The fate of abstracts presented at the Australasian College of Dermatologists annual meetings from 2008 to 2012: A 5-year analysis

Background/ObjectivesThe publication rate (PR) of congress abstracts externalizes the reputability and scientific value of meetings. The purpose of this study is to analyze the PRs of Australasian College of Dermatologists (ACD) meetings.MethodsPresentations at the ACD meetings held during 2008-2012 were retrospectively assessed. Manuscripts indexed in PubMed were included. The meeting year, journal impact factor (IF), study and presentation type, and time to publication of studies were evaluated.ResultsAmong a total of 588 oral and poster abstracts, 55.8% (n = 145) of oral presentations (OPs) and 42.4% (n = 139) of poster presentations (PPs) were published in scientific journals indexed in PubMed. The overall PR was 48.3%, and the mean IF was 2.175. The journals in which OPs were published had a greater IF than journals in which PPs were published (2.368 vs. 1.973). The PR was also greater in the OP group than in the PP group of journals (p < 0.001). The mean time to publication was 16.3 months. Comparison of clinical studies in terms of PRs and IF values of journals and the prospective or retrospective nature of the study showed no significant difference (p = 0.418 and p = 0.09, respectively).ConclusionThe annual meetings of the ACD have achieved a PR of 48.3% over 5 years with an average IF of 2.175 and a mean time to publication of 16.3 months, which is coequal to those of scientific meetings of other medical societies.