title: "Publish or perish"-presentations at annual national orthopaedic meetings and their correlation with subsequent publication.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Presentation of research at annual national orthopaedic conferences not only serves as a forum for the dissemination of knowledge but is also often a requirement of orthopaedic training programmes. The expected outcome is publication in a peer-reviewed journal. However, publication rates vary for a variety of reasons. The objective of this study was to determine publication rates of presentations from our local Singapore Orthopaedic Association (SOA) annual scientific meeting (ASM) and some of the potential associated factors. We also compared our findings to equivalent meetings worldwide to assess value of scientific content of various orthopaedic conferences.
  
  
  METHODS
  All presentations of six SOA ASMs were entered into a database. Using presentation titles, author names and keywords in PubMed and Google Scholar, we determined how many presentations progressed to publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Various comparisons were made to determine factors that could influence publication rates. A comparison with national orthopaedic meetings of America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Turkey and Brazil was also conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Excluding the ASMs with less than 4 years of follow-up, the publication rate was 35.8%. Both podium and international presenters were found to have significantly higher publication rates than poster and local presenters, respectively, while basic science and clinical research were found to have equivalent rates. Publication rates from other countries' national conferences ranged between 26.6% and 58.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that the quality of a presentation is related to its subsequent publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Our findings support the general consensus that the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is the gold standard for the dissemination of orthopaedic knowledge updates and advancements in our specialty. Each national orthopaedic association could determine the ratio of "presentations at ASM" to "publication within five years of presentation" and use this as a measure of their annual conference's impact on the addition and advancement to the orthopaedic literature. This tool may in turn assist clinicians in determining which meetings to attend.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119074, Singapore. zubin_jimmy_daruwalla@nuhs.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Zubin J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Daruwalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119074, Singapore. sumon_huq@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sumon S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Huq
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119074, Singapore. francis_kl_wong@nuhs.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Keng L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore, Singapore, 117597, Singapore. neepeiyi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pei Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Nee
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University Hospital, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119074, Singapore. diarmuid_murphy@nuhs.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Diarmuid P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Murphy
mesh_terms: D003226:Congresses as Topic; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011642:Publications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*