Abstract Guidelines & Submission Form

General abstract guidelines

  • Abstract submitters and presenters must be trainees or early-stage investigators (per NIH definition)
  • All authors named in the abstract must have agreed to its submission for presentation
  • Submitting author must ensure abstract is in perfect order with no spelling or grammatical errors as
    abstracts will not be corrected
  • Submitted abstracts will be evaluated individually by peer reviewers based on these criteria:
    1. Context and interest: Question or hypothesis clearly stated, key evidence leading to question or hypothesis clearly articulated, scientific/clinical significance is cited
    2. Experimental design and data presentation: Experimental approach and methods clearly described, data concisely presented and prioritized to include most relevant findings
    3. Evaluation and analysis of data: Results concisely described, conclusions clearly noted without over- or under-statement, future work to alleviate remaining questions is cited, figures and/or tables (if used) are helpful in illustrating findings
    4. Written communication: Title is informative, abstract is written well and presented in logical order without irrelevant information, scientific nomenclature is correctly used
  • Abstracts of works “in progress” are acceptable
  • An author may submit up to 2 abstracts as first author/presenter
  • A few abstracts will be selected for podium presentations; all other accepted abstracts
    will be presented as posters during the poster sessions during the meeting. “Best
    Poster” awards are available and will be announced at the meeting.

Details for abstract preparation – YOU MUST ADHERE TO REQUIREMENTS

  1. Deadline. 11:59 p.m. (Central Time) on Monday, October 19, 2026. Upload abstracts in the submission form as a Word doc or PDF. Sorry – no extensions unless otherwise announced. Abstract decisions will be announced Friday, October 23, 2026.
  2. Size. Abstract is limited to 2,400 characters not including spaces and not including title, authors, or authors’ institutions. ABSTRACTS THAT EXCEED THE ALLOWED CHARACTER COUNT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. Character count includes body of abstract, tables, and graphics. Tables account for 225 characters per table. Graphics also account for 225 characters per figure.
  3. Margins and font. Use 1/2 inch margins all around. Use Arial 11 point font (see template on next page).
  4. Title. Should clearly define the topic and contain no abbreviations.
  5. Authors. List primary author’s full name followed by other authors’ names. Spell out all authors’ names using full first name, middle initial, and last name. List each author’s affiliation as shown on next page.
  6. Body of abstract. The abstract should be informative and detailed.
    a. Body must contain 5 separate paragraphs: Introduction and Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions, and Health Relevance, the latter of which should be only 1-2 sentences.
    b. It is not acceptable to state that “results will be discussed;” specific outcomes are necessary,
    including for abstracts that describe studies still in progress
    c. Major new findings should be clearly articulated
    d. Use standard abbreviation after spelling out the full term the first time it is used followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis
    e. Graphs and/or tables may be used; character count is as stated in #1 above
    f. Proprietary names of drugs are not allowed; use generic names

THIS IS THE TITLE OF YOUR PRESENTATION (note all caps, all in bold)
Author One,1 Author Two,1 Author Three,2 Author Four,3 Author Five1,3 (note names are italicized)
1Affiliation, 2Affiliation, 3Affiliation (note affiliations are not italicized)


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: This is your introduction, which includes a sentence or two of background followed by the objective(s) of the study.
METHODS: Methods, materials, and subjects (if appropriate) are described in sufficient detail for readers to understand the techniques and statistical methods employed.
RESULTS: Major results are summarized here with statistical significance listed as appropriate. For completed studies, try to avoid a list of results “to be discussed.” For abstracts of work yet to be done, can list expected/anticipated results.
CONCLUSIONS: Here you can provide a few sentences describing the significance of the results –
summarizing only the results needed to make your conclusion – and scientific relevance of your findings.
HEALTH RELEVANCE: Provide 1-2 sentences stating the public health or clinical relevance of your findings.

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