ISMPP Abstract Submission Guidelines

Please review the Author Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) before submission. Some abstracts will be selected for oral presentation; authors will receive appropriate instructions if their abstract is selected. 

Author Guidelines  

• The International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) now accepts abstract submissions through our website. Abstract submissions via email will no longer be accepted. 

• The poster and oral presentation sessions will be held in-person.  Poster PDFs will be available open access on the ISMPP University and eLearn LMS site  

• To ensure originality, or to expand/update existing research, check whether similar studies have been published previously. 

• In keeping with other scientific congresses, ISMPP does not issue conditional acceptances for abstract submissions (ie, there will not be an opportunity to revise after initial submission) or accept late submissions. Additionally, ISMPP does not distribute surveys on behalf of abstract authors. Please see our survey policy in the FAQ section. 

• Abstracts that stress the procurement of a commercially available product or service will be rejected.  Products or services should be discussed only in the context of other commercially available products. Generic names should be used whenever possible. 

• Methods-only abstracts will be rejected. 

• Abstracts submitted after the deadline will not be considered. 

• All abstract submissions must be research-oriented and written in a clear manner, especially regarding methods and results sections. The abstract title must reflect the research. Avoid making broad conclusions or generalizations in the Conclusion. 

• If utilizing a survey to collect data, consider how to broaden exposure to your target audience to increase representation and sample size. Avoid sending surveys during the winter holidays if possible, to maximize the response rate. 

• Case studies should include a hypothesis and results. 

• Consider the inclusion of limitations to provide a comprehensive and balanced view of your research findings. 

• Please note that under our open access (OA) license and supplement agreements, ISMPP provides a non-exclusive right to the publisher. ISMPP retains the copyright for the collective publication of abstracts (in lieu of collecting copyright transfers from each author). However, the individual abstracts themselves remain the property of their respective authors. Authors are free to publish their abstracts in full manuscripts or as encore presentations in other venues without any restrictions. 

Abstracts must be within a limit of 275 words 

• The abstract text and tables/figures are included in the word count. Tables/figures are permitted and counted as 100 words each. The title is no longer included in the word count 

• Abstracts should be written in American English. 

• Titles should be in sentence case. 

• Abbreviations should be spelled out at first mention.  

• The title, author names, affiliations, keywords, transparency statements and the reference list are excluded from the word count 

• Tables and/or figures must have a title and be cited in the abstract text 

• Tables or figures must be in B/W or greyscale; no colored tables or figure are permitted. Further, please aim to keep tables to a reasonable (ie, half page) length. The use of tables or figures should support your data with context or insights.  

• All figures will need to be supplied as an editable source file and be set to 300dpi or higher. Any captions or accompanying data text will also need to be supplied as an editable file as text embedded into an image file can pixelate when reproduced online.  

• Provide full references including the full names of all authors, if applicable including DOI and ensure all references are cited in the abstract text. For detailed information on references, please visit: Taylor & Francis Standard Reference Style | NLM The total word count  must be listed at the end of each abstract. Three keywords from a predefined list must be selected online; keywords are not included in the abstract word count.  

• Abstracts must be structured (as described in the FAQ below) 

• Transparency statements: The following will be required text boxes in the submission form online and do not need to be included in the abstract document. 

  • Declaration of funding: Each submission will require a declaration of financial/other relationships. If there is no funding or relationships/interest to disclose, authors can state “No funding to disclose”.  

  • Acknowledgments: For individuals or companies that provide editorial support or assistance with the research, abstract/poster, or presentation, their contributions can be highlighted in an Acknowledgements section. Authors must acknowledge the use of AI/LLM and other tools as appropriate. 

Authorship 

• The first author is the presenting author and must be an active member of ISMPP. An author can be the first author on only one abstract, but there is no limit on co-authorship.

• All authors must meet ICMJE criteria and provide full disclosure of any financial or employment interests related to the subject matter discussed in the abstract. Online disclosure questions must be answered with each abstract for each author.

• All presenters must register for the meeting and pay for their travel (if applicable) and registration to the meeting. Membership and meeting rates, and meeting registration materials, will be available at www.ismpp.org 

Survey Policy 

ISMPP is committed to supporting research that supports the medical publication profession. Thus the society will permit members who want to generate data for ISMPP meeting abstracts to utilize our LinkedIn Group site (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/3856518) and ISMPP Connect forum https://connect.ismpp.org/home as a portal to post a survey announcement/invitation and survey link. Please refer to the guidelines below:  

• Permission on the part of ISMPP to post a survey invitation and link does not in any way imply endorsement of the research project or the survey by ISMPP or the Abstract Committees nor does it guarantee acceptance of the submitted abstract.   

• Author(s) are responsible for developing the survey content and format and ensuring that it is available on a host site.  

• All survey content must be in keeping with good publication practices and non-promotional.  

• Author(s) are responsible for posting the survey and subsequent reminder on ISMPP’s LinkedIn Group page.  

• ISMPP permits one reminder post after the posting of the initial invitation.  

• The following disclaimer must be included with your post:  

The survey presented represents the work of the individual author(s). The ISMPP LinkedIn portal or ISMPP Connect Forum is being utilized as a mechanism to post this survey only and does not necessarily represent the position of ISMPP 

• Please be specific in your LinkedIn and/or ISMPP Connect post as to the type of professional background (ie, pharma, medical communications, publisher) the survey is targeting.  We also recommend including detailed language in the survey introduction along with the appropriate demographic variable questions. 

• ISMPP reserves the right to review all postings and reject postings with inappropriate content.   

• As with all content posted to the LinkedIn Group page, ISMPP reserves the right to review/reject those with inappropriate content.    

Post-submission 

• The ISMPP Abstract Committee will conduct a blinded peer review of all submitted abstracts. Please refer to the FAQ for additional information. 

• Authors may share their poster on social media starting on the first day of the conference, provided it is educational in nature and does not include promotion of company products or services. 

• Abstracts will be published open access in the Annual Meeting of ISMPP abstract supplement to CMRO, which will be published on the first day of the Annual Meeting of ISMPP. 

• Abstract submissions from the prior Annual or European Meetings of ISMPP will be considered. Encore abstracts will be re-reviewed by the Meeting Abstract Committee. If accepted, encore presentations will not be re-published in the CMRO supplement. 

ISMPP Abstract Submission FAQ 

1. What is the required format for the abstract title?

Use sentence case and capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns or adjectives in the abstract title. Example: A survey of adherence to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) guidelines for abstracts. 

      2. What is the required format for author names and affiliations? 

List the full names of all authors separated by commas, except for the last author whose name should be preceded by ‘and.’ Do not include degrees or certifications. Use a superscript letter to distinguish differing affiliations. List each affiliated organization on a separate line, and include the name, city, state abbreviation or province, and country, separated by commas. Example: 

Tom Jones^a, Alice Smith^a and Susan George^b 

^aPharma Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, India 

^bBlack & Black Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC, Flemington, NJ, USA 

3. How must my abstract be structured? 

Organize the abstract into the following sections:  

1. Objective 

2. Research design and methods 

3. Results 

4. Conclusions 

5. Tables/Figures (if any)   

6. Full References including DOI (if any) 

4. What are the requirements for keywords? 

Three keywords from a predefined list must be selected in the submission.  

5. Are complete sentences required in all four sections of the abstract? 

Complete sentences containing a subject and verb or verb phrase are required throughout the abstract. 

6. What if the results and conclusions are not available when I submit my abstract? 

Methods-only abstracts will not be accepted. Abstracts submitted without data and with statements such as “data collection is in progress” or “further data will be presented” will automatically be rejected and authors encouraged to submit at a future meeting when the full dataset is available. 

7. What do I need to do to BLIND my abstract? 

We now ask for authors to submit a blinded version in the Abstract copy & paste text box. If possible, do not include any information in the body of the abstract (e.g., company names or products) that would help identify the authors or their affiliations. ISMPP reserves the right to eliminate identifying information should it appear. Please remove the author names and institutional affiliations before submitting.  

8. What should I include in the Production Abstract file upload?

Include your title, authors, affiliations, abstract, references, acknowledgements and keywords exactly as you would like them published in a Word document.

   9. How are acronyms to be presented? 

Spell out the acronym the first time it appears followed by the acronym in parentheses; thereafter, the acronym alone may be used. Should the acronym not be spelled out, ISMPP will attempt to add the missing information; however, please be aware that this may adversely affect the word count. 

  10. Is it necessary to include references? 

When referencing work previously published by another author, please include a complete citation including full author list and DOI number, if available, in the References section of the submission form. References are not part of the abstract word count. Published references are encouraged. Please ensure references are cited within the abstract text. For detailed information on references, please visit: Taylor & Francis Standard Reference Style | NLM 

Example: Gegeny TP, Klein KP. AMWA’s medical writing certification initiative: where are we now? AMWA J 2012;27:184-7 

  11. What if the data from a particular study would seem to warrant more than one abstract?                                                                                                        Without adequate justification, the results of a single research process should not be split to create multiple abstracts. An author who believes there is justification should send the potentially overlapping abstracts and a cover letter explaining why the abstracts should not be regarded as redundant. 

  12. Does each author have to fill out and submit a disclosure form? 

Yes. A disclosure for each author must be provided in the abstract submission. 

  13. How will my abstract be evaluated? 

With high-quality abstracts as the goal, evaluations are based on the following criteria: 

1. Originality and innovation 

2. Organization and clarity of presentation 

3. Relevance to the field and/or the theme of the meeting 

4. Potential for improving/advancing service or practice 

5. Use of data to support the research premise 

  14. Will methods-only abstracts be accepted? 

No. Methods-only abstracts will not be considered. Each abstract must contain complete results and conclusions drawn from those results to be considered for acceptance 

  15. Will I be assigned a specific poster board number? 

Poster numbers will be assigned, with the numbers to be displayed in the upper right-hand corner of each poster.  

  16. Will there be any special recognition for excellence of submissions? 

The acceptance of an abstract is a form of recognition as not all abstracts are accepted; however, special recognition is accorded through the following evaluations. A limited number of abstracts that are judged to present particularly compelling research will be selected for oral presentation. Posters will be judged and a winner selected in three award categories. 

  17. What procedure should be followed if the first author is unavailable to deliver the oral presentation? 

If the first author is not available, ISMPP must be notified in advance of the meeting and be advised of the alternate presenter. The alternate presenter must be a co-author on the abstract and an active member of ISMPP. 

  18. How do I withdraw an abstract or poster? 

All withdrawals or cancellations must be in writing and e-mailed to education@ismpp.org  

  19. Who should I contact with questions regarding abstracts or posters? 

E-mail your questions to the ISMPP education content team at education@ismpp.org  

(last updated October 2024)