The North American Menopause Society: from abstract to publication.
OBJECTIVE
The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) provides a forum through which researchers can present scientific abstracts. After presenting an abstract, the goal is to publish the research as a full-length article. The objective for this study was to determine the publication rate of abstracts presented at NAMS meetings.


METHODS
The PubMed database was searched for full-length, peer-reviewed publications, corresponding to the abstracts presented at the 1999 to 2003 NAMS meetings. When a full-length article was found, the title, authors, date of publication, and the journal were collected.


RESULTS
Of the 661 abstracts presented at the five consecutive annual meetings, 253 (38.3%) have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The average time to publication was 2.0 +/- 1.5 years. The average time to publication for oral presentations was 1.7 +/- 1.3 years, and that for poster presentations was 2.0 +/- 1.5 years (P = 0.241). The publication rate of oral presentations was significantly greater than that of poster presentations (57.7% vs 36.5%; P < 0.003). Manuscripts were published in a total of 97 journals, with four (Menopause, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Climacteric, and Maturitas) accounting for 38.3% of the publications.


CONCLUSIONS
The percentage of abstracts published by NAMS is within the range and within a similar time frame compared with other scientific meetings. Oral presentations are more likely to be rapidly published and may therefore be of higher interest and clinical relevance along with sound methodology and results. Menopause contained the most manuscripts, demonstrating a possible preference of submission to the Society's journal.
Schnatz
Peter F
PF
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06102, USA. pschnat@harthosp.org
Romegialli
Alison
A
Abrantes
Jessica
J
Marakovits
Kimberly
K
Cunningham
David
D
O'Sullivan
David M
DM
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003226:Congresses as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health