Characteristics and trends in publication of scientific papers presented at the European Congress of Radiology: a comparison between 2000 and 2010

OBJECTIVE: To determine journal publication rates of scientific papers presented orally at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2010, with comparison of country data to ECR 2000. METHODS: All oral presentations from ECR 2010 were evaluated for publication between 2010 and 2014 using the MEDLINE database. Countries, collaborations, subspecialties, modalities and study design were ranked by publication percentage. Chi-square tests were used to compare publication percentages for each category of variables. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated for each country relative to the host nation, Austria. ECR 2010 country statistics were compared with analogous data from ECR 2000. RESULTS: In total, 360/840 abstracts were subsequently published (43 %). The author’s country of origin (p = 0.02), subspecialty (p = 0.02) and study design (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with subsequent publication. Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and Germany were among the top six countries by publication percentage in 2000 and 2010. In 2010, Switzerland had the highest publication rate (62 %) and HR in comparison to Austria (HR 2.62 [1.31–5.25], p = 0.01). Three Asian nations increased relative publication rates over the 10-year period. CONCLUSION: Several European nations consistently convert relatively high percentages of oral abstracts at ECR into publications, and the influence of Asian countries is increasing. MAIN MESSAGES: • Certain European nations consistently publish high percentages of orally presented abstracts at ECR. • The influence of several Asian countries on ECR is increasing. • Country, subspecialty and study design are significantly associated with journal publication. • Authors collaborating internationally have the highest publication rates and mean impact factors. • Among all modalities, PET-CT, MRI and CT have the highest publication percentages.