Publication rate of abstracts presented in national congress of Turkish society of anesthesiology

Aim: This study aimed to determine the rate of conversion to scientific publication of abstracts presented at the annual congress of Turkish Society of Anesthesia and Reanimation (TARD) between the period of 2011-2013. Material and Method: The abstracts presented at TARD Congresses in 2011, 2012, 2013 and published in various peer-reviewed medical journals were identified using PubMed and Google Scholar. In a retrospective study design, the abstracts were divided into either oral presentations(OP) or poster presentations(PP), type of the study; trial design, first author's name and affiliated institution, mean publication time and journal name were analyzed. Result: From a total of 2417 abstracts, 114(4.7%) were found to be published as a scientific full-text article. While the conversion rate of OP was; 24 of 187(12.8%), for PP it was 90 of 2230(4%), and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). Experimental studies had the highest publication rate compared to clinical studies and case reports. The publication rate of university-related anesthesia programs was higher than other hospitals. The mean time of publication after the abstract presentation was 14.4 +/- 11.4 months. Discussion: This is the first study evaluating the publication rates of abstracts presented at TARD congress. Our study results show that conversion to publication rate of TARD congress presentations is 4.7% and this rate is relatively lower than those presented at national congress for other clinical specialties held in Turkey.