Transition from congress abstract to full paper: the case of a national Argentinean congress in clinical laboratory.
BACKGROUND
Transition from communications (abstracts) of an Argentinean congress and their publication as full papers was analyzed. No similar report was found for clinical laboratory in Latin America.


METHODS
A total of 388 communications from five congresses were identified, and searches were performed on the internet to find the publications. Pairs were established (1 communication, 1 publication), and characteristics were analyzed.


RESULTS
In total, 10.8% of the communications were published. Mean time elapsed was 2+/-1.0 years (x +/- SD). A total of 62% of the publications appeared in Argentinean journals and 38% in foreign journals (5 in Spanish, 11 in English). Mean author number was 4.8+/-2.4 for communications and 5.1+/-2.3 for publications. In total, 59.5% of the publications changed the number and order of authors. Clinical Chemistry was the main topic (45.4% for communications, 38.1% for publications), followed by Microbiology (21.1%, 23.8%). Universities participated in 217 communications (55.9%) and 32 publications (76.2%), while other institutions participated in 171 communications (44.1%) and 10 publications (23.8%).


CONCLUSIONS
Publication index was lower than for other congresses. Time elapsed was consistent with others. Preference for Argentinean journals may indicate a focus on local readers but also limitations in language skills. Variations in authorship arise from modifications of individual participation in the final work. More publications from all institutions are desirable. Differences of content were below those reported by others.
Martínez
Ana M
AM
Servicio de Apoyo Científico Técnico al Profesional (SACT), Federación Bioquímica de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, La Plata, Argentina.
Fink
Nilda E
NE
D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001118:Argentina; D001671:Biochemistry; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D007802:Language; D016239:MEDLINE; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012952:Societies; D013997:Time Factors