Studies presented in poster format at the annual meetings of the American Association Of Hip And Knee Surgeons: how do they fare in the peer review process?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the eventual publication rates of poster presentations at the annual meetings of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons from 1996 to 2001 (47%). Common belief expects poster presentations to publish at a lower rate than podium presentations, the latter being typically believed to consist of studies of higher scientific value. We hypothesized that this would lead to a lower incidence of eventual peer-reviewed literature publication for posters. Comparisons from an earlier report confirmed our analysis. Also, poster studies that did survive the peer review process were found in a wide array of journals and were found to publish within a relatively short amount of time (mean, 23.6 +/- 15.7 months).