Print Abstracts may be:

• Distributed out to conference attendees
• Included in the association’s journal as a regular issue
• Included in the association’s journal as a supplement issue
• Published as a separate serial
• None or more than one of the above

Electronic Abstracts may be:

• Distributed out to conference attendees in CD-ROM or other formats
• Made available at the ‘member’s-only’ section of the association’s web site
• Made available to anyone on the association’s web site (usually under the ‘Annual Meeting’ link)
• Sold at the meeting or post-meeting
• None or more than one of the above

Health Science Associations List

The Bio-Medical Library maintains a list of health science associations and how they publish their meeting abstracts (whether in print or electronic formats). Go to: http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu/hmed/list.html to see the list of associations.

Searching for Meeting Citations

It may be possible to find a citation to a meeting abstract in a journal article, book, or book chapter. The following databases index conference proceedings in the health sciences:

BIOSIS

Limit search results to publication type(s):

• Meeting
• Meeting Abstract
• Meeting Paper

CINAHL

Limit search results to publication type(s):

• Overall
• Proceedings

GLOBAL HEALTH

Limit search results to publication type(s):

• Conference
• Conference Paper
• Conference Proceedings

Search for conference titles, locations, and dates by using the Meeting field (available through the ‘More Fields’ link in the Ovid interface)

MEDLINE

Limit search results to publication type(s):

• Congresses
• Overall

PsycINFO

Limit search results to types of book:

• Conference Proceedings

Limit search results to document type:

• Abstract Collection

WEB OF SCIENCE

Limit search results to document type:

• Meeting Abstract

Other Sources:

BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/meetings/) has a small collection of meeting abstracts published in BMC journals

Google (http://www.google.com) can be useful for finding organizations. Be sure to put the assocation name within quotes.

Medscape Today (http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday/conferences) lists conferences but doesn't have abstracts for papers or posters