SAEM abstracts to articles: 1997 and 1999-2001

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine Research
• Academic Publishing Trends
• Scientific Dissemination

Background:

• The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) annual meeting is a key venue for emergency medicine research.
• Previous studies indicated a declining trend in the publication rate of SAEM abstracts.
• A 2000 abstract showed publication rates dropping from 47% (1995) to 33% (1997).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the publication rates of articles derived from SAEM abstracts continued to decline after 1997.
• To assess the current publication trends of research presented at the SAEM annual meeting.

Main Methods:

• A MEDLINE search was performed on SAEM abstracts from 1997 and 1999-2001.
• Publication rates were analyzed as the primary outcome.
• Secondary analyses compared rates by presentation type (oral vs. poster) and research category.

Main Results:

• Overall, 38% of 2,054 SAEM abstracts were published by Fall 2003.
• Publication rates were 40% (1997), 40% (1999), 38% (2000), and 35% (2001).
• Oral presentations had higher publication rates (50%) than poster presentations (34%).
• Publication rates varied by research category, with wound (53%) and CPR/resuscitation (51%) being highest, and administration (32%) and cardiovascular (33%) being lowest.
• Twenty-six percent of published articles appeared in emergency medicine journals.
• Publication timelines showed 4-7% in the same year, 15-17% one year later, 10-11% two years later, 5% three years later, and 3-5% after three years.

Conclusions:

• The publication rate for articles based on SAEM abstracts has stabilized around 40% in recent years.
• This stability is evident when accounting for the time lag between abstract presentation and full article publication.
• Publication rates differ based on presentation format and research topic.