ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: At sexual medicine meetings throughout the world, hundreds of scientific abstracts are presented each year. To our knowledge, no previous studies have looked at the rate of publication of these studies in a peer-reviewed journal. AIM: To define the fate of abstracts presented at sexual medicine sessions at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) and to describe the factors predicting ultimate publication in scientific journals. METHODS: All abstracts presented at the 2006 and 2007 AUA annual meeting were surveyed to find sexual medicine abstracts. Publication status as of October 2009 was assessed using the Medline database. Abstract parameters were recorded including number of authors, country of origin, clinical or basic research, and area of sexual research. Predictors of publication were analyzed using a multivariable model. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Publication status of all sexual medicine abstracts presented at the 2006 and 2007 AUA annual meetings. RESULTS: A total of 208 sexual medicine abstracts were presented in 2006 and 2007. Fifty-one percent of these were published by October 2009. On univariate analysis, the predictors of publication in a peer-reviewed journal included the number of authors (r=0.22, P<0.01), studies pertaining to erectile dysfunction (RR 1.3, CI 1-1.8, P=0.05), and studies originating from academic centers (RR 2.7, CI 1.7-4.3, P<0.01). On multivariate analysis, the predictors of publication included the number of authors (OR 1.3, CI 1-1.4, P<0.01) and having a study originate from an academic center (OR 5.9, CI 2.8-12.7, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Fifty-one percent of the sexual medicine abstracts presented at the 2006 and 2007 annual AUA meetings have been published within 2 to 3 years of the date of presentation. Studies originating from academic centers were six times more likely to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
