The Publication Rate of Presentations at Two International Spine Meetings: Scoliosis Research Society and International Meeting of Advanced Spinal Techniques

Abstract

Study design: Observational Study.

Objective: To evaluate the publication rate of podium presentations from the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) and the International Meeting of Advanced Spinal Techniques (IMAST) annuals meeting and to compare the publication rate of SRS/IMAST meetings to other orthopedic and spine meetings.

Summary of background data: Although various publication rates from orthopedic meetings have been reported, recent publication rates from the SRS and IMAST annual meetings are not known.

Methods: Paper presentations and award-nominated papers from the 2009 to 2011 annual SRS and IMAST meetings were identified. Using PubMed, we searched for publications with a title of the paper presentations or containing the same authors. The publication rate of the award-nominated papers were evaluated in the same manner. We also identified the destination journals of the papers.

Results: A total of 764 podium presentations were presented at SRS and IMAST from 2009 to 2011. Of these 764 abstracts, 339 were published in peer-reviewed journals, with an overall publication rate of 44.37%. The publication rates for the two different meetings (SRS and IMAST) were significantly different, 47.83% (SRS) and 41.53% (IMAST), p = .03. Award-nominated abstracts had a publication rate of 63.64% (49/77) significantly different than nonnominated abstracts, 42.4% (290/684); p = .0004. There was a significant difference in publication rates between the SRS award-nominated abstracts (72.97%, 27/37) and the nonnominated abstracts (45.25%; 138/305), p = .0001. There was no difference in publication rates for IMAST award-nominated abstracts 55% (21/40) and nonnominated abstracts (40.1%, 152/379), p = .27. The publication rate was highest for 2010 abstracts (45.78%), followed by 2009 (43.94%), and lowest for 2011 (43.43%). Spine was the most common publication journal for the two meetings.

Conclusion: In one of the first studies evaluating the publication rate of podium presentation from the SRS and IMAST annual meetings, we found an overall publication rate of 44.37% (47.83% SRS, 41.53% IMAST) and 63.64% for award-nominated papers.

Keywords: Award nominated papers; IMAST annual meeting; Publication rate; Scoliosis research society annual meeting.