Publication rates of abstracts presented at the annual congress of the Turkish Society of Colorectal Surgery (years 2003-2011)

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONA scientific congress is an environment in which physicians with the same specialty and other health staff participate in, the results of which is shared as abstracts, and in which ideas are exchanged with one another. The abstracts presented in scientific congresses (oral/poster) are evaluated by the commissions that are assigned by the congress scientific committee during the preparation period of the congress and it is decided if the studies will be accepted in the congress or not.The publication of abstracts in national/international peer-reviewed journals after the congress is one of the indicators of the scientific value of the congress. In a Cochrane meta-analysis published in 2007, it was stated that the publication rate of the abstracts presented in a congress was 44.5% (1). Articles evaluating the conversion rate of the abstracts presented in international congresses into publications are limited. Similarly, the number of studies that are conducted in order to reveal the scientific efficiency of national congresses held in our country is also low. In these studies, it is reported that the conversion rate of the abstracts presented in the congresses to publications is very limited (between 5.7% and 28.6%) (2-7).Turkish Society of Colorectal Surgery (TSCRS) organizes periodic scientific activities in order to develop the professional, scientific and social relationships between its members in accordance with its aims. The congresses of TSCRS, which are organized once in two years, are one of the important scientific activities. In our study, we aimed to define the conversion rate of the abstracts presented in the congresses organized in 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2011 to articles in peer-reviewed journals, to determine the factors (presentation type, study type, congress year etc.) effecting publication rate. MATERIAL AND METHODSThe abstracts of oral presentations (OP) and poster presentations (PP) presented at the TSCRS congresses in

Publication rates of podium and poster abstract presentations at the 2010 and 2011 society of gynecologic oncology conferences

“…In order to optimize the likelihood that abstracts reach full-text publication, other medical societies have suggested being more selective in the acceptance of abstracts for presentation at their annual meetings by paying greater attention to quality measures such as sample size and data analysis, study design, outcomes, and instrument validity ( Sawatsky et al, 2015 ; Meral et al, 2017 ). Involvement of multiple institutions, use of validated instruments and appropriate statistical analysis, prospective study design, and reporting new findings (as opposed to confirmatory investigations) are factors that indicate eventual publication ( Gilbert and Pitkin, 2004 ; Sawatsky et al, 2015 ; Meral et al, 2017 ).…”

An American and Brazilian Perspective on Abstracts Presented in Coloproctology Conferences Converted into Published Manuscripts

“…The only two published studies appraising meetings in the field of coloproctology (none of which compares two colorectal societies) refer to the United Kingdom society, with a conversion rate of 24.3% when evaluating a single edition of the congress (2001), and the Turkish society, with a conversion rate of 22.6% regarding the evaluated abstracts from four editions of the congress, held between 2003 and 2011. 14,15 In the current analysis, of the 524 abstracts presented in the American Congress, 127 (24.2%) were published, which is a rate 2.5 times higher than that of the Brazilian Congress (35/330; 10.6%).. These data show that much of the scientific content produced in coloproctology is restricted, never reaching the international scientific community.…”

“…The only two published studies appraising meetings in the field of coloproctology (none of which compares two colorectal societies) refer to the United Kingdom society, with a conversion rate of 24.3% when evaluating a single edition of the congress (2001), and the Turkish society, with a conversion rate of 22.6% regarding the evaluated abstracts from four editions of the congress, held between 2003 and 2011. 14 15…”

“…That said, and observing the conversion rate in other studies including coloproctology congresses, we can hypothesize that publishing is not the aim of most coloproctology society members and it is not part of the culture of the participants of these specialty meetings. 14 15…”

Publication of Abstracts with Peruvian Affiliation Presented to the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2006–2010

“…12 It is possible that as knowledge generation tends to be poor in some Latin American countries, the selection criteria might be lower than international standards, which may lead to a lower chance of publication afterward. 12,16 We also found that the proportion of publication among abstracts authored by most or all authors from Peruvian institutions was half of the proportion of publication among abstracts authored by a higher percentage of international collaborators. This result is in accordance with that of previous research, which describes an increase in Peruvian scientific production from 2000 to 2009, probably related to the existence of international collaborating networks and foreign authors dealing with publication processes.…”