Analysis and proceeding to full publication of abstracts presented at the Pancreas Club annual meeting

Introduction: The editorial fate of pancreatology conference abstracts has been scarcely defined. Objective: To examine the editorial fate of abstract presented at the Pancreas Club Annual Meeting (PC) and identify factors associated with successful publication. Methods: Abstracts presented at PC (2011-2013) were retrieved. Factors associated with full publication and post-publication impact were analyzed. Top publications were defined as those falling in the upper quartile of impact factor and citation distributions. To avoid lead-time bias, a search strategy limited to four years after each meeting was established. Results: Overall, 309/497 abstracts (62.2%) proceeded to full publication, after a median of 14 months. Multicenter status was the only factor independently associated with publication. The median impact factor of published manuscripts was 3.27, with a median of 13 citations/paper. Basic science and orally presented papers were independently associated with high-impact publication and high citation number, despite five of top-ten cited papers had been allocated to poster presentation. Conclusions: 62.2% of abstracts presented at the PC attained full publication, indicating a high meeting quality. Research works with the highest impact were frequently selected for podium presentation. However, several best-published papers were presented as posters. Our results may provide practical hints for quality promotion in pancreatology at a meeting level.