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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: In a study of 6 large general medical journals, including JAMA, we found 18% to 68% of abstracts had either inconsistencies in data between the abstract and the body of the article or data given in the abstract that could not be found in the body of the article at all.¹ In response, JAMA introduced a quality improvement initiative, effective January 1, 1998, to improve the quality of its abstracts.² We assessed the effectiveness of the initiative using a masked analysis of samples from before and after the intervention.

Methods

We studied the first 50 articles identified as "Original Contributions" in JAMA volume 278 (July 2, 1997, through October 8, 1997) and the last 50 Original Contributions published in JAMA volume 280 (September 23/30, 1998, through December 23/30, 1998). The 100 articles chosen had all identifications of date, volume, and page number masked and were numbered according . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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