Abstract Guidelines

General Requirements

• Abstracts may have been presented previously (within the past year) but should not have been published as a full manuscript in any journal.
• Abstracts must follow the submission guidelines below. ASCCP reserves the right to refuse review of an abstract if it does not conform to all submission requirements.
• Case reports are rarely appropriate, unless they provide new insights and teach something important and true.
• If accepted, the presenting author must register for the meeting and pay the registration fee by January 31, 2020 for the abstract to be published in the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease and for the abstract to be presented either as an oral or poster presentation. If late-breaking abstracts are accepted, those presenters must also register by January 31, 2020. Late-breaking abstracts are not published in the Journal.
• ASCCP membership is not required for any presenting author or co-author of a submitted abstract.
• There are no restrictions on the number of abstracts one can submit, but a person may only be designated as presenter on a maximum of two abstract submissions.

Oral Presentations

• Only a limited number of abstracts will be accepted for oral presentations. Submitters of top-scoring abstracts will be invited to present their work from the podium at specific sessions during the ASCCP Annual Scientific Meeting.
• Oral presentations are limited to 7-10 minutes. You will be informed of the length of time available for your presentation after your abstract is accepted and once the meeting schedule is finalized.
• Any abstracts not selected for oral abstract presentations will be considered for a poster presentation.
• Employees of commercial interests cannot submit for oral abstracts.

Poster Presentations

• Posters will be presented in electronic format as e-posters (more information on requirements, will be available at a later date).

On-Line Submission

• Regular abstracts must be submitted online via ASCCP’s website and must be completed by October 31, 2019 (11:59 PM, Eastern). Late-breaking abstracts must be submitted by January 21, 2020 (11:59 PM, Eastern).
• All required fields on the abstract submission webpage must be completed.
• Submissions must present both proposed and completed data sets.

Format Specifications

• Abstract title must not be more than 120 characters, including spaces. Do not use uncommon abbreviations or acronyms in the title. Do not use brand or trade names in the title. Capitalize the first letter and use lower case letters unless a specific word or words is/are ordinarily capitalized.
• Abstracts must not be more than 250 words.
• Abstracts may contain no more than 1 table.
• Abstracts must be submitted in English.
• Each submission should include the following headings in bold:

• Objective - state concisely why the study was conducted.
• Methods - indicate the type of study design, setting, location, patients, interventions or exposures, comparators, outcome measures, and statistics.
• Results - indicate the primary outcome of the study and statistical significance/major limitations; it is not satisfactory to state, “The results will be discussed".
• Conclusions - state the main conclusions of the study, the significance of the results and the implications of how the results may affect patient management, or our understanding of the condition.

Ethics of Research and Presentation

• Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its importance. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
• If the work involves the use of animal subjects, the author should ensure that the work described was conducted in accordance with the position of the American Association for the Advancement for Science in requiring assurances of the responsible use of animals in research.
• If the work involves human subjects, the author should ensure that the work described was conducted in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans. A statement of IRB approval or waiver must be included for research involving humans.
• The privacy rights of human subjects must always be observed. Patients must not be identified by name or initials. No other information, including clinical photos or family trees, from which a patient could be identified is permitted unless express written permission from the patient/family is provided at the time of manuscript submission.
• Appropriate consents, permissions and releases must be obtained when an author wishes to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals. Unless written permission from the patient (or, where applicable, the next of kin) exists, the personal details of any patient included in any part of the report and in any supplementary materials (including all illustrations and videos) must be removed before submission. To respect patients and any other individual’s privacy, do not send signed consent forms to ASCCP. Retain the signed form(s) in the event they should be needed.

Disclosure

• A conflict of interest may exist when an author or the author's institution has a financial or other relationship with other people or organizations that may inappropriately influence the author's work.
• The presenting author's disclosures must be declared at the time of abstract submission. If the presenting author is employed by a company as defined by the CMSS Code for Interactions with Companies (http://www.cmss.org/codeforinteractions.aspx), an alternate presenter who does not have a relevant employment relationship must be named if the abstract is accepted.

Peer Review

• All submissions will be peer reviewed anonymously by members of ASCCP, based on: scientific merit, originality, and relevancy to cervical pathology, colposcopy, and anogenital and HPV-related diseases.
• Scientific Merit: Is the study design appropriate to the study aims? How strong are the research methods with respect to selection of participant (inclusion/exclusion) and procedures used to assess outcome measures? Is the analytic approach appropriate to the study goals? Do the study conclusions flow from the results? Are study limitations recognized? Is the research study presented in a clear and easily understandable manner?
• Originality: Is the study innovative? Does the project challenge and shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretic concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation or interventions? Are the results newsworthy?
• Relevancy: Does the project impact an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field of lower anourogenital tract disease? Does the project improve scientific knowledge, technical capability and/or clinical practice? Does the project change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive the field of lower anourogenital tract disease? Are the goals of the science, the findings, and the interpretation readily accessible to the audience?

Notification of Receipt and Acceptance

• Receipt of abstract submissions will be sent via email to the corresponding author.
• Authors selected to present at the ASCCP 2020 Scientific Meeting will be required to confirm the availability of the presenting author to present at the meeting and must register by January 31, 2020. 

Withdrawals

• Authors may withdraw their abstract until January 31, 2020. After that date, ASCCP will not be able to remove the abstracts from publication. Late-breaking abstracts cannot be withdrawn after January 31, 2020.