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From presentation to publication: an 11-year comparison of aesthetic and reconstructive surgery research among Chilean plastic surgeons

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Abstract

Background

The transition from a presentation in a scientific conference to publication in an academic journal should be the ideal journey for a research project. This phenomenon is summarized in a conversion rate, which has been previously reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics and conversion rate of Chilean authors’ aesthetic and reconstructive research projects in a nationwide study.

Methods

Conference abstracts from the two official Chilean plastic surgery meetings released between 2008 and 2018 were analyzed. A bibliographic search of all published articles involving each Chilean plastic surgeon followed. This information was cross-referenced to obtain the conversion rates and time to publication for transferred studies. Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney test were used to establish statistical associations.

Results

Four hundred sixty-eight abstracts were included, and 227 articles were found in our bibliographic search. Of these, 82 were considered to qualify as transferred studies. Aesthetic surgery publications had a higher proportion of prospective design than reconstructive articles (34.6% vs 20.1% (p = 0.02)). Median time to publication was 15 months, with a longer delay for reconstructive articles (19.5 vs 13 (p = 0.035)). The 2008–2016 conversion rate index was 19.2%, which was significantly higher for aesthetic surgery studies (36.4% vs 11.9% (p < 0.001)).

Conclusions

Despite a smaller proportion of plastic surgery research being focused on aesthetic topics in our sample, they accounted for higher quality study design, shorter time to publication, and higher overall chances of publication following presentations in local meetings.

Level of evidence: Not ratable.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the data collection contributions of Maria Fernanda Rojas and Daniel Moreno.

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Surgery Division, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Diagonal Paraguay 362, 8330024, Santiago, Chile

    Rodrigo Tejos, Alfonso Navia, Susana Searle, Gonzalo Yañez, Bruno Dagnino, Claudio Guerra & Alvaro Cuadra

  2. Plastic Surgery Department, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Juan Enrique Berner

  3. Kellogg College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Juan Enrique Berner

Authors
  1. Rodrigo Tejos
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  2. Alfonso Navia
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  3. Juan Enrique Berner
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  4. Susana Searle
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  5. Gonzalo Yañez
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  6. Bruno Dagnino
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  7. Claudio Guerra
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  8. Alvaro Cuadra
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Alfonso Navia, Rodrigo Tejos, Enrique Berner, Bruno Dagnino, and Claudio Guerra. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Alvaro Cuadra and Susana Searle, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alvaro Cuadra.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Rodrigo Tejos received an educational grant from Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES): 2017 SAGES Research Grant. This research grant was finalized on March 2019. Dr. Alfonso Navia, Dr. Juan Enrique Berner, Dra. Susana Searle, Dr. Gonzalo Yañez, Dr. Bruno Dagnino, Dr. Claudio Guerra, and Dr. Alvaro Cuadra declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This is an observational study. The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Research Ethics Committee has confirmed that no ethical approval is required.

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Tejos, R., Navia, A., Berner, J.E. et al. From presentation to publication: an 11-year comparison of aesthetic and reconstructive surgery research among Chilean plastic surgeons. Eur J Plast Surg 44, 381–388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-020-01749-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00238-020-01749-2

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