Abstract
Abstract
We report the findings of a diachronic study of 100 research paper abstracts published in four different periods (from
1943 to 2018) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, one of the most prestigious astrophysics journals
written in English. Our main results show that research paper abstracts have evolved over time in the sense that they have become longer,
more informative and more precise. They also reveal an overall increase in the number of authors, active and modal verbs, self-mentions and compound groups per total number of words. Likewise, compound structures are becoming more and more complex. These outcomes
may be explained in terms of a rising collaboration scenario and an attempt to increase authors’ visibility.
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
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