The effects of COVID-19 pandemic on paper participation in national ophthalmology meetings

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on paper participation in national ophthalmology meetings held by the Turkish Ophthalmology Association (TOA). Materials and methods: The data for the previous national ophthalmology meetings held by the TOA were gathered retrospectively from the TOA website. The COVID-19 pandemic-related online sessions and meetings with a scheduled in-person follow-up were taken into consideration. The number of poster and oral presentations and subject areas of the papers were recorded. Results: The total number of poster and oral presentations in online meetings was 1505, while it was 1294 in face-to-face meetings (a 14.0% difference). Regarding poster presentations, a total of 1001 posters were presented in online meetings, whereas number of poster presentations was 865 in face-to-face meetings. Similarly, in online meetings, the number of oral presentations was 504, while it was 429 in face-to-face meetings. This finding demonstrated both poster and oral presentation participation was higher by 13.5% and 14.8% (respectively) in online meetings than in the face-to-face meetings. Conclusion: It appears that national ophthalmology meetings held online during the COVID-19 pandemic had a favorable impact on the paper submission rate, and online meetings made sure that scientific sharing and collaboration continued and made it accessible to wider populations. © 2023, Pamukkale University. All rights reserved.