| ABSTRACT: |
STUDY DESIGN: A review of all the presentations
at three major spine specialty meetings held over a 3-year period. OBJECTIVES:
To determine the rate of publication in peer-reviewed journals after presentations
at major spine meetings conducted annually by the following three organizations:
North American Spine Society (NASS), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), and
International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS). SUMMARY
OF BACKGROUND DATA: The rate of publication for presentations at national
and international meetings has been determined for medical and surgical
subspecialties. This rate has been used to judge the quality of the content
of the meetings and to determine the validity of the research presentations.
METHODS: All presentations either in poster or oral presentation form were
entered into a database covering a 3-year period for spine specialty meetings
conducted annually by the following three organizations: NASS 1990 to 1992,
SRS 1991 to 1993, and ISSLS 1991 to 1993. A computer search for each abstract
was performed with the Melvyl Medline Plus database to determine if the
abstract had been published in a peer-reviewed journal from 1990 to the
end of 1997. Publication rates for presentations at these three meetings
were determined over a 3-year period. RESULTS: A total of 1186 abstracts
were listed over a 3-year period in the final programs of these three meetings
for the years 1991 to 1993 (SRS, ISSLS) and 1990 to 1992 (NASS). Of these
1186 abstracts, 516 were published in peer-reviewed journals, giving an
overall publication rate of 43.5%. The publication rates for the three different
meetings (NASS, SRS, ISSLS) were similar, with values of 40%, 47%, and 45%
respectively. More than 90% of the publications resulting from these meetings
were published within a period of 4 years from the data of the meeting.
CONCLUSIONS: The publication rates of presentations at three major spine
specialty meetings are high and quite comparable with the publication rates
of meetings in other medical subspecialties. This reflects the high quality
of the meeting programs and validates their selection process. |