• Techno-economic paradigm in the era of knowledge economy Since the 1980s, France has gradually shifted towards a knowledge-based economy and high-tech sectors. The government has actively promoted scientific and technological research and innovation, and increased its support for high-tech enterprises and scientific research institutions. At the same time, the government has attached great importance to education and research, invested in higher education and scientific research institutions, and cultivated and attracted a large number of outstanding talents. Subsequently, the country carried out reforms of the science and technology system, mainly in the following aspects: first, the Law on Scientific Research and Innovation was promulgated and implemented in 1999, establishing a two-way mobility mechanism for scientific researchers on staff at the legislative level; second, the National Agency for Scientific Research (ANRS) and the French Public Investment Bank (BFIP) were reorganized as two classified and independently functioning specialized funding agencies to strengthen the management and allocation of competitive scientific research funds; third, the S&T evaluation system has been reconstructed and innovated in terms of simplifying the evaluation procedure, reducing the number of evaluations and enriching the dimensions of evaluation indexes; fourth, a comprehensive S&T strategic plan has been enacted and implemented to plan the development of key areas such as biotechnology, energy and transportation, nanotechnology, etc.; fifth, in order to continuously improve the decision-making level of different government departments, the French government has successively set up the Strategic Steering Committee, the National Science Council and the Supreme Council for Science and Technology, which are three scientific and technological decision-making consulting organizations subordinate to and serving different government departments [ 42 ]. France also has world-renowned research and innovation centers, such as the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Ecole Technologie Superieure de Paris (ENS).
• Techno-economic paradigm for the autonomous innovation phase The French government attaches great importance to technological research and development (R&D); and supports the innovative activities of enterprises and scientific research institutions by increasing investment in R&D funding. The French government promulgated the Law on the Orientation and Planning of Scientific Research and Technology Development, which clearly stipulated the proportion of public scientific research funding to the gross national product in the form of legislation, and determined the annual growth rate of scientific research investment in accordance with the development needs of the prevailing disciplinary fields, while emphasizing and continuously and steadily supporting the role of basic research [ 43 ]. The government encourages and fosters the development of high-tech industries in frontier areas such as digital economy, biotechnology, new energy, etc., and actively builds an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The government establishes incubators, accelerators, and entrepreneurship funds to provide support and resources for startups, as well as services such as financing, training and consulting, to help startups grow and expand rapidly. In addition, France encourages and strengthens cooperation and transnational science, technology, and innovation cooperation projects with international scientific and technological organizations, enterprises and research institutes, thereby promoting scientific and technological innovation and development in the country.

4.2.4 The evolutionary process of Japan’s techno-economic paradigm.

Japan has always taken "technological powerhouse" as the main line of economic development, and has developed from pure technology importation to improvement and localization of imported technology, to imitation and creation, and ultimately to independent creation.

• Techno-economic paradigm at the stage of simple imitation At this stage, the introduction of technology mainly focuses on basic industries such as electric power, coal, iron and steel, with the help of imported technical equipment and technology to carry out the technological transformation of the original industries, the implementation of the strategy of "industrialization of the country", with the mass production of products as the main focus.
• The techno-economic paradigm of the imitation stage of innovation Japan has strengthened the digestion and absorption of imported technologies, placing greater emphasis on the introduction of technologies at the experimental stage in order to be the first to put them into production and take the lead in capturing the international market. At this stage, Japan is implementing the strategy of "building a nation through trade", utilizing imported basic technologies for independent development and application to enhance its international competitiveness [ 44 ].
• Techno-economic paradigm in the autonomous innovation phase At this stage, the development strategy of a "technology-based country" is implemented, and the science and technology policy focuses on independent innovation, continuously increasing the proportion of investment in basic research, establishing an open innovation system of government, industry, academia and research, and international and domestic collaboration, strengthening the government’s investment in science and technology and education, cultivating technological breakthrough talents, and setting up the Intellectual Property Strategy Committee to protect intellectual property rights and to promote the development of innovation.

4.2.5 The evolutionary process of Korea’s techno-economic paradigm.

Korea has adopted a government-led technology development model, whereby the government encourages the introduction of foreign capital and technology, establishes government-industry-university-research collaborative innovation and development, and improves the level and efficiency of technology research and development. At the same time, it has increased tax incentives and funding for technological research and development, successfully realizing the leap from imitation innovation to independent innovation.

• Techno-economic paradigm under authoritarianism In this period, the government introduced technology and innovation to catch up with the rest of the world. The government imported basic technologies from abroad in the areas of textiles, electric power, transportation and social infrastructure, formulated the Science and Technology Revitalization Plan, encouraged technology trade, attracted foreign direct investment (FDI), cooperated with foreigners in cooperation and development, and promoted imitation through importation in order to continuously cultivate and strengthen industrial advantages [ 45 ]. Taking into account the economic situation of the country, Korea implemented a heavy chemical policy from the 1960s to the 1970s, and the industry began to gradually transform from a labor-intensive industry and light industry to a heavy industry. In the 1980s, the government adjusted its science and technology development strategy from "building the country by industry" to "building the country by technology", emphasized science and technology education and training of innovative talents, strengthened the digestion, absorption, and re-innovation of imported technologies, promoted the cooperation between industries, universities and research institutes, increased the support for basic and applied research, encouraged and supported the development of research and development institutes by the enterprises, so as to continuously improve the research and development capability of local enterprises.
• Techno-economic paradigm under democracy In this period of independent and continuous innovation, the government continuously deepened market reforms and gradually reduced its direct intervention in the private sector. In the 1990s, government departments were involved in research and development and encouraged enterprises to cooperate with foreign institutions and industry-academia-research institutes in R&D, while focusing on intellectual property rights protection for small and medium-sized enterprises and individuals. The government established independent basic science academies and set up institutions at home and abroad, actively encouraging the participation of foreign scholars. It set up national R&D centers, expanded universities, and continuously raised the level of treatment for national talents.

4.2.6 The evolution of the German techno-economic paradigm.

The country is based on federalism and a market economy, and its technological development has gone through four stages: mechanization (Industry 1.0 stage), electrification (Industry 2.0 stage), informatization (Industry 3.0 stage), and intelligence (Industry 4.0 stage).

• Techno-economic paradigm for Industry 1.0 stage The government emphasized higher education, made universities the centers of scientific research established seminars and laboratories, and focused on the development of engineering. The government imported British machinery and technology at a high price, which quickly gave rise to technologically oriented large enterprises, and increased the development of basic sciences, which quickly made it one of the world’s most advanced industrialized countries.
• Techno-economic paradigm for Industry 2.0 stage Severely affected by the war, Germany’s scientific and technological funding was sharply reduced, and electrical automation developed rapidly through the establishment of laboratories within large enterprises to vigorously develop pillar industries such as iron steel and electricity. The government established public scientific research institutions, implemented centralized research, shared research results with the community, shared patent ownership with the government, enterprises conducted spontaneous research, and applied technology universities and vocational education schools and enterprises to train professionals.
• Techno-economic paradigm for Industry 3.0 stage The Government focused on the development of areas such as biology, electronic information, and nanotechnology, and provided financial support to enterprises, universities, and research institutions in conjunction with the private sector, focusing on the development of small and medium-sized innovative enterprises. For example, the government, financial institutions, and large enterprises jointly established a small and medium-sized enterprise technology development fund; and jointed research and development by small and medium-sized enterprises and universities. The Government encouraged universities to apply for patents and to participate in major national scientific research tasks, with enterprise innovation at the core. The Government, public scientific research institutions, universities, and research and funding institutions provided comprehensive support and services to enterprises.
• Techno-economic paradigm for Industry 4.0 stage The Government has continued to improve the innovation environment, strengthen the construction of technological infrastructure, promote cross-industry and cross-border dialogue, focus on the integration of industry and academia, the training of talents, and the internationalization of the scientific research system, which is mainly involved in new areas such as electric transportation, environmental protection industry, medicine, public security, information and communication technology.

4.2.7 The main characteristics of China’s techno-economic paradigm at various stages of development.

After more than 70 years of development since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China has risen from a "poor and useless" scientific and technological foundation to the world’s second-largest economy; and has achieved leapfrog development of scientific and technological innovation capability. The specific content of the evolution of China’s techno-economic paradigm in the context of planned economy, market economy, and globalization is shown in Table 11 . Currently, digital technologies such as big data, cloud computing, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies provide strong power support for the integration, transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and release new kinetic energy for economic growth.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303014.t011

5. Discussion

With regard to digitalization development, previous scholars have studied the differences in business digital maturity of enterprises from a micro level [ 48 , 49 ]. The influence of enterprise digitization level on economic growth have also analyzed from the micro level [ 50 ]. Some scholars have measured the development level of digital economy in 122 countries around the world from the meso level [ 51 ]. On the basis of existing research results, this paper measures the digitalization development level of the world’s major developed countries and China, conducts an in-depth analysis from the new perspective of techno-economic paradigm, and launches a study on digitalization development from the macro level. The academic significance and practical guidance significance of this study are mainly as follows: firstly, the in-depth analysis of the digitalization development level of the world’s major developed countries and China from the perspective of techno-economic paradigm can provide new ideas and methods for understanding the characteristics and trends of digitalization development in different countries. Second, by conducting research on digitalization development from a macro level, it can reveal the influence and development trend of digitalization development on a global scale, which can help governments and enterprises formulate more effective digitalization development strategies. Finally, such research can also help promote international cooperation and exchanges, promote mutual learning and reference between different countries in the field of digital development, and jointly promote the process of global digitalization development.

The relationship between techno-economic paradigm and digitalization development: (1) The transformation and evolution of techno-economic paradigm is an important prerequisite for digitalization development. Firstly, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and so on continue to emerge under the impetus of techno-economic paradigms, providing a broader development space for digitalization development. Secondly, different techno-economic paradigms will affect the direction and focus of digitalization development, such as the upgrading of traditional industries, the development of emerging industries, digital transformation, etc., which will have different development strategies and implementation paths under different paradigms. In addition, with the change of techno-economic paradigm, it has an impact on the industrial ecology and market pattern of digitalization development, the original industrial chain may be subverted and restructured, and the new industrial ecology and market pattern will be gradually formed in the process of digitalization development. (2) Digitalization development will in turn influence and shape the techno-economic paradigm. The wide application and innovation of digital technology will lead to the adjustment and change of industrial structure and promote the formation and development of new techno-economic paradigm. At the same time, digitalization development encourages enterprises and organizations to adopt digital technology in production, management, marketing and other aspects, thus changing and affecting the way the economy operates and develops. (3) Techno-economic paradigms and digitalization development interact with each other and together form the basis and support of the digital economy. Digitalization development needs to adapt to different techno-economic paradigms, while the evolution of techno-economic paradigms also stems from the needs and impetus of digitalization development.

6. Conclusions and suggestions

This paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for digitalization development, and tests the constructed index system. The entropy method is used to estimate the digitalization development level of seven countries from 2012 to 2021. Then, the variation coefficient method, kernel density estimation, Dagum Gini coefficient and its decomposition method are used to analyze the regional differences in the digitalization development level between China and the world’s major developed countries, and the main conclusions are drawn as follows:

• China’s digitalization development level is the lowest among the seven countries, and its development is relatively slow, and the imbalance of its digitalization development level is more obvious.
• The United States ranked first in digitalization development among seven countries in 2021 and 2022, and its overall development level in the digitalization field was relatively balanced from 2012 to 2021.
• China has the lowest scores in the areas of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation capability and international competitiveness, and there is a big gap with the other six countries. At the same time, the country has significant imbalances in all four areas.
• The overall differences in digitalization development among the seven countries show a narrowing trend, and the regional differences in digitalization development mainly come from inter-regional differences. Next, we should focus on the coordinated development of digitalization between regions.
• The difference in digitalization development between the three countries of China, Japan and Korea and the United States and the United Kingdom is still large, and there is still a need to focus on improving the digitalization development level of China, Japan and Korea in the future.

Through international comparison, it can be seen that compared with the world’s big and powerful countries in digitalization development, China’s digitalization development still has gaps and shortcomings. Based on this, the following suggestions are provided to promote the digitalization development of our country:

• Create a new channel for digitalization human resources training. With the arrival of the digital era, the first thing to change is the mode of thinking and cognition, shifting from simple linear thinking to systematic digital thinking with multiple elements, multiple subjects, and multiple levels of cross-fertilization. To cope with the digital challenges, only by strengthening basic research can we fundamentally solve key technological problems at source and achieve high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement [ 52 ]. However, strengthening basic research is ultimately dependent on high-level human resource elements. The cultivation of high-level talents has the characteristics of a long cycle, high investment and slow effectiveness. This requires the establishment of a diversified and multi-level human resource element cultivation system from basic research, technology development and university-enterprise cooperation in industry, academia and research to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, so as to realize the whole-chain human resource cultivation [ 53 ]. Firstly, linking society, universities, and enterprises to participate in the whole process, from discovering human resources to selecting and cultivating high-level human resources to technological research and achievement transformation. Through various methods such as part-time innovation, long-term deployment, short-term cooperation, and other ways and in combination with the actual needs, and taking the service effectiveness as an important reference for the evaluation of the title and promotion of the position; secondly, we need to increase the support and investment in basic scientific research business fees, which will be used for relevant aspects of national strategic needs, carry out research on cutting-edge scientific issues, and implement a lump sum system for the use of funds; thirdly, universities and enterprises should actively explore human resources cultivation models such as order-type, modern apprenticeship system and market demand-oriented, establish a database of university-enterprise cooperation and form a "1+1+N" diversified cooperation model. The fourth is to establish an inter-industry human resources cooperation platform and standardize the flow mechanism of human resources factors; the fifth is to innovate human resources evaluation methods, carry out classified evaluation, and establish and improve reasonable and complementary institutional evaluation standards; the sixth is to increase the number of science and technology talents to carry out international scientific and technological exchanges and cooperation, and to support them to go to foreign high-level scientific research institutions for study and training, and carry out cooperative research [ 54 ]. The seventh is to improve the life and service guarantee of scientific and technological talents, such as taking appropriate ways to improve the salary, performance pay and income from the transformation of achievements of scientific and technological talents, exploring and establishing an academic leave system, and creating a favorable, relaxed and harmonious scientific research cultural environment.
• Promote techno-economic paradigm innovation, build and develop a digital technology innovation system and digitalization techno-economic paradigm, and promote the upgrading of digitalization development level. As the potential of the old techno-economic paradigm has reached its boundary barriers, serious constraints on the development of digitalization have been formed. Therefore, we should promote the rapid development of digitalization through techno-economic paradigm innovation, and establish the predominance of digitalization techno-economic paradigm. In essence, this process is the formation and development of a new industrial revolution, which is manifested in the process of promoting the modernization of the industrial system by a new round of industrial revolution [ 55 ]. Digitalization development takes data as the key core element and is based on digital infrastructure and data resource system. Only by promoting the development of big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other industries through techno-economic paradigm innovation, promoting the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy, and empowering traditional industries, can we better improve the level of digitalization development. We will promote the entire industrial system and trade in services towards digitalization, networking, and intelligent development.

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