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We report the findings of a diachronic study of 100 research paper abstracts published in four different periods (from 1943 to 2018) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, one of the most prestigious astrophysics journals written in English. Our main results show that research paper abstracts have evolved over time in the sense that they have become longer, more informative and more precise. They also reveal an overall increase in the number of authors, active and modal verbs, self-mentions and compound groups per total number of words. Likewise, compound structures are becoming more and more complex. These outcomes may be explained in terms of a rising collaboration scenario and an attempt to increase authors' visibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]