Abstract Submission Guidelines

• Call for papers OPEN: Tuesday 6 October 2015
• Abstract submission deadline: Friday 8 January 2016

IMPORTANT - Abstract Submission Template MUST BE USED - Download now

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR THE SPINE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING

Abstracts submissions for the Spine Society of Australia 27^th Annual Scientific Meeting will open 6 October 2015 and close Friday 8 January 2016.

Submitted abstracts must represent original work that has not been previously presented. The Review Committee will select abstracts for either an oral podium presentation or an electronic poster presentation, unless the author indicates a specific preference for a poster presentation only.

Podium Presentations will be 6-minute oral presentations in English with allocated question time.

IMPORTANT NOTE: PRESENTING AUTHOR
Only the author nominated as the presenting author will be permitted to present an oral podium presentation. If the presenting author’s attendance cannot be confirmed, the preference to deliver an e-poster presentation only should be selected. Presenting authors will be asked to indicate that they have read this statement and agree to this condition.

Further, the Spine Society of Australia expect that the author will present the scientific data appearing in the submitted abstract upon acceptance by the Scientific Committee.

Electronic Scientific Posters
In 2016 the Spine Society will display posters in electronic format (on 46’ LCD touchscreens). Instructions will be forwarded on acceptance of a poster.
NOTE: There are NO paper/cloth display board posters at this conference. All posters are in electronic format.

Instructions to submit an abstract

• Abstracts must be submitted using the abstract template. Click here to download the template
• Abstracts must have a 300 word maximum exclusive of title, author(s) names, and institutional affiliation(s)
• All abbreviations must be defined in the body of the abstract
• Do not include references in the abstract text
• Authors should update the word count at the end of the abstract
• No tables or graphs are to be included in the abstract.

Abstracts must adhere to the following layout (using the template provided):

Title       
This should be succinct and descriptive of the study.            

Introduction           
Provide a clear statement of the aims or purpose of the study.

Methods
Give a brief description of the study design, population or specimen preparation, data collection and processing.

Results           
Only data collected and processed prior to the abstract being submitted will be accepted. Important statistical results (such as confidence intervals, p- values or correlation coefficients) should be included.

Conclusions           
What does the study show? Make simple statements that are supported by the evidence shown in your results.

Some abstracts may need to be amended after discussion with the SSA Abstract Review Committee. It is the intention of the Review Committee that any dialogue after submission is to improve the value of the final abstract.

All podium presenters must register for a minimum of one day of the conference by the Early Bird Deadline for registration (3 March 2016) or the presentation will be withdrawn from the program.

Declaration of interest
All authors (including all co-authors) must complete a separate declaration of interest. The sources and value of all funds used to conduct the study must be declared.

On completing the abstract submission you will receive an Abstract ID number and a link to an online disclosure survey which MUST be completed by all authors associated with the paper by Friday 15 January, 2016. Failure of any author to complete the declaration will result in the paper’s withdrawal from the program. It is the responsibility of the presenting author to ensure that all co-authors have complied with the declaration requirements.

The link to complete the declaration of interest can also be found here.  www.surveymonkey.com/s/SSA2016Declaration

For any enquiries, please email the Conference Secretariat: ssa2016@dccam.com.au Tel: +61 2 9954 4400