SCIENTIFIC MEETING ABSTRACTS - SIGNIFICANCE, ACCESS, AND TRENDS

Abs. of scientific papers and posters that are presented at annual sci entific meetings of professional societies are part of the broader cat egory of conference literature. They are an important avenue for the d issemination of current data. While timely and succinct, these abstrac ts present problems such as an abbreviated peer review and incomplete bibliographic access. Methods: Seventy societies of health sciences pr ofessionals were surveyed about the publication of abstracts from thei r annual meetings. Nineteen frequently cited journals also were contac ted about their policies on the citation of meeting abstracts. Ten dat abases were searched for the presence of meetings abstracts. Results: Ninety percent of the seventy societies publish their abstracts, with nearly half appearing in the society's journal. Seventy-seven percent of the societies supply meeting attendees with a copy of each abstract , and 43% make their abstracts available in an electronic format. Most of the journals surveyed allow meeting abstracts to be cited. Bibliog raphic access to these abstracts does not appear to be widespread. Con clusions: Meeting abstracts play an important role in the disseminatio n of scientific knowledge. Bibliographic access to meeting abstracts i s very limited. The trend toward making meeting abstracts available vi a the Internet has the potential to give a broader audience access to the information they contain.