Call for Abstracts and Submission Guidelines
Important Dates
1 November 2008
Online abstract submission opens
Online abstract mentoring opens
11 February 2009
Online abstract mentoring closes
25 February 2009 – 24:00 Central European Time
Abstract submission closes
1 May 2009
Late breaker abstract submission opens
25 May 2009 – 24:00 Central European Time
Late breaker abstract submission closes
Late Breaker Abstracts – Deadline 25 May 2009
A small number of late breaker abstracts will be accepted, with roughly one half to be presented orally and one half presented as posters.
The percentage of abstracts selected for late breakers will depend on the number of submissions, but selection will certainly be more rigorous than for regular abstracts. Therefore, if at all possible, abstracts should be submitted by the regular deadline and the late breaker format should be reserved for data that is indeed not available before 25 February 2009. The same submission rules apply for the late breaker abstracts as for the regular abstracts, but each presenting author may only present ONE late breaker abstract at the conference. The late breaker abstract submission will be open from 1 to 25 May, 2009.
Call for Abstracts
The 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention welcomes the submission of abstracts for original contribution to the field.
As the fifth conference in this series, IAS 2009 will continue its strong emphasis on basic, clinical and biomedical prevention science. In addition, the scientific programme will also for the first time include a fourth track on Operations Research. This newest feature underscores one of the defining characteristics of the IAS conference: to examine how scientific advances increase knowledge and are instrumental, through very practical ways, to reach populations which need new and improved methods to prevent, treat, and effectively confront the epidemic.
Please note that abstracts dealing with purely social and epidemiological issues will not be accepted.
All submitted abstracts will go through a blind, peer-reviewed process carried out by an international review panel, and the final selection of abstracts will be made by members of the Scientific Programme Committee.
Your abstract, if accepted, will appear in its full form in the abstract book, and/or on the abstract CD-ROM and on the conference and IAS websites. The CD-ROM will be distributed at the conference. In addition, all delegates will receive a final programme which will contain the conference programme with all oral and poster abstract presentations listed.
Abstract Submission Guidelines
Please follow the submission guidelines closely:
- All abstracts must be written in English.
- Abstracts can only be submitted online via the conference website www.ias2009.org; those submitted by fax, post or e-mail will not be considered.
- The abstract text should not exceed 300 words.
- Use a standard font like Arial when formatting your text. This will help prevent special characters from getting lost when copying your text to online abstract submission form. Please however always make sure to check the final abstract with the system’s preview function before submission, and edit or replace as necessary.
- Tables and graphs may be included in your abstract, and will count towards the total number of words. A graph (JPG, GIF or PNG) equals 50 words, a table equals 10 words per row.
- It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract. Any errors in spelling, grammar or scientific fact will be reproduced as typed by the author.
- Abstracts must not have been published or submitted for presentation to any other national or international meeting, for further information please see below under IAS Abstract Embargo Policy.
- If you have any questions regarding your abstract submission, please contact the abstract support team at abstracts@ias2009.org.
The text of the abstract should briefly state:
Background: indicate the purpose and objective of the study, the hypothesis that was tested or a description of the problem.
Methods: include the setting for the study, the method(s) used and the subjects, the diagnosis or intervention, and the type of statistical analysis. If references are needed, they should be provided in the text.
Results: present as clearly and detailed as possible the outcome of the study, with specific results in summarized form.
Conclusions: briefly discuss the data and main outcome of the study. Emphasize the significance and future implications of the results.
All abstracts should disclose primary findings and avoid, whenever possible, promissory statements such as "experiments are in progress" or "results will be discussed".
Ethical Research Declaration
The conference supports only research that has been conducted according to the protocol approved by the institutional or local committee on ethics in human investigation. Where no such committee exists, the research should have been conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki of World Medical Association. Click here to read the Helsinki Declaration. The IAS 2009 Scientific Programme Committee may enquire further into ethical aspects when evaluating the abstracts.
Gender Analysis in Abstracts
Inclusion of gender breakdown of data is strongly encouraged, and should be provided as well as a comprehensive gender analysis in the results section whenever possible. If applicable, your abstract should include the number and percentage of men, women and transgender who participated in your research or project, and disaggregation of results by gender. If your research or project was specific to one gender, please state.
Choosing Abstract Track Categories
The abstract track category is the general heading under which your abstract will be reviewed and later published in the conference printed matters if accepted. Please choose the category which best describes the subject of your abstract. Click here to view the complete list of categories.
Abstract Mentor Programme
The goal of the IAS 2009 Abstract Mentor Programme is to provide an opportunity for young and/or less experienced abstract submitters to have their draft abstracts reviewed by more experienced abstract submitters. This programme is open from 1 November 2008 till 11 February 2009. To learn more and send a draft abstract for review by a mentor, click here.
IAS Conference Profile
Before you can submit an abstract, you need to create a Conference profile from which you can enter the abstract system. You can submit one or several abstracts from your Conference profile. After an abstract has been created, modifications can be made until the abstract submission deadline of 25 February 2009. No modifications can be made once the abstract has been submitted.
Abstract Blinding and Review
All submitted abstracts will go through a blind peer-review process carried out by an international reviewing committee. Each abstract will be reviewed by at least three reviewers.
Notification of Acceptance or Rejection to Corresponding Author
Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to the submitting (corresponding) author by the end of April. Please note that only the corresponding author will receive mail concerning the abstract and is responsible for informing all co-authors of the status of the abstract. Authors whose abstracts have been accepted will receive instructions for the presentation of their abstract.
Rule of Two
Each presenting author may present a maximum of two abstracts at the conference. The number of submissions is however not limited. Should an author have more than two abstracts accepted, a co-author must be named presenting author for one or more abstracts.
IAS Abstract Embargo Policy
An abstract cannot be submitted nor would be accepted if it has been previously published or presented at a national, regional or international meeting, unless there are major updates in the data or other valid reasons for submitting that can be provided by the author. If preliminary or partial data has been published or presented, the author is required to indicate the details of that conference, meeting or journal.
The content of an abstract is under embargo from the time of submission until notification of acceptance or rejection. If rejected, the abstract can be submitted again elsewhere. If accepted, the abstract continues to be under media embargo until the date and time of presentation at the conference. The author does have the right to submit it to another meeting or journal as long as it is not presented or published before the conference.