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Acta Odontológica Latinoamericana

versión On-line ISSN 1852-4834

Acta odontol. latinoam. vol.23 no.2 Buenos Aires set. 2010

 

ARTÍCULOS ORIGINALES

Publication: presentation rate in the Latin American region of the International Association for Dental Research

 

Lilian Jara-Tracchia, Romina F. Aromando, María E. Itoiz

Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

CORRESPONDENCE Dra. Maria E. Itoiz Catedra de Anatomia Patologica, Facultad de Odontologia M.T. de Alvear 2142 - (1122) Buenos Aires – Argentina


ABSTRACT

Most research conducted by the dental scientific community is presented at the Annual Meetings of the different Divisions and Sections of IADR. This research acquires real value when the results are published in peer-reviewed journals. A useful indicator of the publication efficiency of research work is the rate of publication (PR), i.e. the ratio between the quantity of presentations and subsequent publications in peer-reviewed journals. The aim of this study was to analyze the PR of the presentations at the Sections and Divisions of the Latin American Region of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). We considered the presentations at the Annual Meetings of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru held in 2002 and 2003 and their corresponding publications indexed in PubMed from 2002 to 2009. For Venezuela, we analyzed the meetings held in 2002 and 2005, because they did not hold consecutive annual meetings. Presentation periods were selected based on previous data that report an interval of up to five years between presentation and publication. The number of presentations and the PR are related to the number of years that Sections and Divisions have existed. In Brazil and Argentina, PR (expressed as 1 publication: x presentations) is 1:3. The amount of research in Brazil is almost 8 times higher than in Argentina. Newer Sections and Divisions have produced fewer presentations, and the PR is also lower. We hope that this type of analysis will encourage the promotion of dental research at the different institutions and in the different vacancy areas of research, and facilitate exchange among researchers in the Region, enabling greater use to be made of their scientific activities.

Key words: Congresses; Publications.

RESUMEN

Relacion publicaciones: presentaciones en la Región Latinoamericana de la Internacional Association for Dental Reserach

En las Reuniones Anuales de las diferentes Divisiones y Secciones de la IADR se presenta la mayor parte de los trabajos de investigacion realizados por la comunidad cientifica odontologica, los cuales adquieren un valor real cuando los resultados han sido publicados en revistas con referato. Un indicador util para evaluar la capacidad de realizar publicaciones es la tasa de publicaciones (publication rate, PR) medida como la relacion entre la cantidad de presentaciones y la cantidad de sus correspondientes publicaciones en revistas con referato de pares. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar el PR de las presentaciones realizadas en las Secciones y Divisiones de la Region Latinoamericana de la International Association for Dental Reserch (IADR). Se consideraron las presentaciones realizadas en las Reuniones Anuales de Argentina, Brasil, Chile y Peru de 2002 y 2003 y sus respectivas publicaciones indizadas en Pub- Med desde 2002 a 2009. Para el caso de Venezuela se analizaron las presentaciones de 2002 y 2005 debido a que esta Division no ha realizado reuniones anuales consecutivas. Los periodos de presentaciones se eligieron en base a datos previos que indicaron un lapso de hasta cinco anos entre presentacion y publicacion. La cantidad de presentaciones y el PR estan relacionadas con los anos de existencia de las Secciones y Divisiones. En Brasil y Argentina el PR (expresado como 1publicacion:x presentaciones) es de 1:3, siendo la cantidad de trabajos de Brasil casi 8 veces superior a la de Argentina. En las Secciones y Divisiones de mas reciente formacion se ha producido un numero menor de presentaciones con un PR tambien menor. Se espera que este tipo de analisis incentive la promocion de las actividades de investigacion dental en las diferentes instituciones y en las distintas areas de vacancia y facilite el intercambio entre investigadores de la Region para un mejor aprovechamiento de sus actividades cientificas.

Palabras clave: Congresses; Publications.


 

INTRODUCTION

Presentations at the annual meetings of different Divisions and Sections of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) enable rapid communication of results and facilitate exchange among attendants. However, effective global diffusion is achieved only when papers are published after being reviewed by experts and indexed in universal data bases of recognized authority. In the field of health science, PubMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s digital archive, is one of the most widely recognized and consulted.
At scientific meetings, preliminary results are often presented, which may later be added to those of other presentations to make up a full paper. However, there are some presentations that never reach international publication. In contrast, there are other times when a single presentation reports concluding data, which are published sooner. It is only natural that the former situation is more frequent among groups just starting out in research, while the latter is more frequent among more consolidated research groups. A useful indicator of publication efficiency of research work is the rate of publication (PR), i.e. the relationship between the quantity of presentations and subsequent publications in peer-reviewed journals. Based on a study conducted by the IADR in 1983- 19841, a previous analysis was made of the PR of presentations at the Argentine Division for 1980-19892, 1990-19953 and 1993-20034. The aim of this study was to extend this information to the whole South American region, as a contribution to the exchange of ideas and promotion of scientific work among the members of the IADR Latin American Region.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The publication rate (PR) was analyzed for the presentations made at the IADR Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean and Peruvian Divisions in 2002-2003 and by the Venezuelan Division in 2002 and 2005, as it has not held consecutive annual meetings. These presentation periods were selected based on data from previous papers 3,4 that report an interval of up to five years between presentation and publication. We used the same methodology as the abovementioned papers. A list of authors and titles was drawn up from the book-programs of the Annual Meetings. The authors were traced in PubMed for 2002-2009. The titles of presentations and publications were compared according to their overall meaning, not to exact match of words or phrases. When discrepancies were detected, the contents of the abstract of the journal article were compared with the abstract of the presentations. Presentations and their corresponding publications were grouped according to research center, and within each center according to subject area.
The following parameters were studied: Publication rate (PR = 1 publication: x presentations), time between presentation and publication, and language of publication.

RESULTS

Table 1 shows the results. During the period analyzed, the Argentine Division made 416 presentations, from which 119 full papers were published, (PR=1:3). In Brazil, 3288 presentations were made, from which 997 full papers were published (PR=1:3). The PR for the rest of the Divisions or Sections is considerably lower. In Brazil, there is greater production in the field of Dental Materials than in other fields, and the distribution is somewhat more homogeneous than in the other countries.

Table 1: Presentations at annual meetings in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru (2002-2003) and Venezuela (2002 and 2005), and corresponding publications (2002-2009).

In all Sections and Divisions, over 95% of the papers indexed were published in English. The average time between presentation(s) and publication of the corresponding paper was 4 years, with a range of 3 to 5 years.

DISCUSSION

The analysis of scientific research in the different biomedical fields is a complex task that can be tackled from different angles. It always aims to achieve useful, fair assessments for researchers, institutions and scientific managers; however, the methodologies are often questioned. Although this paper considers only quantity, and not quality of the papers published, it is an approach to reality that might encourage dental research activities at our scientific institutions. The systematic search in PubMed publications ensures that most of the internationally divulged scientific production is covered. However, it must be admitted that this method leaves out some valuable reports, for example, those produced in Argentina in the field of Epidemiology and Prevention, which undergo reviews before publication by the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization. To our knowledge, there are not published quantitative data on the scientific production of Brazil prior to the period analyzed here, but mere observation of the published abstracts presented at the Meetings of the IADR Brazilian Division reveals a major increase in recent years. Brazil’s leadership in the Latin American Region is due not only to differences in population density and number of Dental Schools, but also to its policies supporting Higher Education and Scientific Research.
There has been a slower, yet sustained increase in the Argentine Division. Comparing current data for Argentine dental research to those reported in similar previous papers2-4, the mean number of presentations per year has increased: 74 in 1980-1989, 84 in 1990- 1995, 151 in 1993-2003 and 208 in the 2002-2003 period currently under study. It is interesting to note that the PR has also improved from 1:8 in 1980-1989 to 1:3 at present, which is equal to the PR in Brazil. This shows that even though there is less scientific development in Argentina, researchers in both countries have been made aware of the need to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals indexed in databases accepted worldwide. It should also be noted that mean PR according to fields in Argentina is highly uneven due to the prevalence of papers in basic fields over clinical fields, while in Brazil the PR is similar for all fields.
At the most recently created Sections and Divisions, the number of presentations is adequate to the number of existing academic institutions, and there is incipient production of publications. We hope that these data will encourage the promotion of dental research activities at the different institutions and in the different neglected areas of research, and facilitate exchange among researchers in the Region, enabling greater use to be made of their scientific activities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Maria Ines Jara, Elsa Gil and Dalmiro Jara for their valuable cooperation in the task of searching for and processing data.

REFERENCES

1. Corry AM. A Survey of the Publication History of Randomly Selected IADR/AADR Abstracts Presented in 1983 and 1984. J Dent Res 1990; 69:1453-1455.         [ Links ]

2. Collet AM, Piloni MJ, Keszler A. Scientific presentations and their publication. Experience over a 10-year period in the Argentine Division of the IADR. Acta Odontol Latinoamer. 1993; 7:39-46.         [ Links ]

3. Collet AM, Piloni MJ, Keszler A Scientific presentations and publications on odontological research in Argentina. Acta Odontol Latinoamer. 1997; 10:63-69.         [ Links ]

4. Collet AM, Jara-Tracchia L, Palacios SB, Itoiz ME. Dental Research productivity in Argentina (1993-2003). Acta Odontol Latinoamer. 2006;19:81.84.         [ Links ]

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