The publication outcome for the papers presented at the 1990 ABA conference

This retrospective review of the 1990 ABA orally presented abstracts found an overall publication rate of slightly more than 26%. This included both same-content and related-content publications. When the abstracts were made a subset by theme, a major variance in the publication rates was found. Abstracts that had a psychologic content (72.73%), for example, fared much better than reports of in vitro research (6.9%). This overall rate when compared to publication studies in other clinical areas was found to be quite low. This study further found that there was a great deal of similarity between abstracts that were published and those that were not. The one meaningful predictor of ultimate journal publication was the clarity of the presentation of statistically related information.