Abstract
BACKGROUND: Publication rate can indirectly assess the quality of research presented at scientific meetings. Considering presentations at orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery meetings, 10.5%-66% of abstracts are published in scientific journals. The publication rate of abstracts presented at Canadian Spine Society (CSS) meetings is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the publication rate of abstracts presented at the CSS annual meetings from 2005 to 2014.
METHODS: In October 2018, a systematic PubMed search was performed using title and authors of all abstracts presented at CSS meetings from 2005 to 2014. The following information was retrieved from the articles and abstracts: year, type of presentation, publication in PubMed, time from presentation to final publication, journal name, and journal impact factor (IF).
RESULTS: A total of 621 abstracts were presented at CSS meetings from 2005 to 2014. The publication rate in PubMed was 54.8% (340/621). Oral presentations were more likely to be published than poster presentations (63.8% vs. 44.0%, respectively; odds ratio, 1.45; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-1.75; P < 0.0001). The mean time from presentation to publication was 1.76 +/- 1.93 years. The 340 identified articles were published in 87 different journals. The most common journals were Spine (n = 75; 22.1%), The Spine Journal (n = 40; 11.8%), and Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine (n = 28; 8.2%). The IF ranged from 0.18 to 47.66 (mean, 3.73 +/- 4.68). The IF of articles presented orally was higher than those presented as posters (P = 0.038).
CONCLUSIONS: The CSS scientific meetings maintain a steady rate of high-quality research presentations as manifested by the significant publication rate (54.8%) in medical journals with a mean IF of 3.73. In comparison with other spine scientific meetings, the publication rates of abstracts presented at CSS meetings is among the highest.