Publication Rate of Abstracts Presented at the Psychiatry National Congresses Held by the Psychiatric Association of Turkey

Abstract

Objective: In this study we aimed to investigate the frequency and the factors determining the conversion rate of the oral and poster presentations into articles. Five consecutive national psychiatry congresses held by the Psychiatric Association of Turkey (PAT) between 2012 and 2016 were evaluated.

Method: The manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals were identified using the Web of Knowledge, PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The identified manuscripts were classified according to the type of the publication, the duration until publication, the impact factor and the index of the journal.

Results: Out of the total 1372 reports presented at the five consecutive National Congress of Psychiatry events, a total of 297 abstracts (21.6%), comprising 201 of the 1104 posters and 96 of the 268 oral presentations, were converted in to publications. A significantly higher percentage of the oral presentations (p<0.001) compared to the poster presentations were converted into publications; and more of the publications consisted of research reports as compared to case reports. The mean time taken from presentation at the congress to publication was 19.04 (+/- 12.47) months. The mean impact factor of the journals at the time of publication was 1.45 (+/- 1.49).

Conclusion: Although the publication percentage of the presentations made in National Congress of Psychiatry events held by the PAT is similar to that of other studies conducted in Turkey, they are below the percentage reported by similar research in the international literature. There is a need in the mental healthcare institutions of Turkey for time allocation to make research and for creating units that can support researchers in the difficult process of publishing research results. Also, a more selective approach should be adopted when evaluating the congress presentations, and research that is considered to be of high academic value should be encouraged for submission as oral presentations.