How can publishers add value to conferences? James Butcher, publisher of the Nature Clinical Practice journals, reports from the American Heart Association meeting earlier this month in New Orleans, Louisiana, at In The Field. He notes that many major papers presented at the conference were simultaneously published in journals, cutting across several publishers. For the authors, having the published paper available for the meeting presentation helps the media to report on the study accurately. And when the news breaks in the popular press, physicians can immediately read the complete work to understand what the study means for their patients.
Peer-reviewing and editing a paper accurately to tight timelines is expensive and difficult. But Butcher believes that it is worth the additional effort from authors, editors and publishers to expedite papers so that they can be released to coincide with oral presentation of data at conferences, because “everyone benefits from the end result”.
Nature 456, xii; 27 November 2008.
Note added since publication of this column in Nature: See also Martin Fenner’s related blog post on the JUPITER trial and how it is, or could be, reported.