A simple way to improve the chances for acceptance of your scientific paper.

s were defined as "regularly typed" or "typeset printed." Each abstract was categorized as accepted if chosen for presentation or rejected. A total of 1965 abstracts were evaluated. Excluded were 47 abstracts assigned for joint internal medicine-pediatric presentation, because the majority of them were submitted to the American Federation for Clinical Research, and there was no indication of their rejection rate; only those that had been accepted appeared in the APS/SPR book of abstracts. Of the 1918 evaluable abstracts, 1706 were regularly typed and 212 were "typeset." The acceptance rate was significantly higher for the "typeset" abstracts: 107 of 212 (51.4 percent) vs. 747 of 1706 (44 percent) (P < 0.05). Eighty-eight investigators submitted five or more abstracts to the meeting. Here, too. there was a higher rate of acceptance for the "typeset" abstracts (62 of 107; 57.9 percent) as compared with the regularly typed abstracts (184 of 451; 40.8 percent) (P = 0.002). One may argue that investigators who can afford the new equipment for printing abstracts have more money and can afford better research, and therefore that their abstracts are accepted at 01986 New England Journal of Medicine, reprinted with permission. 102 TUGboat, Volume 8 (1987), No. 2 higher rates. To explore this possibility, I analyzed data on the 15 investigators who submitted five or more abstracts each and who used both typing methods. In this subgroup, 19 of 55 regularly typed abstracts were accepted (34.5 percent), whereas 31 of 53 of the "typeset" abstracts were accepted (58.5 percent) (P = 0.015). These results demonstrate that the new "typeset" appearance of data increases the chance of acceptance. It may mean that "typeset" printing may cause the data to look more impressive. Alternatively, it may mean that the new printing makes it easier for reviewers to read the data and to appreciate its meaning. Most important, it means that this technological innovation reduces the chance of success of those not currently using it. GIDEON KOREN, M.D. Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON M5G 1x8, Canada Portuguese Hyphenation Table for 'l&X