Number 1

Tips for managing successful conference abstract submissions & reviews.
Part I – Managing Submissions.

Trevor L. Strome

Introduction

Abstracts presented at conferences are an important part of the “grey literature” (i.e, information published in sources other than peer-reviewed journals). Many times, abstracts are the only published source of information regarding scientific or other investigative work. Without conference abstracts, much information would be lost.

Abstract presentations (either poster or oral) are taking increasingly prominent roles at association, scientific, and other conference gatherings. Above all, conferences provide an important showcase of the work being done within a discipline, and often illustrate the “state of the art”. Conferences allow wide distribution of information, and abstract presentations help to keep association membership (and other parties) involved and continuing their professional development.

Central to maintaining the quality of abstracts presented at conferences is the peer review process. Having peers review each submission and judge them for suitability and content is a valuable and necessary process, as there are often more submissions than there are presentation slots available. Blinded peer review helps to ensure an objective scoring and priority ranking of the abstracts.

The peer-review process can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially if paper-based submissions are accepted. (See the VS Review™ white paper, available at http://www.abstractreviewsystem.com to read about the value associated with electronic abstract systems compared to the more traditional paper-based approach.) Electronic systems provide much more flexibility when managing abstract submissions and reviews, but there many issues to keep in mind when planning and executing abstract submissions and reviews.

One of first steps in conducting an abstract competition is the call for abstracts, and encouraging authors to submit. The call for abstracts must be well-publicized. In the case of annual or semi-annual events, there is probably a ready group of “core” submitters who have the next several conferences marked in their calendars! However, to achieve diversity and to reach out to new presenters, wide dispersal of the call for abstracts is a must. At the very least, the call should be posted on your organization’s website, the conference website, and print-based material published by your organization about the conference.

The question of submission deadline is very important, and one that incorporates may different factors. One key factor in determining submission deadline is how long authors will require to write and submit abstracts. Although we have no scientific numbers that tell us how long it takes to write an abstract, we have found that the vast majority of abstracts are submitted using on-line systems in the last week. In fact, even for mid-sized events, it is not unusual for 30-50% of submissions to be entered on the last day! Most of our clients choose a window of 4-6 weeks to accept submissions, although for some small-scale special purpose events (such as academic research days at universities or colleges), three weeks is sufficient.

Many organizations build in a submission deadline buffer. The buffer is present to accommodate an extension of the submission deadline, if necessary. Some organizations have seen an increase of 20% in the number of submissions received just by extending the deadline a few days. The actual size of the buffer depends on the size of the event and number of abstracts desired, but its presence means that a deadline extension won’t impact on the rest of abstract processing schedule.

The actual submission deadline is impacted by the many necessary steps between the submission deadline and the actual conference. Although they vary between conferences because of different requirements, the key steps related to abstract processing are:

• Submission review deadline
• Abstract judgment, ranking, and status assignment
• Results dissemination
• Print deadline (if abstracts are being printed in a proceedings document or in a journal)
• The conference or meeting itself

Submission Criteria

To promote consistency among submissions, authors need to be provided clear and concise guidelines as to what is expected of their submissions. The major points that should be covered in the submissions criteria are:

• Submission deadline
• Abstract submission restrictions (i.e., abstract or paper must not have been previously published or presented)
• Submission format, which includes a description of all the fields on the submission and format accepted for each
• Structure of abstract – some organizations accept only structured abstracts similar in format to the following four headings:
  • INTRODUCTION
  • METHODS
  • RESULTS
  • CONSLUSIONS
• Maximum length of abstract (usually about 300 words or 2100 characters)
• Indications as to whether attachments will be accepted (i.e., supplemental images, charts, or documents)
• General guidelines for authorship (such as defined in the Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. N Engl J Med 1997; 336(4): 309-15)
• A description of any awards or scholarships available to authors (if applicable)

The importance of clear and concise submission criteria and instructions for authors cannot be overstated. Clear guidelines reduce the number of inquiries about what is acceptable for submission. In addition, the job of reviewing submissions will be made easier due to a more uniform presentation of abstract content. Some organizations go so far as to automatically reject any submissions that do not adhere to the required structured abstract format.

End of Part I. We will be discussing how to manage the review process and validate review criteria in Issue #2.