Currently submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Dec 23, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Dec 24, 2025 - Feb 18, 2026
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Using GPT-4 to Automate the Generation of Lay Summaries for Cancer Publications: Human-centric Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation
ABSTRACT
Background:
Cancer research literature is often riddled with technical jargon that is not digestible to the average person. Individuals interested in research studies may want to contribute through patient partner engagement or sample donation but find the relevant literature overwhelming. Through the generation of lay summaries, previously inaccessible research papers become easier to comprehend, especially for patient partners or data donors. With large language models (LLMs) continuing to advance, so does their capability to summarize large texts.
Objective:
In this study, we examined whether LLMs can produce lay summaries of scientific literature at-scale, while maintaining readability and accuracy to their source texts.
Methods:
We developed a tool to generate lay summaries of open-access article abstracts and their full texts with GPT-4-Turbo. Prompt development aimed for a target 8th grade reading level assessed with Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. Human-review metrics were used to evaluate readability and accuracy when generated using abstracts versus full text articles.
Results:
The average Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Score was 7.13 for abstract-based summaries and 7.39 for full text-based summaries, indicating summaries at around 7th grade reading level. Human-review metrics showed these summaries were of similar readability and accuracy when generated using abstracts versus full text articles, with mean accuracy scores from human review of 7.09 vs 7.42 out of 10 respectively. Additionally, qualitative patient-based assessment indicated these summaries would encourage participation in research studies.
Conclusions:
By generating lay summaries for complex and lengthy research papers, their scientific information becomes accessible to a larger audience, including patient partners interested in contributing to cancer research. Summaries that are easy to understand will allow participants to make informed decisions about their involvement and appreciate the impact of their contributions if and when their results are published.
Citation
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