[The scientific value of society reports in the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde].

OBJECTIVE

To obtain an objective appraisal of the scientific value of abstracts of scientific meetings published in the Dutch Journal of Medicine (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde; NTvG).

DESIGN

Retrospective.

SETTING

Editorial office of the NTvG.

METHOD

A search in MEDLINE was conducted for articles about research presented in 803 abstracts of 54 meetings (29 scientific associations), which appeared in the NTvG in 1988 and January 1989. Scientific associations were assigned to 4 groups (surgery, medicine, non-clinical medicine and a remaining group).

RESULTS

The overall publication percentage was 48 (385 articles out of 803 presentations). Pathology abstracts showed a significantly higher percentage (65%; p < 0.01), rehabilitation and dermatology abstracts a significantly lower percentage than the overall value (6%; p < 0.00001, 27% respectively; p < 0.04). The larger part of the abstracts was published in the first 2 years after the scientific meeting.

CONCLUSION

The scientific relevance of abstracts presented at Dutch scientific meetings is reasonably high, considering the publication percentage. A more rigorous selection by the scientific associations could improve the quality of the abstracts.