High-profile studies frequently and repetitively present data on the same patients, particularly in immunotherapy studies

Abstracts presented at conferences, as either poster or oral presentations, are an important avenue for the dissemination of study results, offering an expedient method of disseminating new data (1). However, they are also subjected to a differing level of scrutiny and quality as compared to papers published in peer-reviewed journals (2). Compared to full-length publications, abstracts sometimes present incomplete data that do not include long enough follow-up, do not evaluate all endpoints, has small sample sizes and other methodological flaws that would not be accepted in a more rigorous format (1). While there are legitimate reasons for wanting to publish this preliminary data, conference abstracts often report findings that are not followed up by full-length papers in future publications (3). Without following up an abstract with a full-length paper, there is no peer review conducted on the final product of the studies, allowing the conference abstract to serve as the final word (1). The variable quality of presented abstracts, particularly when reporting clinical trial data, has been commented upon previously in the literature (4). A consensus statement was published by the CONSORT group (1). This statement attempted to standardize the information published in abstracts concerning clinical trials (1) (Table 1). A recent study examined the adherence to the CONSORT consensus statement in the field of critical care medicine (5). This work found improvement in some areas but still reported substandard adherence to CONSORT statement (5). Another investigation in the field of HIV/AIDS research reported a small improvement in some areas but a similar inconsistency in complying with the CONSORT recommendations (6). Both studies validated the continuing importance of consistent reporting of clinical trials in abstracts. Although the CONSORT work is most well-known, there was concern regarding abstract structure several decades ago (7)