The Road from Abstract to Publication in Pediatric Urology
Katelyn A. Spencer, MSc, Brittany Levy, MD, Regan Martin, BS, Will Cranford, MS, Amanda Saltzman, MD.
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Background: Research presented at subspecialty meetings is a method to disseminate new ideas and innovation. However, the reach and impact of new data is limited without timely publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Successful navigation through the publication process allows research findings to reach a broader audience and can better inform new guidelines and practices within the field. While the demographics of pediatric urologists have changed over time, this has not always been reflected within the authorship of research abstracts and publications. This study aims to identify any author or institutional factors associated with achieving publication and time to publication of abstracts presented at Society of Pediatric Urology (SPU) meetings. Methods: Scientific posters and podium presentations from 2017 – 2019 and 2021 at the fall SPU meeting were identified and reviewed for authorship (gender, race, ethnicity, and level of training), institutional (presence of pediatric urology fellowship), and publication (date of publication, journal, and changes in authorship) details. Authorship demographic information was determined by two independent reviewers via previously validated methodology using publicly available headshots. Results: There were 688 abstracts presented at the annual fall SPU meeting between 2017-2019 and 2021. Of these, 311 (45.2%) were published, with an average time to publication of 12.3 months (standard deviation 10.8). For abstracts where demographic information was available, first and last authors, respectively, were predominantly male (54.5% & 72.5%), white (69.7% & 75.1%), non-Hispanic/Latino (94.6% & 91.8%), and affiliated with an institution with a pediatric urology fellowship (59.3% & 60.5%). The training level of first authors was distributed among medical students (7.5%), residents (20.2%), fellows (28.5%), attendings (28.8%), and others (PhD, RN, etc.) (15%), while last authorship was dominated by attending physicians (90.2%). There were no significant author or institutional factors associated with achieving publication or time to publication. However, abstracts presented in 2021, after the cancelled 2020 meeting, were published in an average of 6.7 months, compared to an average of 14.6 months from 2017-2019 (p < 0.001). Conclusions: While the annual SPU meeting is an important venue for presenting new information, the follow-through to publication is an area for improvement, which may limit dissemination of important new research. While last authors, more so than first authors, are still predominantly white, male attending physicians, it does not appear that any author-specific factors or the affiliation with a fellowship program is associated with ultimate publication of presented abstracts.
Table 1. Authorship and Institutional Factors Associated with Rates of Publication of Abstracts Presented at the Annual Fall SPU Meeting from 2017-2019 & 2021
| Not Published (N=377) | Published (N=311) | Overall (N=688) | P-value | |
| First Author Gender | ||||
| Female | 156 (41.4%) | 121 (38.9%) | 277 (40.3%) | 0.954 |
| Male | 183 (48.5%) | 149 (47.9%) | 332 (48.3%) | |
| Missing | 38 (10.1%) | 41 (13.2%) | 79 (11.5%) | |
| First Author Race | ||||
| White | 230 (61.0%) | 194 (62.4%) | 424 (61.6%) | 0.806 |
| Black | 10 (2.7%) | 10 (3.2%) | 20 (2.9%) | |
| American Indian | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 81 (21.5%) | 59 (19.0%) | 140 (20.3%) | |
| Middle Eastern/North African | 17 (4.5%) | 7 (2.3%) | 24 (3.5%) | |
| Missing | 39 (10.3%) | 41 (13.2%) | 80 (11.6%) | |
| First Author Ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic/Latino | 318 (84.4%) | 257 (82.6%) | 575 (83.6%) | 0.851 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 20 (5.3%) | 13 (4.2%) | 33 (4.8%) | |
| Missing | 39 (10.3%) | 41 (13.2%) | 80 (11.6%) | |
| First Author Training Level | ||||
| Medical Student | 22 (5.8%) | 26 (8.4%) | 48 (7.0%) | 0.81 |
| Resident | 77 (20.4%) | 52 (16.7%) | 129 (18.8%) | |
| Fellow | 106 (28.1%) | 76 (24.4%) | 182 (26.5%) | |
| Attending | 95 (25.2%) | 89 (28.6%) | 184 (26.7%) | |
| Other (RN, PhD, etc.) | 53 (14.1%) | 43 (13.8%) | 96 (14.0%) | |
| Missing | 24 (6.4%) | 25 (8.0%) | 49 (7.1%) | |
| First Author Fellowship Program | ||||
| Yes | 228 (60.5%) | 180 (57.9%) | 408 (59.3%) | 0.789 |
| No | 149 (39.5%) | 131 (42.1%) | 280 (40.7%) | |
| Last Author Gender | ||||
| Female | 91 (24.1%) | 90 (28.9%) | 181 (26.3%) | 0.364 |
| Male | 270 (71.6%) | 208 (66.9%) | 478 (69.5%) | |
| Missing | 16 (4.2%) | 13 (4.2%) | 29 (4.2%) | |
| Last Author Race | ||||
| White | 277 (73.5%) | 218 (70.1%) | 495 (71.9%) | 0.494 |
| Black | 5 (1.3%) | 12 (3.9%) | 17 (2.5%) | |
| American Indian | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 67 (17.8%) | 61 (19.6%) | 128 (18.6%) | |
| Middle Eastern/North African | 12 (3.2%) | 7 (2.3%) | 19 (2.8%) | |
| Missing | 16 (4.2%) | 13 (4.2%) | 29 (4.2%) | |
| Last Author Ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic/Latino | 330 (87.5%) | 275 (88.4%) | 605 (87.9%) | 0.925 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 31 (8.2%) | 23 (7.4%) | 54 (7.8%) | |
| Missing | 16 (4.2%) | 13 (4.2%) | 29 (4.2%) | |
| Last Author Training Level | ||||
| Medical Student | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0.989 |
| Resident | 2 (0.5%) | 2 (0.6%) | 4 (0.6%) | |
| Fellow | 2 (0.5%) | 1 (0.3%) | 3 (0.4%) | |
| Attending | 328 (87.0%) | 267 (85.9%) | 595 (86.5%) | |
| Other (RN, PhD, etc.) | 29 (7.7%) | 29 (9.3%) | 58 (8.4%) | |
| Missing | 16 (4.2%) | 12 (3.9%) | 28 (4.1%) | |
| Last Author Fellowship Program | ||||
| Yes | 228 (60.5%) | 188 (60.5%) | 416 (60.5%) | 1 |
| No | 149 (39.5%) | 123 (39.5%) | 272 (39.5%) | |
| Presentation Year | ||||
| 2017 | 81 (21.5%) | 64 (20.6%) | 145 (21.1%) | 0.859 |
| 2018 | 85 (22.5%) | 63 (20.3%) | 148 (21.5%) | |
| 2019 | 123 (32.6%) | 95 (30.5%) | 218 (31.7%) | |
| 2021 | 88 (23.3%) | 89 (28.6%) | 177 (25.7%) |
Back to 2023 Abstracts