Publication rates of abstracts presented by pharmacy residents at the Western States Conference.

Purpose: Investigators report the results of a study to determine the proportion of residency projects presented as abstracts at a regional residency conference that were subsequently published as full-length articles.

Summary: Using every third item listed in the abstract booklets from the Western States Conference for the years 1995, 2000, and 2005, a search of MEDLINE and EMBASE for journal citations indicating publication of the corresponding residency projects was conducted; the searches covered a period including and extending five years beyond the year of abstract presentation at the conference. Of the total of 270 abstracts evaluated, 17 were expanded to full-length articles and published within the search time frame. The average time to publication (mean ± S.D.) was 24 ± 10 months. The publication rates associated with abstracts presented at the 1995, 2000, and 2005 conferences were 4.2%, 5.2%, and 8.2%, respectively. All published articles appeared in peer-reviewed journals, with more than half (54.2%) in pharmacy journals. The majority of residency projects published were retrospective and prospective cohort studies. In most cases (58.8%), the resident was listed as the first author of the published journal article.

Conclusion: The overall publication rate of abstracts presented at a regional residency conference in 1995, 2000, and 2005 was 6.3%, with an increase in the rate over those years.