Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Feb 4;92(3):493-498.
doi: 10.1111/ans.17516. Online ahead of print.

Publication rate of abstracts presented at the Australian Orthopaedic Association Annual Scientific Meeting

Belinda Balhatchet  1   2 , Heike Schütze  2   3 , Anum Awais  4   5 , Nicole Williams  1   5   6
Affiliations

Publication rate of abstracts presented at the Australian Orthopaedic Association Annual Scientific Meeting

Belinda Balhatchet et al. ANZ J Surg. .

Abstract

Background: Presentations at scientific conferences are an important method of research dissemination, with abstracts often used to inform clinical practice. Abstract to publication ratio is a commonly used tool for determining meeting quality. The aim of this study was to determine the publication rate for abstracts presented at the Australian Orthopaedic Association Annual Scientific Meeting (AOA ASM) between 2012 and 2015 inclusive and identify reasons for non-publication.

Methods: MEDLINE, PubMed and Google Scholar were searched to determine whether each abstract presented at AOA ASMs between 2012 and 2015 was associated with a full text publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Where a publication could not be located, the presenter was contacted to confirm the reason for non-publication.

Results: A total of 1130 abstracts were submitted (951 oral and 179 posters), and 573 resulted in full-text peer-reviewed publications (51%). The majority of publications (73%) were published within 2 years of presentation. There was no difference in likelihood of publication for oral presentations compared to posters, nor in the rate of publication across the 4 years of meetings. Common reasons for non-publication were lack of time (32%), publication considered low priority (27%) and journal rejections (22%).

Conclusion: The overall publication rate for abstracts presented at the AOA ASM is 51%, which is an increase from the 1998 ASM (31%). This publication rate is higher than many similar Australian meetings and on par with other international orthopaedic and subspecialty meetings. Future research should investigate potential publication bias and methods to minimise barriers to publication.

Keywords: Australian Orthopaedic Association; abstract; orthopaedic surgery; publication; scientific meetings.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Belinda Balhatchet is an employee of the Australian Orthopaedic Association.

References

    1. Bhandari M, Devereaux PJ, Guyatt GH et al. An observational study of orthopaedic abstracts and subsequent full‐text publications. J. Bone Joint Surg. 2002; 84: 615–21. - PubMed
    1. Hopewell S, Clarke M. Abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference: how completely are trials reported? Clin. Trials 2005; 2: 265–8. - PubMed
    1. Hopewell S, Clarke M, Askie L. Reporting of trials presented in conference abstracts needs to be improved. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 2006; 59: 681–4. - PubMed
    1. Jamjoom AA, Hughes MA, Chuen CK, Hammersley RL, Fouyas IP. Publication fate of abstracts presented at Society of British Neurological Surgeons meetings. Br. J. Neurosurg. 2015; 29: 164–8. - PubMed
    1. Bydder S, Marion K, Taylor M, Semmens J. Assessment of abstracts submitted to the annual scientific meeting of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. Australas. Radiol. 2006; 50: 355–9. - PubMed