Do presenters to paediatric meetings get their work published?

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Research
• Medical Publication
• Scientific Dissemination

Background:

• Clinical accessibility of scientific meeting research is limited unless published in indexed journals.
• Assessing publication rates is crucial for understanding research impact.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the publication rate of studies presented at two major UK pediatric conferences: Paediatric Research Society (PRS) and British Paediatric Association (BPA).
• Identify barriers to publication for presented research.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a Medline search for first authors of abstracts from 1996 PRS and BPA meetings.
• Utilized postal questionnaires for authors of non-indexed abstracts to gather publication status and reasons for non-publication.

Main Results:

• Publication data was obtained for 88 out of 89 presentations.
• 25/48 PRS studies and 31/40 BPA studies were published in Medline-indexed journals.
• Primary reasons for non-publication included non-submission (PRS: 15/48, BPA: 6/40) and ongoing review processes.

Conclusions:

• A significant portion of research presented at pediatric meetings is not published in accessible journals.
• Researchers presenting at these meetings require assistance with manuscript submission and publication processes.
• Publication rates varied by study type, with randomized controlled trials showing higher publication rates than observational studies.