Full-text publication of abstracts presented at meetings of a Latin American scientific society

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the proportion of abstracts presented at meetings of the Latin American Society for Pediatric Research that are fully-published, to describe the reasons for not publishing papers, and to assess the impact of funding on the publication rate.

Methods: Abstracts presented at meetings held between 2005 and 2009 were included. Authors were contacted and invited to take a survey on the publication of their work or the reasons not to do it.

Results: Information was collected on 232 (71.4%) of the 325 abstracts presented. Of these, 58.6% were fully-published (136/232). Funded studies (40.0%) had more chances of publication (OR: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2-3.9). "Lack of time" was the most common reason for failure to publish (35/96).

Conclusion: 58.6% of abstracts presented at meetings of the Latin American Society for Pediatric Research, were published as full-text articles; lack of time was the most common reason for failure to publish. Funded research had more chances of being published.