Features and Publication Rates of Scientific Abstracts Presented at a Rheumatology Congress EULAR 2008

摘要

Annual scientific meetings in any medical specialty allow for the attendees to easily access novel findings and are fundamental for continuing education along with advancement of clinical and research activities. Many studies are initially presented and summarized in abstract form at these meetings, and attendees take the opportunity of exchanging of ideas and immediate feedback by professional colleagues. On the other hand, studies presented in abstract form have not been subjected to a detailed peer reviewing in comparison to the published manuscripts. The abstracts of the studies usually contain preliminary results or partial data; therefore as the study proceeds, interpretations, results, and conclusions may well change. Given the fact that main purpose of conducting a study is to publish it as a full-length manuscript, the rate of publication of the abstracts presented in a certain meeting determines the scientific quality of those abstracts.