Publication rate of abstracts presented at the Canadian society of otolaryngology- head and neck surgery annual meetings: a five year study 2006–2010

Abstract

BackgroundTo determine the rate of publication in a peer-reviewed journal for all oral presentations made at the Canadian Society for Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery’s Annual Meetings from 2006–2010.MethodsAll abstracts were searched by keywords and authors’ names in Medline via PubMed and Google Scholar. Authors of presented abstracts not found to be published were contacted directly for further information.Results50.5% of presented abstracts (n = 198) were subsequently published with an average time to publication of 21 months. For those abstracts found not to be published 74.6% (n = 167) of authors responded with further information about their research, 66% (n = 89) of abstracts with author response that were not published were never submitted for publication. Authors’ main reasons for not publishing were that the research was still in process (34%, n = 21) or that a resident or fellow working on the project “had moved on” (26%, n = 16).ConclusionThe publication rate for the Canadian Society for Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery’s Annual Meetings from 2006–2010 is within the range reported by other conferences and specifically other Canadian conferences in different specialties; however, roughly half of presentations went on to be published. The main barrier to publication was bringing projects to the submission stage and not rejection by journals. Resources such as more time for research or personnel to coordinate projects may result in a greater rate of project completion.

Publication rate of General Surgery abstracts presented at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Annual Scientific Congress

“…The numbers and characteristics of the general surgical and sub‐specialty abstracts presented at the RACS ASC that are converted to full article publications have not been previously studied. The conversion rates of abstracts into full published papers have been reported for a number of medical and surgical meetings, with rates ranging from 13% to 60%, but only one previous study has examined this for a General Surgery congress . Balasubramanian et al .…”

Analysis of subsequent publication and impact of abstracts presented at the Sir Peter Freyer Surgical Symposium: Focus on the Plenary Session

“…Our reported median time to publication was 2 years (24 months), a longer time interval than that reported by Scherer and also longer than the intervals reported by papers on surgical conferences, published since Scherer's review. A number of papers identified, as reporting on surgical conferences, report the longest average time to publication at 21 months [17,20] and a minimum average of 14.5 [7] months reported. The lengthy time to publication of presentations presented at the Sir Peter Freyer Surgical Symposium may be related to the overall high impact factor of publishing journals, which may necessitate a prolonged period of refinement and modification before the publication procedure is complete.…”

Progress to publication of survey research presented at anesthesiology society meetings

“…The progress of research from initial presentation as an abstract to journal publication remains an accepted measure of research quality, and may be one measure of the scientific impact of a given conference . Various barriers to publication of conference abstracts have been described, such as ongoing or incomplete data collection, inability to enroll the expected number of participants, prior publication of similar results, and presentation by trainees (eg, residents and fellows) who subsequently leave the institution without completion of the project .…”

“…This allowed for at least a 3‐year follow‐up period after conclusion of the latest (2014) meetings included in the abstract search, consistent with prior research on publication of scientific meeting abstracts . The search was initially conducted using the PubMed electronic database, followed by Google Scholar if PubMed search did not identify a publication . The lead investigator searched the PubMed database with the full conference abstract title, followed by the first or last authors’ names with keywords from the abstract title.…”

“…The rate of transition to publication of abstracts presented at scientific meetings has been estimated to vary between 24% and 71%, depending on the field and specific conference, although contemporary data on publication rates from abstracts presented at anesthesiology meetings are scarce . Reasons for nonpublication of presented abstracts may include the manuscript remaining in preparation or under review, failure to complete study enrollment, rejection of the initial submission, low priority given to completing and publishing the study, or continuation of data collection and analysis . Additionally, publication may be delayed by a lack of consensus about standards for survey research, or concerns about bias associated with this method.…”