Publication patterns of posters and oral presentations at the Annual Meeting of the Joint AANS/CNS Cerebrovascular Section

OBJECTIVE

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Joint Cerebrovascular (CV) Section serves as a centralized entity for the dissemination of information related to CV neurosurgery. The quality of scientific conferences, such as the CV Section's Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery Annual Meeting, can be gauged by the number of poster and oral presentations that are published in peer-reviewed journals. However, publication rates from the CV Section's meetings are unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the rate at which abstracts presented at the AANS/CNS CV Section Annual Meeting from 2014 to 2018 were subsequently published in peer-reviewed journals.

METHODS

The abstract titles for all accepted poster and oral podium presentation abstracts from the 2014-2018 Annual Joint AANS/CNS CV Section Meetings were searched using PubMed. A match was defined as sufficient similarity between the abstract and its corresponding journal publication with regard to title, authors, methods, and results. Five-year impact factors (IFs) from Journal Citation Reports (JCR), the country of the corresponding author, and the number of citations in the Scopus database were obtained using the articles' digital object identifier when available, or the exact article title, journal, and year of publication.

RESULTS

Of the 607 total poster and oral presentations from the 2014-2018 Annual Meetings of the AANS/CNS Joint CV Section, 46.29% (n = 281) have been published. Published articles received 3233 total citations for an average number of citations per article (± SD) of 10.89 ± 16.37. The average 5-year JCR IF of published studies was 4.64 ± 3.13. Additionally, 98.22% of published abstracts were in publication within 4 years from the time the abstract was presented. The most common peer-reviewed neurosurgical journals featuring these publications were the Journal of Neurosurgery, World Neurosurgery, the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery, Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience.

CONCLUSIONS

Nearly half of all poster and oral presentations at the annual meetings of the AANS/CNS Joint CV Section from 2014 to 2018 have been published in PubMed-indexed, peer-reviewed journals. The average number of citations per publication (10.89 ± 16.37) reflects the high quality of abstracts accepted for presentation. It is important to continuously assess the quality of research presented at national conferences to ensure that standards are being maintained for the advancement of clinical practice in a given area of medicine. Conference abstract publication rates in peer-reviewed journals represent a way in which research quality can be gauged, and the authors encourage others to conduct similar investigations in their subspecialty area of interest and/or practice.

How to Present Your Research Findings at a Scientific Meeting

The next step following acceptance of an abstract submitted for a scientific meeting is to create the poster. Poster presentations provide an avenue for dissemination of research findings as well as the opportunity to highlight the work and network with other clinicians. Requirements for poster presentations vary among scientific meetings. Therefore, it is important to follow instructions set forth by the specific conference at which the work will be presented. Important considerations for poster design include the elements it should contain, font type and size, use of tables and figures, and poster size. Research indicates visual appeal has a greater influence in attracting attention than content. In addition to creating the poster, preparing for presentation is an essential step in the process. Practicing the presentation prior to the meeting, anticipating questions, and being familiar with the poster content are principal factors in preparing for the presentation. Oral presentations for posters are typically brief and should only focus on the key points. The purpose of this paper is to review poster design and provide general guidelines for presenting an abstract at a scientific meeting.

The missing link: creating opportunities for older people to participate in academic conferences

Including people with lived experience in knowledge co-creation and sharing processes is critical for enhancing the value and quality of health and social care research. In this brief report, we reflect on a collaboration between researchers and older people to judge a student poster competition at a virual seniors housing conference. We describe the steps taken to facilitate the judging process and present five recommendations to foster meaningful partnerships with older people at academic conferences and increase opportunities for emerging and established gerontological researchers to involve older people in their work.

A Course-Based Research Experience Using the Allen Brain Map: From Research Question to Poster Session

San Francisco, CA A major challenge in implementing course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is for students to collect enough data for a robust analysis given the time and equipment available. One approach to mitigating this constraint in a CURE is to use massive open datasets such as those from the Allen Brain Map, produced by the Allen Institute for Brain Science. We describe a multi-week CURE module in which students generate a research question that can be addressed using at least two datasets of the Allen Brain Map, perform their analysis, and produce a conference-style poster detailing their findings. This article includes an adaptable CURE assignment, tutorials introducing students to selected datasets from the Allen Brain Map, and a summary of student outcomes.

Integration of Scientific Competence into Gross Anatomy Teaching Using Poster Presentations: Feasibility and Perception among Medical Students

Scientific competences as defined in the German competency framework describes the ability to think independently and act scientifically, and forms a central component of medical education. This report describes its integration into anatomical teaching. On the basis of the findings in dissection courses from two consecutive years, students worked on either a case report (n = 70) or an original work (n=6) in the format of a scientific poster while learning to use primary literature. Posters were evaluated by juror teams using standardized evaluation criteria. Student perception of the project was estimated by quantitative and qualitative data obtained from the faculty´s course evaluation and an online-survey. Overall, students worked collaboratively and invested extra-time (median [MD] 3.0 hours) in poster creation. Primary literature was integrated in 90.8% of the posters. Overall poster quality was satisfactory (46.3 ±8.5 [mean ±standard deviation] out of 72 points), but several insufficiencies were identified. Students integrated information gained from the donor´s death certificate, post-mortem full-body computer tomography (CT) scan (22.4%) and histopathological workup (31.6%) in their case reports. Students were positive about the experience of learning new scientific skills (MD 4 on a six-point Likert scale), but free text answers revealed that some students experienced the project as an extra burden in a demanding course. In summary, it was feasible to introduce students to science during the dissection course and to increase interest in science in approximately a third of the survey respondents. Further adjustments to ensure the posters´ scientific quality might be necessary in the future.

Pre-Medical Students' View Points on Integrated Poster Presentations as a Tool for Learning Medical Science

BACKGROUND

A poster presentation is an experiential learning activity that stimulates curiosity and interest among students. Moreover, it encourages exploration and integration of concepts and provides students with a novel way to demonstrate their understanding of scientific principles. This pilot projects aimed to analyse views of participants on the academic benefits and learning of medical sciences via poster presentations.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study used the sequential exploratory type of mixed methods design in which quantitative data analysis was performed via survey-based questionnaires and qualitative study. For this purpose, we performed a thematic analysis of semi-structured interview questions that were administered to all participants using the self-interview technique.

RESULTS

A majority of students were of the opinion that the process of making poster preparation acted as an opportunity to promote deep learning. Moreover, a majority expressed that making these presentations required teamwork, which gave them an insight into collaborative learning.

CONCLUSION

Our study revealed that poster presentations, when used effectively as an assignment, can facilitate a learner's critical and reflective thinking and promoting active learning. Previous generic guidelines for making posters were found to be an important step that led to a systematic scientific approach amongst learners as well as for integrating basic science and medical knowledge.

How to Compose, Write and Publish a Scientific or Professional Communication

There is an ample number of recommendations, guides and monographs addressing the art of composing and publishing written, oral or visual communications in science and various professions. In order to write an article, autors have to follow certain rules. Presentation of the article (oral or poster presentation) also requires skill, meaning that you have to fulfill certain guidelines and regulations.

The publication rates of abstracts presented at the Turkish Respiratory Society (TUSAD) annual congress: adequate or not?

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aimed to determine the publication status of the abstracts presented at the Turkish Respiratory Society Congress between 2011 and 2014.

METHODS

The abstracts were classified according to presentation type (oral presentations, poster discussion, etc.), study type, study design, topic, publication status, time interval between the presentation and the publication date, and the journal in which the article was published. The conversion rate of presentations into full-text articles in peer-reviewed journals were surveyed through Elsevier's Scopus.

RESULTS

The total number of abstracts submitted in the congress was 2 009. In terms of study type, the majority of abstracts were case reports (56.4%) and the remainder was original research. Totally, 179 abstracts were published in an indexed journal with an overall publication rate of 8.9%. 18.3% of oral presentations were converted into full-text article. Publication rates according to study types were 14.8% for original researches and 4.4% for case reports. The first three subspecialties with the highest publication rates were "sleep related breathing disorders" (16.9%), "interventional pulmonology" (16.7%) and "pleural diseases" (15.2%). Median publication/acceptance time was 8.0 months (0-38).

CONCLUSION

This is the first study evaluating the publication rates of abstracts presented in a respiratory congress. Although the number of presented abstracts in the congress increased year by year, prominently in the case reports, over all conversion rates were decreased. We put forward that encouraging the authors to conduct higher-quality investigations would raise the publication rate as well as improve the scientific quality of congress.

Engaging the audience: developing presentation skills in science students

This article describes a graduate class in presentation skills ("PClass") as a model for how a class with similar objectives, expectations and culture might be mounted for undergraduates. The required class is given for students in neuroscience and physiology programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; I describe the class in the years I led it, from 2003-2012. The class structure centered on peer rehearsal, critiquing of PowerPoint, and chalk talks by the students; video-recording of student talks for later review by the student with the instructor; and presentation of polished talks in a formal setting. A different faculty visitor to the class each week gave the students a variety of perspectives. The students also gained insight into their own evolving skills by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of seminars given by visitors to the campus. A unique feature of the class was collaboration with a professional actor from the University's Department of Dramatic Arts, who helped the students develop techniques for keeping the attention of an audience, for speaking with confidence, and for controlling nervousness. The undergraduate campus would be expected to lend itself to this sort of interdisciplinary faculty cooperation. In addition, students worked on becoming adept at designing and presenting posters, introducing speakers graciously and taking charge of the speaker's question session, and speaking to a lay audience.

Using chick forebrain neurons to model neurodegeneration and protection in an undergraduate neuroscience laboratory course

Since 2009 at Boston College, we have been offering a Research in Neuroscience course using cultured neurons in an in vitro model of stroke. The students work in groups to learn how to perform sterile animal cell culture and run several basic bioassays to assess cell viability. They are then tasked with analyzing the scientific literature in an attempt to identify and predict the intracellular pathways involved in neuronal death, and identify dietary antioxidant compounds that may provide protection based on their known effects in other cells. After each group constructs a hypothesis pertaining to the potential neuroprotection, we purchase one compound per group and the students test their hypotheses using a commonly performed viability assay. The groups generate quantitative data and perform basic statistics on that data to analyze it for statistical significance. Finally, the groups compile their data and other elements of their research experience into a poster for our departmental research celebration at the end of the spring semester.

Laboratory Class Project: Using a Cichlid Fish Display Tank to Teach Students about Complex Behavioral Systems

Laboratory activities serve several important functions in undergraduate science education. For neuroscience majors, an important and sometimes underemphasized tool is the use of behavioral observations to help inform us about the consequences of changes that are occurring on a neuronal level. To help address this concern, the following laboratory exercise is presented. The current project tested the prediction that the most dominant fish in a tank of cichlids will have gained the most benefits of its position resulting in the greatest growth and hence, become the largest fish. More specifically: (1) is there evidence that a social hierarchy exists among the fish in our tank based on the number of aggressive acts among the four largest fish; (2) if so, does the apparent rank correspond to the size of the fish as predicted by previous studies? Focal sampling and behavior sampling of aggressive acts between fish were utilized in the data collection. Collectively, the data suggest a social dominance hierarchy may be in place with the following rank order from highest to lowest: Fish A > Fish B > Fish D > Fish C. While the largest (Fish A) seems to be at the top, Fish C ended up being ranked lower than Fish D despite the fact that Fish C is larger. Overall, the project was considered a success by the instructor and students. The students offered several suggestions that could improve future versions of this type of project, in particular concerning the process of constructing a poster about the project. The implications of the data and student learning outcomes are discussed.