Publication of abstracts with Peruvian affiliation presented to the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 2006-2010

Peruvian research output is one of the lowest in South America and is limited to the work of a small group of institutions and related to few subjects, such as infectious diseases. We determined the proportion of subsequent publication and its associated factors of the abstracts with Peruvian affiliation presented to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meetings between 2006 and 2010. Approximately 27% (79/296) of abstracts were published within 6 years of presentation, with a median time to publication of 16 months (interquartile range: 9-28). In the adjusted analysis, abstracts with a higher proportion of authors from Peruvian institutions were less likely to be published (risk ratio: 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.8). In conclusion, one of four of the analyzed abstracts was published. Even though this proportion is higher than that in other meetings in Peru and South America, publication rates -especially among Peruvian-only collaborations- still need to be improved.