What is the difference between the plain language summary, lay summary, and lay synopsis?

The plain language summary, lay summary, and lay synopsis are various types of texts whose function is to explain the structure and the results of clinical studies in an easily understandable manner. They have to be written so that they can be understood by a wide audience without specialist knowledge as of 12 years of age.

These are the differences between the three types of text:

Plain language summary:
The term plain language summary describes summaries of publications dealing with study results in laymen’s language.

Lay summary:
Lay summaries are summaries that are used to provide information about the results of clinical studies in laymen’s language.

Lay synopsis:
A lay synopsis is a simple and understandable summary of the structure and the procedure of a study. Its aim is to make sure that everyone, regardless of their specialist knowledge, can understand what the study is about and how it is conducted.