Paradigms for abstracting systems

The ever-growing amount of documents (electronic or other) has increased the value of abstracts, and abstracting systems and services, as instruments for concentrating and supplying relevant information. Ongoing research in different disciplines, with abstracting as the common subject matter, points to the usefulness of the paradigm concept. This perspective would provide the coherence necessary not only for the processes of abstracting but also for the products and services derived. We identify and describe four paradigms (communicational, physical, cognitive and systemic), comprising the most significant lines of investigation in this area, in order to offer a “state of the art” analysis that may prove helpful for future research studies.