Baja publicación de los trabajos presentados en el IV encuentro Iberolatinoamericano de estudiantes de odontología

The ultimate goal of scientific research is the publication of its results. However, not all research ends in publication. The aim of the present study was to determine the characteristics and factors associated to the publication of papers presented at the 4^th Ibero-Latin American Meeting of Dental Students. Objective: an observational, analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of the papers presented. Methods: using a Google Scholar search strategy we checked whether those studies had been published in scientific journals. Results: the topic most commonly dealt with in the 40 papers presented was Maxillofacial Surgery (35.0 %). There was a predominance of research studies (50.0 %), with two authors (42.5 %), and a tutor (45.0 %). Among the papers, 80.0 % were cross-sectional, 85.0 % observational, 75.0 % retrospective, 90.0 % descriptive and 100.0 % had been carried out in a single center. Publication rate was 12.5 % (n= 5), of which 1 paper had been cited and in 4 there were changes in the authorship data. 60 % had been published in the journal 16 de Abril. No factor was found associated to the publication of the papers presented (p> 0.05). Conclusiones: the publication rate of papers presented is very low, and no statistically significant differences were found with respect to the characteristics evaluated of the scientific presentations.