A Classification of Video Abstract formats and the researcher’s role in The BMJ Corpus

Research into the Video Abstract (VA) genre has paid particular attention to its rhetorical structure as compared to the written abstract; by contrast, the various formats in which VAs come have scarcely been investigated. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a classification of VA formats with respect to a corpus of 115 medical VAs produced for The BMJ. In this investigation the paper also takes into account the researcher’s role in communicating the VA content as well as the relationship they establish with viewers through the use of camera position. The findings of this study offer a systematic classification of VA formats and highlight the prominent and personal role of the researcher in VAs for The BMJ, contrasting with trends in other medical journals where VAs may function more to disseminate knowledge or promote the journal itself.