Abstract Submission Details

The deadline for abstract submisson has now passed, any abstract re-submission is not permitted.

Instructions

• Only on line abstracts will be accepted.
• Abstracts should be submitted using the abstract sample as a guide for layout. Click here to download the sample.
• Abstract title should be in BLOCK CAPITALS
• Authors’ names should be on the next line
• In case of more than one author please underline the name of the presenting author
• Do not include degrees or titles
• Authors’ organizations/institutions should appear on the next line and should include the suburb/city, state and country of the organizations/institutions.
• Authors should note the word count at the end of the abstract
• Presenters will have a time slot of 10 minutes for their presentation, followed by 5 minutes for questions

Abstract Body Format

• Must be 500 words or less, inclusive of title, author(s) names, and institutional affiliation(s) and references.
• Please do not use abbreviations unless defined in the abstract. 
• Care should be taken to ensure high quality English expression and grammar. 
• All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format.

Contents should include the following sections:

Background and Aims
Include one or two sentences to introduce the broad topic area and provide a reason for the study.  Provide a clear statement of the aims of the study A hypothesis could be included in this section

It may also be appropriate to add references to cited literature here. References will be included in the word limit. Authors are advised to keep references to a minimum, and to use an abbreviated referencing system, i.e. First author et al., no title, year of publication, abbreviated journal title, volume, pages. 

Methods
In this section information on participants (and /or subjects) should be provided. This may include the number of participants, demographic information such as age and gender as well as the method of recruitment. (ie a random sample or a convenient sample). Study inclusion and exclusion criteria should be included in this section as well as a sample size calculation if presenting a randomised clinical trial. Measures and procedures used in the study are described in this section. Descriptions of analyses appear in the methods section.

Results
The purpose of the result section is to provide a description of the main findings of the study. Reference to potential results that were unavailable at the time that the abstract was submitted will not be acceptable. Submitted abstracts must include actual results. Data from additional recruitment or updated analyses after abstract submission can be reported in the poster or oral presentation. Results should be expressed as means or medians and the spread of the results indicated as ranges, standard deviations or 95% confidence intervals as appropriate. Probability values must be included, but are not sufficient of themselves without descriptive statistics (means, etc).

Conclusions
In this section you should provide statements of interpretation and implication of findings, as well as comparison with previous literature. It should not be a simple restatement of the results.

There are some cases where this format requires modification, although authors should try as best as possible to adapt their abstract to fit within these 4 headings.

Narratives or theoretical discussions are usually not suitable for presentation as a poster or free paper given space and time constraints. Authors should consider submitting a topical session for consideration, if the proposed discourse would exceed the limits of a poster or free paper.

All abstracts will be reviewed by the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) within two weeks after the closing date. Abstracts accepted for free paper presentations are published in the Journal of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. The SPC must ensure a standard of abstracts that is compatible with publication. Some abstracts will need to be amended and you may be contacted by the Reviewer to discuss these changes. It is the intention of the SPC to use the amendment process to assist authors to improve their abstract writing skills. The Annual Scientific Conference of the APS is an opportunity for new researchers to present their findings, and the SPC is eager to assist in the development of researchers investigating pain.

All presenters must register for a minimum of one day of the conference by the Early Bird Deadline for registration (1 February 2013) or the presentation will be withdrawn from the program

Rapid Communication Sessions
Poster presenters will be offered an opportunity to present their posters in a rapid communication session for one and half minutes each before lunch on Monday and Tuesday of the conference. Authors of accepted abstracts will receive information regarding the processes involved in a rapid communication prior to the meeting. Please indicate on your submission if you wish to be considered for the Rapid Communication Session.

The Australian Pain Society Prize for the Best Paper and the Best Poster
The prize for the best paper will be $2000 and for the best poster $500. Assessment will be based on content and presentation. The judges will be appointed by the Scientific Program Committee of the Australian Pain Society and their decision will be final. The awards will be presented at the Meeting.

For further information contact:

APS Conference Secretariat
DC Conferences Pty Ltd
Phone: +61 2  9954 4400
Email:   aps2013@dccam.com.au