(8 Aug 2025) An analysis of article views in Taylor & Francis medical journals has revealed that ‘extenders’ can significantly increase readership. Plain language summaries of publications and clinical trial protocols with extenders attracted 144% more views than those without these supplemental resources.
Extenders, a term used in medical publishing for digital tools that present the research in an alternative format, can include infographics, graphical abstracts, video abstracts, supplementary podcasts and translations. Extenders are often designed to highlight the practical implications of the research for healthcare providers and also to make the findings more accessible for non-specialists, including patients and their caregivers.
To assess the readership impact of extenders, Taylor & Francis editorial staff identified 21 plain language summaries of publications (PLSPs) and 19 clinical trial protocols (CTPs) articles with extenders, published in nine Expert Medicine journals between January 1, 2023 and January 16, 2025. The mean views of these articles were compared with the remaining articles without extenders published during the same period (146 PLSPs and 71 CTPs).
- PLSPs with extenders averaged 3,985 views, which was 154% higher than the 1,568 views received by PLSPs without extenders.
- CTPs with extenders averaged 4,602 views, 126% higher than the 2,029 views of CTPs without extenders.
- The weighted average across both article types showed a 144% increase in views.
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