Readability of Abstracts Published in SRELS Journal of Information Management (2011-2015):An Analytical Study

The paper analyses the readability of the abstracts of the articles published in different volumes of the journal, SRELS Journal of Information Management from 2011 to 2015. The paper examines the number of words; length of sentences, etc. and presents an average grade level according to readability formula. A total 301 abstracts of articles were selected during the period of 2011-2015 for this study. On the basis of these abstracts published in the journal, it is found that abstracts are made of 100 to 150 words. The results showed that the abstracts are not very easy to comprehend in terms of readability indices such as Gunning Fog index, Coleman Liau index, Flesch Kincaid Grade level, Automated Readability Index (ARI) and SMOG. From the study, it is clear that one requires 13 to 14 year education to understand the abstracts. At the end it is proposed that the abstracts should be more readable and clearer after the first reading.