Fate of the abstracts presented at three Spanish clinical pharmacology congresses and reasons for unpublished research.

objectivesTo assess the publication rate of abstracts at 5 years after their presentation at three consecutive clinical pharmacology congresses and to examine the reasons relating to the lack of publication.

methodsOral and poster presentations from the congresses of the Spanish Society of Clinical Pharmacology (SSCP) in 1994, 1996, and 1998 were reviewed. Authors were contacted to determine the fate of their presented studies and the reasons for not publishing them. Publications of abstracts with unknown fate were searched the in PubMed database. Determinants of publication were examined by Cox regression.

resultsIn all, 248 abstracts were analysed. The cumulative publication rate at 5 years was 26%, and the median time for publication was 18 months (range: 2-60). The European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology was the English language medical journal where most abstracts were published. The median impact factor of the articles published was 1.96 (range: 0.29-8.32). The author survey identified a lack of time (38.2%) and a lack of interest (33.3%) as the main reasons for failure to publish. The only predictor of an abstract's publication was to be affiliated with a university department (hazard ratio: 1.98, 95% confidence interval: 1.20-3.27).

conclusionsOnly one-quarter of the abstracts presented at SSCP congresses were subsequently published. A lack of time and interest were the main reasons given for not submitting these presentations for publication. Authors, scientific societies and editorial boards should enhance publications as full papers in peer-reviewed journals of the abstracts presented at meetings.