From Podium to PubMed: Successful Manuscript Publication of Oral Breast Surgery Abstract Presentations at National Meetings from 2017 to 2022.

BACKGROUND

Less than half of scientific presentations result in manuscript publication. This study aims to assess manuscript publication rate for oral breast surgery abstracts at three national surgical conferences and examine factors associated with successful publication.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective review of orally presented breast surgery abstracts from the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS), American College of Surgeons (ACS), and Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) annual meetings from 2017 to 2022. Univariate and multivariate logistic and linear regression models were used to examine factors predictive of publication, journal impact factor, and time from presentation to publication.

RESULTS

A total of 441 oral presentations met inclusion. Most presenting first authors were trainees (residents or fellows) (56.8%) or attendings/faculty (26.7%). Overall manuscript publication rate was 60.5% (n=267) and was 81.1% for ASBrS, 43.0% for ACS, and 63.4% for SSO. On unadjusted models, compared to medical students, trainees (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.1-4.5) and attendings/faculty (OR 2.9, 95%CI 1.4-6.4) were more likely to publish (p<0.05). On multivariate analysis, abstracts presented at ACS (OR 0.2, 95%CI 0.11-0.36, p<0.001) and SSO (OR 0.4, 95%CI 0.25-0.79, p<0.001) had lower odds of publication than those presented at ASBrS. Median journal impact factor was 3.7 and median time to publication was 5 months (IQR 2-12.5).

CONCLUSION

First author role and meeting type were predictive of manuscript publication for breast surgery presentations at national meetings on unadjusted and multivariate models, respectively. Findings may inform abstract submissions and underscores the need to support medical students to publish their work.