Abstract submission guidelines

Scientific tracks

The 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) welcomes submission of abstracts for original contribution to the field in the following scientific tracks:

• Track A: Basic and translational research
• Track B: Clinical research
• Track C: Epidemiology and prevention research
• Track D: Social and political research, law, policy and human rights
• Track E: Implementation research, economics, systems and synergies with other health and development sectors

Each scientific track is divided into a number of track categories. All abstract authors are asked to choose one scientific track and one track category during the submission process.

Call for abstracts

We encourage work that introduces new ideas, concepts, research and deepens understanding in the field, as well as analyses of both successes and failures. Please read the following guidelines carefully before submitting your abstract:

• Abstracts can only be submitted online via the conference profile on our website www.aids2018.org; submissions by fax, post or email will not be considered.
• All abstracts must be written in English.
• It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract. Any errors in spelling, grammar or scientific fact in the abstract text will be reproduced as typed by the author. Abstract titles will be subject to a spell check if the abstract is selected for presentation.

Late breaker abstracts

A small number of late breaker abstracts will be accepted for oral or poster presentation at the conference. Late breaker submissions must be data of unquestioned significance that meet a high threshold of scientific merit.

During submission, authors will have to justify why their abstract should be considered as a late breaker. 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 19 April to 10 May 2018.

The percentage of abstracts selected for late breakers will depend on the number of submissions, but selection will be far more rigorous than for regular abstracts.

Questions

• For technical questions regarding the abstract submission system, please contact the abstract support team at [email protected].

Policies for abstract submission

Copyright policy

Abstracts should not include libellous or defamatory content. Material presented in abstracts should not violate any copyright laws. If figures/graphics/images have been taken from sources not copyrighted by the author, it is the author’s sole responsibility to secure the rights from the copyright holder in writing to reproduce those figures/graphics/images for both worldwide print and web publication. All reproduction costs charged by the copyright holder must be borne by the author.

Resubmission policy

An abstract which has been previously published or presented at a national, regional or international meeting can only be submitted provided that there are new methods, findings, updated information or other valid reasons for submitting.

If preliminary or partial data have been published or presented previously, the submitting author will be required to provide details of the publication or presentation, along with a justification of why the abstract merits consideration for AIDS 2018. This information will be considered by the Scientific Programme Committee when making final decisions.

If the author neglects to provide these required details and justification, or if evidence of previous publication or presentation is found, the abstract will be rejected.

Plagiarism

The conference organizers regard plagiarism as serious professional misconduct. All abstracts are screened for plagiarism and when identified, the abstract and any other abstracts submitted by the same author are rejected. In addition, the submitting author’s profile and scholarship application, in the case one has been submitted, will also be cancelled.

Co-submission

AIDS 2018 may negotiate co-submission of abstracts with affiliated events, pre-conferences and/or external events. Visit www.aids2018.org for updated information.

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. The AIDS 2018 Scientific Programme Committee may enquire further into ethical aspects when evaluating the abstracts.

Conference embargo policy

As is the case with most scientific/medical conferences, abstracts from AIDS 2018 are released to delegates and media under a strict embargo policy. A detailed breakdown of the embargo policies for different types of abstracts is available here. All conference delegates, presenters and media agree to respect this policy.

Abstract submission process

Conference profile

Before submitting an abstract, authors must create a conference profile. More than one abstract can be submitted through the conference profile. After an abstract has been created, modifications can be made until the submission deadline. The final deadline to submit the abstract is 5 February 2018, 23:59 Central European Time.

Choosing a track category

The track category is the general heading under which the abstract will be reviewed and later published in the conference printed matters, if accepted. The track category which best describes the subject of the abstract should be chosen. During the submission process, you will be asked to select one track category for your abstract.

Abstract structure

The conference offers two options for abstract submission:

Suited for research conducted in all disciplines. Abstracts submitted under the first option should contain concise statements of:

• Background: indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the hypothesis that was tested or a description of the problem being analysed or evaluated.
• Methods: describe the study period / setting / location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used.
• Results: present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings / outcomes of the study. Please summarize any specific results.
• Conclusions: explain the significance of your findings / outcomes of the study for HIV prevention, treatment, care and / or support, and future implications of the results.

The following review criteria will be used in scoring abstracts submitted under option 1:

• Is there a clear background and justified objective?
• Is the methodology/study design appropriate for the objectives?
• Are the results important and clearly presented?
• Are the conclusions supported by the results?
• Is the study original, and does it contribute to the field?

Suited for lessons learned through programme, project or policy implementation or management. Abstracts submitted under the second option should contain concise statements of:

• Background: summarize the purpose, scope and objectives, of the programme, project or policy;
• Description: describe the programme, project or policy period / setting / location, the structure, key population (if applicable), activities and interventions undertaken in support of the programme, project or policy;
• Lessons learned: present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings / outcomes of the programme, project or policy; include an analysis or evaluation of lessons learned and best practices. Please summarize any specific results that support your lessons learned and best practices;
• Conclusions/Next steps: explain the significance of your findings / outcomes of the programme, project or policy for HIV prevention, treatment, care and / or support, and future implications of the results.

The following review criteria will apply to abstracts submitted under option 2:

• Is there a clear background and justified objective?
• Is the programme, project or policy design and implementation appropriate for the objectives?
• Are the lessons learned or best practices important, supported by the findings and clearly presented?
• Are the conclusions/next steps supported by the results and are they feasible?
• Is the work reported original, and does it contribute to the field? 

Disaggregated sex and other demographic data in abstracts 

Authors are encouraged to provide a breakdown of data by sex and other demographics such as age, geographic region, race/ethnicity, and/or other relevant demographic characteristics in submitted abstracts, when appropriate. Your abstract should include the number and percentage of men and women (and additional breakdown by gender and/or ethnicity if appropriate) that participated in your research or project, and results should be disaggregated by sex/gender and other relevant demographics. Analyses of any gender based differences or any other differences between sub-populations should be provided in the Results or Lessons Learned sections, if relevant.

Font

A standard font, e.g. Arial, should be used when formatting the text. This helps to prevent special characters from getting lost when copying the text to the online abstract submission form. Ensure to check the final abstract with the system’s preview function before submission, and edit or replace as necessary.

Word limits

The abstract text body is limited to 350 words. Titles are limited to 30 words.

A maximum of one table and one graph/image can be included: a graph/image (in JPG, GIF or PNG with ideally 600 dpi) can be included. These will not count toward the word limit, nor will the information about authors, institutions and study groups.

Common reasons for abstract rejection:

• Abstract poorly written;
• Not enough new information;
• Clear objective and/or hypothesis missing;
• Linkage between different parts of the abstract not comprehensible;
• Duplicate or overlap with another abstract;
• Study/project/programme/policy too preliminary or insufficient to draw conclusions;
• Study/project/programme/policy lack of originality.

Reasons for abstract rejection - specific to Option 1:

• Methods (either quantitative or qualitative) inadequate and/or insufficient to support conclusions;
• Summary of essential results inadequate and/or missing.

Reasons for abstract rejection - specific to Option 2:

• Description inadequate and/or insufficient to support conclusions;
• Lessons learned inadequate and/or missing.

Recommendations

• Abstracts should disclose primary findings and avoid, whenever possible, promissory statements such as “experiments are in progress” or “results/lessons learned will be discussed”;
• If English is not your native language, we recommend that you have your abstract reviewed by a native speaker before submission;
• The conference offers an Abstract Mentor Programme for less experienced submitters. Please see further information below.

Submission confirmation

After submission of the abstract, a confirmation email will be sent to the abstract submitter. In order to receive confirmation, please ensure that emails from [email protected] are not marked as spam by your e-mail provider. 

Abstract review and selection process

Abstract 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.

Abstract selection

The Scientific Programme Committee makes the final selection of abstracts to be included in the conference programme. Abstracts can be selected for oral presentation in oral abstract sessions or to be presented as a poster. A small number of highest-scoring posters are selected for presentation in oral poster discussion sessions; the majority of the posters will be displayed in the Poster Exhibition.

Notification of acceptance or rejection to corresponding author

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to the submitting (corresponding) author by mid-April. Please note that only the corresponding author will receive an email 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 for presentation, a co-author must be named as presenting author for one or more abstracts.

In addition, each presenting author may also present one late breaker abstract at the conference.

Publication of accepted abstracts

The submission of the abstracts constitutes the authors’ consent to publication. If the abstract is accepted, the authors agree that their abstracts are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license. The license allows third parties to share the published work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for any purposes, under the condition that AIDS 2018 and authors are given credit, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear. Authors retain the copyright of their abstracts, with first publication rights granted to the IAS.

Accepted abstracts may, therefore, be published on IAS websites and publications, such as the AIDS 2018 Online Conference Programme and other conference materials, the IAS abstract archive, the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS), etc.