Abstract
Introduction: The SICOT Conference Committee continually tries to improve the quality of presentations at their annual international meetings. However to the author’s best knowledge, no previous study has been undertaken to determine abstract quality. This study aimed to determine the five-year publication rate of presentations made at the 2009 SICOT Annual International Conference (AIC), recognise predictors of full-text publication, identify inconsistencies between presentations and publications, and determine presentation-publication delay. Methods: We retrieved all 329 oral presentation abstracts from the 2009 SICOT Conference, recorded fundamental study details and conducted a comprehensive, electronic search of Medline and PubMed to determine publication status. For subsequent publications, we examined for inconsistencies between presentation abstracts and full-text publications, whether there were retrospectively identifiable publication predictors and calculated presentation-publication delay. Results: The five-year publication rate for all presentations was 31.3%, for oral presentations. The average presentation-publication delay was 23.4 months. Observational studies were the most commonly published studies. Publications most commonly resulted from studies related to hip and knee subspecialties. Conclusion: Our study shows that almost one third of all abstracts presented at SICOT led to a full-text publication. This is a positive outcome particularly when made in comparison to similar studies of other reputable international conferences such as European Federation of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT) and American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). This study re-enforces SICOT’s reputation as a world leading international conference with a strict peer-review process yielding high-quality presentations.
Highlights
International conferences remain an excellent way of disseminating research and furthering evidence-based medicine, thereby potentially influencing clinical practice
The abstracts from the 2009 SICOT Conference were chosen in order to give at least five years for subsequent publications and as it allows the methods to fall in line with those used in previous similar studies [1,2,3,4]
All 329 podium presentations published in the 2009 SICOT Conference podium abstract book were included in the study
Summary
International conferences remain an excellent way of disseminating research and furthering evidence-based medicine, thereby potentially influencing clinical practice. Abstracts presented at conferences provide a forum for debate, critical analysis and discussion, which in itself is a form of peer review. Previous studies have suggested up to 63% of major orthopaedic textbook chapters having included results from abstracts presented at international orthopaedic meetings [1]. The International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology (SICOT) holds an annual international conference that provides a well-known and important forum to share novel research findings. The SICOT Programme Committee is responsible for the selection of podium presentations as part of a strict, blinded and peer-reviewed process. This process has led to podium presentations at this meeting becoming increasingly well regarded, and the knowledge acquired as a result of these
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