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Studies with higher level of evidence published more often, faster
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Researchers who examined papers presented at American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting found that 5 years after the meeting, 49% of the papers were ultimately published to peer-reviewed literature, according to this study.
Pramod B. Voleti, MD, and colleagues analyzed 756 papers and posters at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting in 2001 for levels of evidence and appearance in the literature. At 5 years, 49% of the papers were published to peer-reviewed literature, and at 10 years that number increased to 58%, according to the abstract.
“The [level of evidence] of AAOS presentations is positively related to rate of publication and inversely related to time to publication,” Voleti and colleagues stated in the study abstract. “Presentations with higher levels of evidence are published in the peer-reviewed literature at a greater and faster rate than those with lower levels of evidence.”
At 5 years, papers with level I and level II evidence were 2.9 times more likely to be published than level III and level IV studies, according to the abstract. Ten years after the meeting, the studies were still 2.5 times more likely to be published if they contained level I or level II evidence compared to level III and level IV studies.
Overall, 77% of level I, 69% of level II, 58% of level III and 39% of level IV studies were published at 5 years, while 85%, 74%, 66% and 51% of level I, II, III and IV studies, respectively, were published at 10 years, according to the abstract. The mean time to publishing for level I studies was 0.9 years, followed by 1.4 years for level II, 2.1 years for level III and 2.7 years for level IV studies.
Disclosure: Voleti has no relevant financial disclosures.
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