title: Analysis of the Publication Rate of the Abstracts Presented at a National Gastroenterology Meeting after 6 Years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Abstract presentations at scientific meetings provide an opportunity to communicate the results of important research. Unfortunately, many abstracts are not published as full manuscripts. At the 73rd scientific meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in 2008, we evaluated factors associated with the publication of abstracts as manuscripts up to 6.5 years after presentation.
  
  
  METHODS
  All abstracts, excluding case reports, presented at the meeting were evaluated. We systematically searched for matching manuscripts indexed in PubMed or EMBASE up to May 2015. We used logistic regression models to determine factors associated with manuscript publication and calculated ORs and 95% CIs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the included 791 abstracts, 249 (31.5%) were published as manuscripts within 6.5 years. Oral presentation (OR 2.11; 95% CI 1.15-3.87), multicenter studies (OR 2.67; 95% CI 1.44-4.95), abstracts by University-based authors (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.20-2.72), and funded research (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.43-3.23) were more likely to be published. Winning an award at the meeting was not associated with manuscript publication (OR 1.09; 95% CI 0.57-2.06).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is an urgent need to enhance the methods of disseminating scientific knowledge through publication of abstracts presented at gastroenterology meetings as manuscripts. Mentors should endeavor to encourage their mentees to complete this final stage of their scholarly activities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C., USA.
authors.forename: Divyangkumar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gandhi
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Mclean I
authors.forename: Adeyinka O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Laiyemo
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D035843:Biomedical Research; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005762:Gastroenterology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008374:Manuscripts, Medical as Topic; D012955:Societies, Medical