Publication rates of abstracts presented at the 2007 and 2010 Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology meetings.
BACKGROUND
We set out to determine the rate, time-trend, and defining factors associated with publication of abstracts presented at two annual scientific meetings of the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology (caro).


METHODS
All abstracts accepted for oral presentation in 2007 and 2010 were obtained from the caro program archives and searched using the PubMed database. Variables in the dataset included the year of presentation at caro and of publication in a scientific journal, time to publication (in months), publishing journal, impact factor of publishing journal, abstract research type (clinical, technical, or basic science) and disease site, country of origin, and university of the first author.


RESULTS
Overall, 88 of 172 abstracts from the 2007 (n = 102) and 2010 (n = 70) caro meetings were published in peer-reviewed journals (publication rate: 51.2%). Mean time to publication was 18.5 months. Among research types, clinical research (62.5%) and, among disease sites, prostate cancer (40.4%) were most likely to be published. Of all the abstracts, 50.1% were contributed by only 2 universities, a proportion that resembles the overall abstract publication rate of 51.2%. The conversion rate for those 2 universities (51.1%) is very similar to that for all abstracts presented at the two meetings.


CONCLUSIONS
Half the abstracts presented at the 2007 and 2010 caro meetings were ultimately published in journals indexed in PubMed by about 1.5 years after presentation. Half the abstracts and publications came from just 2 universities; more must to be done to close the gap.
Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, QC.
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Meissner
Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, QC.
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Delouya
Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, QC.
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Marcovitch
Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, QC.
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Donath
Département de Radio-Oncologie, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, QC.
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Taussky
Abstracts; Canada; annual meetings; conversion rate; radiation oncology