Education Are Abstracts Presented at the EAU Meeting Followed by Publication in Peer-Reviewed Journals? A Critical Analysis Riccardo Autorino a, *, Giuseppe Quarto a , Giuseppe Di Lorenzo b , Marco De Sio a , Rocco Damiano c a Clinica Urologica, Seconda Universita ` degli Studi, Napoli, Italy b Dip. di Oncologia Molecolare e Clinica, Universita ` Federico II, Napoli, Italy c Cattedra di Urologia, Universita ` Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy european urology 51 (2007) 833–840 available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.europeanurology.com Article info Article history: Accepted October 16, 2006 Published online ahead of print on October 25, 2006 Keywords: Abstract Peer review Publication Scientific meeting Abstract Purpose: Our goal was to assess the rate and time-course of peer-reviewed publication of abstracts presented at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Annual Meeting and to identify factors predictive of publication. Methods: All abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2000 and 2001 EAU annual meetings were identified from the related published supplements in European Urology. The subsequent publication rate was estimated for the corresponding studies based on a scan of Medline covering a 5-year period following the meetings. We examined whether the following factors were associated with publication rate: research type, study subject, and country of origin. The analysis was performed using logistic regression of the dichot- omous variable of publication versus non-publication and the candidate factors. Results: Overall, 47.3% of 1406 abstracts presented at the EAU meetings were followed by publication in peer-reviewed journals. Pre-clinical research studies were more likely to be published than clinical studies (53.3% vs 45%, p < 0.05). Prospective series were more likely to be published than retrospective ones (46.5% vs 32.2%, p < 0.05). Studies presented at the meetings were mostly from Europe (74.2%). Mean time to publication was 8.6 months, and in most cases, the reports were published in The Journal of Urology and European Urology. The mean IF of journals where papers were published was 1.95. Conclusions: Almost half of the abstracts presented at the EAU are ultimately published in peer-reviewed journals, usually within 2 years after presenta- tion. The publication rate differs significantly according to country of origin, study subject, and research type. # 2006 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Clinica Urologica, Policlinico SUN, Piazza Miraglia 80138, Napoli, Italy. Tel. +39 3358416713; Fax: +39 081446664. E-mail address: ricautor@tin.it (R. Autorino). 0302-2838/$ – see back matter # 2006 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.eururo.2006.10.024