![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Purpose: Dissemination of research findings through presentation and publication is essential to the scholarship process. The publication rate of abstract presentations for biomedical practitioners is approximately 45%. Currently, the national publication rate of pharmacy resident abstracts is unknown. This study aimed to determine the publication rate of pharmacy resident projects from 2004-2007, compare publication rates of abstracts from regional and national pharmacy conferences, and assess characteristics of published abstracts.
Methods: A stratified random sample of abstracts for residency years 2004-2007 was selected from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Fall and Spring Meetings (national meeting) and the following regional residency conferences: Alcalde, Great Lakes, Eastern, Southeastern, Midwestern, and Western States. Based on an expected frequency of 15% and a 95% confidence interval, 127 national conference abstracts and 679 regional conference abstracts were assessed for publication using a standardized search strategy for Medline, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Google Scholar.
Results: The overall publication rate of abstracts presented at national and regional pharmacy meetings from 2004-2007 was 9.5%. The publication rate of abstracts presented at ACCP meetings was determined to be 15.7% while the publication rate from regional conferences was found to be only 8.4%. From abstracts that were published, 80.8% had pharmacy residents as first author, 20.8% had pharmacy residents as corresponding author, and 57.5% of the publications were authored by an interdisciplinary team. Most (93.1%) of the published abstracts were identified as full research reports, with 56.2% published in peer-reviewed pharmacy journals. Approximately 89% of published abstracts were indexed in PubMed and the median time from abstract presentation to publication was 23 months.
Conclusions: Abstracts presented at national pharmacy meetings were associated with higher publication rates when compared to regional meetings. Future studies should be aimed at identifying the barriers to publication of pharmacy resident projects.