title: Publication rates of abstracts presented at five national pharmacy association meetings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abstract presentations at professional meetings provide a medium for disseminating the findings of scholarly activity. Rates of abstract publication from various biomedical disciplines have been evaluated, with pharmacy noted to be lower than other specialties. Previous research on pharmacy abstract publication rates was conducted for a limited number of professional meetings but has not been assessed using Google Scholar.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the full publication rate of abstracts presented at the 2005 American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Spring and Annual Meetings, American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting, and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Summer and Midyear Clinical Meetings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Publication status was assessed for abstracts presented during the 2005 ACCP Spring and Annual Meetings, APhA Annual Meeting, and ASHP Summer and Midyear Clinical Meetings using PubMed and Google Scholar. Data collected included abstract category, study category, practice site, database(s) in which publication appeared, time in months to publication, publication type, and journal of publication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evaluation of 2,000 abstracts presented in 2005 revealed an overall full publication rate of 19.8% (n = 384). Nearly all pharmacy abstracts were published as manuscripts (98.4%; n=378) and indexed in PubMed and Google Scholar (91.9%; n = 353), although a significant percentage were indexed in Google Scholar only (7.8%; n = 30). The mean time to full publication was 16.8 months (SD ±11.9 months).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results were consistent with previously reported full publication rates of abstracts from pharmacy association meetings, indicating that abstracts presented at pharmacy meetings continue to have a lower full publication rate than other health disciplines.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Coordinator, Tria Health, Overland Park, Kansas.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prohaska
authors.affiliation: Director, Drug Information Center, The University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City, Kansas ; Clinical Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Generali
authors.affiliation: Senior Pharmacist, Center for Drug Policy, Partners HealthCare, Inc, Needham, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zak
authors.affiliation: Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, The University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, Lawrence, Kansas.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grauer
keywords: abstracts; journals; meetings; pharmacy; publications