Publication rates of scientific presentations in Turkish national radiology congresses.

PURPOSE To investigate the publication rates of scientific presentations in Turkish radiology congresses. MATERIALS AND METHODS The abstracts of presentations at Turkish national radiology congresses between 1995-2002 were reviewed. According to the congress abstract booklets, types of the presentation (oral or poster presentation), as well as body system-based categorization were used. The presentations were searched for publication in Medline(R) indexed journals using the PubMed server. The rates of publication of the abstracts, the journals in which the presentations have been published and the time between the presentation and publication were investigated. RESULTS An overall number of 521 publications were found originating from 4,413 presentations (11.81%). The publication numbers of 2,116 scientific research, 1,995 case report and 302 educational exhibit type presentations were 261 (12.33%), 249 (12.49%) and 11 (3.64%), respectively. For oral presentations the publication ratio was found as 15.38% (116/754) and for posters it was 11.06% (405/3,659). The number of presentations and the number of publications were found to increase by years, however the ratio of publication to presentation remained the same. Mean time to publication was calculated as 24.4 months. In frequency of publication, Tanisal ve Girisimsel Radyoloji, European Radiology, European Journal of Radiology were the first three publication media of the presentations. CONCLUSION The publication rates of abstracts presented at Turkish national radiology congresses are lower than the previously reported publication rates in radiology and other specialties.