Publication Rates of Manuscript Presentations at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons Annual Scientific Conference Between 1999 and 2008

Publication is the ultimate desired end point of scientific research. However, oral manuscript presentations of research studies are often referenced in textbooks, journal articles, and industry white papers, and, as a result, influence treatment care plans. No data exist for the actual publication rate of podiatric foot and ankle surgery oral manuscript presentations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the actual publication rates of oral manuscript presentations at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS) Annual Scientific Conference over 10 years. Print or electronic media for the ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference official program between 1999 and 2008 were obtained. Each year's official program was hand searched for any oral manuscript presentation, and, when identified, the title and authors were individually searched through electronic internet-based search engines to determine whether an oral manuscript presentation had been followed by publication of a full-text article. Additionally, pertinent journals were hand searched for potential articles. A total of 67.5% (139/206) oral manuscript presentations were ultimately published in 1 of 12 medical journals in a mean of 14.5 months. All journals except one (91.7%) represented peer-reviewed journals. The publication rate of oral manuscript presentations at the ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference is similar to or greater than orthopaedic subspecialties, including foot and ankle surgery, publication rates. Based on the above, attendees of the ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference should be aware that the majority of oral manuscript material presented at the ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference can be considered as accurate because they survive the rigors of the peer-review process more than two thirds of the time.