Conversion rates of abstracts to publications from the Irish Society of Urology Annual Meeting (2005–2011) – Questioning the scientific value of national urological meetings for smaller European nations

Abstract

Background:

Large annual scientific meetings such as the American Urological Association (AUA) and the European Association of Urology (EUA) have abstract conversion rates into publication of 37%−48%. There are no data on the conversion rates from national meetings of smaller European countries. Our objective was to present the conversion rates and manuscript characteristics of the Irish Society of Urology (ISU) annual meeting over a seven-year period (2005–2011), and to demonstrate the value, viability and sustainability of such a meeting as a model for other small national research programmes.

Methods:

All abstracts presented at the ISU annual meeting between 2005 and 2011 were identified. The subsequent publication rate following the meetings was established for the corresponding studies based on a Medline scan. A range of characteristics associated with subsequent publication were analysed using the logistic regression of the dichotomous variable of publications vs. non-publication of each factor.

Results:

Overall, 46% of the 322 abstracts presented at the ISU meeting were followed by publication into Medline-indexed journals with a mean impact factor of 2.6. A total of 74% abstracts were published within two years. Oral presentations were more likely to be published than posters (p < 0.0001), and prospective clinical research was more likely to be published in a journal with a higher impact factor than retrospective analyses (p = 0.033); the mean time to publication was 16.7 months.

Conclusions:

Almost half the abstracts presented at the ISU were subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals, the majority within two years. This compares favourably with larger urological meetings, and provides an incentive to other smaller countries within Europe to continue with national research programmes.