Publication rates of abstracts presented at American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons annual open and closed conferences: 2015-2019

Abstract

BackgroundThe annual meetings hosted by the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) present the latest pre-publication literature in shoulder and elbow surgery, facilitating early dissemination of novel findings that impact clinical decision making. Evaluating the publication rate of presented abstracts at ASES conferences becomes crucial in assessing the quality of research showcased, as these presentations often precede the peer-review process. MethodsThe ASES conference programs from 2015-2019 were reviewed to identify presented abstracts. For each abstract, the title, author(s), conference year, and meeting type (open versus closed) were recorded. The names of the author(s) of each abstract were searched in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases to determine if there was an associated published manuscript. For each identified manuscript, the title, author(s), date of publication, publishing journal, impact factor of the publishing journal (IF), level of evidence (LOE), and number of citations were recorded. ResultsA total of 316 abstracts were presented as podium lectures at ASES open and closed meetings between 2015 and 2019. Within three years of presentation, 240 (75.9%) of the presented abstracts resulted in publication. There was an increase in the proportion of abstracts resulting in publication within three years of the presentation from 2015-2019 (R=0.8733, p=0.053). Overall, the proportion of presented abstracts that went on to publication in peer-reviewed journals also increased (R=0.8907, p=0.043). Manuscripts of abstracts presented at open meetings had a shorter time to publication (8.78 versus 11.82 months; p=0.0160) and were cited more often (40.89 versus 30.11, p=0.0099) than those presented at closed meetings. ConclusionThere has been an increase in the publication rate of abstracts presented at ASES annual meetings in the study period. Published manuscripts of abstracts presented at ASES open conferences were published faster, and were cited more often, than closed conferences. ASES conferences allow for the presentation of high-quality pre-publication literature in shoulder and elbow surgery.