BASK presentations: progress to journal publication

Abstract

Scientific conferences, such as the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) annual meeting, provide an important channel for the exchange of information between researchers. However, the ultimate means of disseminating research information is publication in a relevant peer-reviewed journal. The goal of this study was to follow up published abstracts in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, British Volume supplement from the annual BASK conference and determine how many presented abstracts progressed to article publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Combined Google Scholar and PubMed searches of 602 BASK abstract titles over a 10-year period were performed, and the resulting articles were reviewed to confirm that they were directly associated with the corresponding abstracts. Two hundred (33.2%) abstracts presented at BASK conferences over a 10-year period were found in online or print format. This amount is comparable with other similar conferences' publication rates. Only one-third of abstracts presented at the BASK conference were converted to journal publication as full articles. This may be due to multiple rejections, lack of time, relocation of the authors, or a reluctance to publish negative findings. Alternatively, changes in an abstract's title for publication prevents online search engines from identifying the final article and may explain some disparity. Furthermore, presented abstracts may not survive the strict peer-review process required for journal publication. Because these findings from BASK mirror other specialty meetings, clinicians should accept the results of orthopedic meeting proceedings with some level of caution.