ISTSS is no longer accepting abstracts submission for the 24th Annual Meeting.

Download a PDF of the 2008 Call for Presentations.

Submission Policies:

• Limit: 2 abstracts per presenter – oral presentation limit only. Does not apply to Pre-Meeting Institutes, papers submitted as posters only or talks invited by the program chairs.
• There will be no submission deadline extensions.
• Incomplete proposals will not be considered.
• Please submit your proposal accurately. A $50 fee will be charged for each set of changes requested.
• Prepare a word processing file containing this information in advance to save time online and ensure that you have a backup copy of all of your information.
• ISTSS strongly suggests that one individual gathers all the required information and submits online.
• Presentations should be original contributions, meaning it has not been published prior to the date the abstract was submitted, and should provide new information.
• Abstracts will be published in their original form in the Meeting Proceedings.
• Submission of a proposal implies a commitment to attend the meeting if the proposal is accepted.
• All meeting participants must register for the meeting.
• If you do not have Internet access or are unable to use the online system, contact Nicki Patti, ISTSS education manager, at ISTSS headquarters, 847-480-9028, ext. 214, before March 1, 2008, for assistance.

Submission Requirements:

Designated Contact Person:

All proposals must have a designated person who is the sole point of contact. For PMIs, workshops, symposia, panels, case and media presentations, this person will normally also chair the proposed session. (See Session Chair description below.)

The designated contact person must be responsible for:

• informing presenters of the program committee’s decision,
• distributing relevant meeting information provided by ISTSS,
• submitting the presentation proposal by gathering all materials from their colleagues,
• collecting any special requests regarding scheduling for any presenter (to include during the proposal submission),
• providing presentations to discussants before the meeting.

Designated Contact Person Information: Name, degree/credential, affiliation, address, phone, e-mail address and CV. The designated contact person should identify themself as the primary author in the abstract database.

Presenter or Discussant Contact Information: Name, degree/credential, affiliation, address, phone, e-mail address and CV.

Co-Author Contact Information: Name, degree/credential, affiliation, address and e-mail address.

Session Chair:

Pre-meeting Institute, symposia/panel, workshop, case and media presentation proposals must identify a chair person. Accepted single papers will be grouped into sessions and the program committee will ask the presenter of one of the papers to chair the session.

The chair is responsible for the tasks below, although they can delegate these tasks to other presenters or discussants if they so choose. Chairs are not identified as chairs in program materials, and the abstract submission process does not request identification of this individual.

• planning the session agenda,
• coordinating the session to ensure that it runs smoothly,
• serving as timekeeper/moderator during the session,
• ensuring that 10–15 minutes of the session is reserved for audience comments and questions.

Skill Level: All presentations must designate the knowledge/skill level required of the participant as either Introductory (I), Intermediate (M), or Advanced (A). These will be used only as a general guide because attendees have very diverse educational and professional backgrounds.

• Introductory: Presentations that all participants (including undergraduates) w/ any appropriate background will be able to fully comprehend and/or appreciate. Presentations will discuss concepts that are considered basic skills/knowledge.
• Intermediate: Presentations that participants may more fully comprehend/appreciate if they have at least some work experience in the field.
• Advanced: Present concepts which require a high-level of educational background, or work experience in the particular area/topic to be discussed, as well as being most geared for specialists and those in advanced stages of their career.

Title: 100 characters (including spaces) or less.

Text: Abstracts of research presentations should include the purpose, methods, findings and conclusions. Submissions of findings is strongly encouraged. Other types of abstracts should include purpose, population, main points to be covered and conclusions. Pre-Meeting Institutes should summarize the relevant scientific evidence.

NEW! Keywords: Presenters should identify a primary and secondary keyword for their submission. (Abstracts are no longer being categorized into tracks.)

• Assessment/Diagnosis
• Research Methodology
• Biological/Medical
• Children and Adolescents
• Clinical or Interventions Research
• Clinical Practice Issues
• Prevention/Early Intervention
• Community Programs
• Culture/Diversity
• Civilians in War/Refugees
• Social Issues/Public Policy/Ethics
• Disaster/Mass Trauma
• Military/Emergency Services/Aid Workers
• Media/Training/Education

Learning Objectives: Three learning objectives are required for each proposal. (Required for meeting Continuing Education approval.) Do not use the verbs learn, understand, or know. Click here for a list of appropriate verbs.

Statement of Ethical Standards: All work presented at the ISTSS annual meeting must conform to discipline-appropriate national or professional ethical standards. Confirmation of adherence to this requirement is part of the proposal submission process.

Potential for Distress: All oral and media submissions are prompted to include a statement about the potential for audience distress.

Citations: Workshop/Case and Pre-Meeting Institute proposal submissions must include complete citations in American Psychological Association format for 3–10 published works that are relevant to the session’s objectives.

Media Presentations: Media presentations should include thought-provoking presentations involving literary, artistic and creative interpretative materials related to trauma. Training videos or media presentations that demonstrate treatment methods should be submitted as workshops or Pre-Meeting Institutes. As a condition of acceptance, the presenter must obtain appropriate releases for display and presentation of media. Abstracts should specify the running time and type of media (e.g., 35mm film, VHS tape, DVD).

Disclosure of Relationships: ISTSS and its continuing medical education-accrediting partner require presenters to disclose any significant financial interest or other affiliation with any commercial supporter or manufacturer of any commercial products discussed in a presentation. This policy ensures that the audience is aware of such relationships and allows conflicts of interest to be resolved prior to the presentation. All speakers must complete a disclosure form in order to present at the ISTSS annual meeting. Presenters must also announce if they will be discussing any off-label or unapproved uses of any products.

Presentation Agreement
Acceptance of the terms of the presentation agreement is required of all those who submit an abstract for consideration for presentation at the ISTSS Annual Meeting. View the presentation agreement. 

Presentation Types:

NEW! The presentation types have been condensed to streamline the submission process.

Papers and Symposia
Single papers may be added to symposia that have fewer than four papers where they are compatible in content. The chair of the symposia and the single paper author will be informed if this occurs.

Proposal Review Criteria
All submissions are rated for rigor (scientific, clinical or intellectual), relevance for ISTSS members and consistency with the meeting theme. Training presentations (workshops and Pre-Meeting Institutes) also are rated for presenter qualifications and usefulness of the training objectives in the clinical or research work of ISTSS members. Symposia, panels and cases also are rated on importance of the topic, scope of coverage of the topic and diversity of presenters.

Proposal descriptions for presentation must be sufficiently detailed to allow evaluation of these criteria. Symposia submissions will be reviewed and accepted or rejected in total, so uniformly high quality and detail across presentations is important. Program Committee decisions will be announced by August 1, 2008, via e-mail. All oral submissions, except Pre-Meeting Institutes and media submissions, that are not accepted for oral presentation will be considered for poster presentation if interest is indicated during the abstract submission process.

Colleague Connections
It is important to connect with colleagues to properly plan your group presentations. ISTSS encourages group presentations because of high participation rates, length of the sessions, and to further ensure scientific integrity of the content. For information about ways to connect with colleagues, visit the Colleague Connections page.

Student Poster Award

The Student Poster Award is presented in recognition of outstanding poster presentation at the annual meeting. The award includes a registration waiver for the next annual meeting. Applicants must indicate their desire and eligibility to apply during the abstract submission process.

Questions?

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
111 Deer Lake Road, Suite 500
Northbrook, IL 60062 USA
Tel 847-480-9028
Fax 847-480-9282
istss@istss.org

Last Updated: 1/28/08