Publication Rate of Podium Presentations From the North American Spine Society Annual Meetings

Abstract

Study Design: Observational study. Objectives: To determine the publication rate of podium presentations from the North American Spine Society (NASS) annual meetings from the years 2009 to 2011. Methods: In April 2015, a PubMed search was conducted using titles from the paper presentations as well as the authors. Of the search results that were found, the specific scientific journal in which the article was published was recorded. We analyzed further the top 4 destination journals and trends in publications in these journals over the study period. No study funding was obtained for this research, and there are no potential conflicts of interest or associated biases. Results: Over the study period, 671 paper presentations were available and 342 were published (51% publication rate). The highest publication rate was from the 2011 annual meeting, with 55.3%, and the lowest year was 2010, with a rate of 46.43%. Spine (32.75%), The Spine Journal (19.01%), Journal of Neurosurgery Spine (7.31%), and European Spine Journal (6.73%) were the top 4 destination journals. Over the study period, we found a significant decrease in publication rate in Spine ( P = .001) and a significant increase in publication rate in The Spine Journal ( P = .003). There were no significant difference in publication rate over the study period in Journal of Neurosurgery Spine ( P = .15) or European Spine Journal ( P = .23). Conclusions: This is the first study to our knowledge evaluating the publication rate of podium presentations from recent North American Spine Society annual meetings. We found an overall publication rate of 51%.