108th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology

Call for Abstracts - General Rules & Guidelines

Please take the time to read this section thoroughly before making your submission since there are several key issues highlighted in the following.

Abstract submissions are considered for poster presentation only.
Each abstract will be peer reviewed for (a) scientific content, (b) the scientific merit of the research, and (c) adherence to standard formatting rules followed by the Society. The decision to accept or reject an abstract rests with the elected division officers conducting the peer review. Occasionally, the reviewers will decide that the abstract content, while otherwise acceptable, does not fit the interest area of the division to which it was submitted. In this case, the abstract is forwarded to the review committee of the division more closely aligned to the perceived content.
Once accepted, the division officers will group abstracts with similar themes in sessions. It is incumbent on you, the author, to accept the location of your abstract in a session as final and be prepared to present your work as scheduled.
Allied Meetings: The General Meeting Program Committee has designated the ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) as an Allied Meeting. Because this meeting wll be held near Toronto just prior to the start of the General Meeting, an abstract/poster presented at ASMCUE may be identical to that presented at the General Meeting.

General Rules:

Submission of abstracts for review is governed by the following rules established by the General Meeting Program Committee (GMPC):

One author on the paper, preferably either the submitting or the presenting author, must be a current full, transition or student member of ASM for an abstract to be eligible for consideration. If necessary, an application for membership is available. Call the Membership Department at 202-942-9319 or visit the Join ASM Page in the Membership area of the ASM Web Site. Membership status will be verified no later than January 18, 2008. If you are not listed as a member at that time, your abstract will be rejected.
You may present only one abstract. If more than one abstract is submitted with the same presenting author, only the first completed abstract (based on the logged date and time completed) will be reviewed. The other abstracts will be rejected.
You may not submit an abstract on behalf of someone else if you are not listed as one of the authors.
If you are requesting to be considered for either a Corporate Activities Program or the Richard and Mary Finkelstein Student Travel Grants, you must be the submitter of the abstract (this ensures your contact information is on record and available).
You must obtain the approval of all co-authors before placing their names on the abstract. Failure to do so will result in the immediate rejection of the abstract.
No submitting author may be delinquent in paying ASM dues. A renewal notice with payment included must be sent to ASM by November 18, 2007. Payment for membership renewal submitted without renewal forms will not be accepted.
Abstracts should not be submitted if the research represented by the abstract will be presented at another national or international meeting prior to June 5, 2008. Exception: The General Meeting Program Committee may designate a national or international meeting relating to the microbiology field as an allied meeting if the meeting is held in the same city as the General Meeting and that starts/ends within four days of the General Meeting. Abstracts/Posters submitted for designated allied meetings may be the same as that submitted for the General Meeting.
Abstracts should not be submitted if the research represented by the abstract has already been accepted for publication in a journal.
If you submit an abstract, you must be prepared to discuss essential details of your methods and results.
Abstracts must be received through electronic submission by the deadline. Photocopies, facsimile, or e-mail copies will not be accepted and will be discarded.
Abstracts replaced or withdrawn after February 16, 2007 may be subject to a penalty.

Guidelines:

Criteria for Abstract Acceptance

The General Meeting Program Committee has established rules for the submission of abstracts. Each abstract will be reviewed for adherence to these rules and then the scientific content and presentation. The elected division officers conduct the peer-review process and have the authority to accept or reject any submission.

Because of the time constraints associated with a meeting of this size, if an abstract is rejected, there is insufficient time to appeal the decision and resubmit the abstract for consideration. Therefore, it is crucial to submit an abstract that meets the criteria outlined below.

1. The main factors considered by the Program Committee (and the division reviewers) in qualifying abstracts for acceptance are:

The quality of the research
The importance/significance of the topic to the membership
The content of the abstract
Adherence to submission criteria

2. Abstracts will be rejected by the reviewers for the following reasons:

No Hypothesis - The abstract does not clearly indicate the reason for conducting the research and the question being tested by the experiments performed.
Inadequate Experimental Methods - The investigators failed to describe procedures used or neglected to include important or essential controls.
Insufficient Data Presented - The investigators failed to show the outcome(s) of their research. Insufficient data are presented to support the authors' conclusion(s).
No Summary Form of Essential Results - The investigators failed to concisely summarize the result(s) of their research.
No Conclusion - The investigators failed to describe the conclusions of their research with regard to the hypothesis being tested.
Duplicate Abstract - The abstract contents substantively overlap with contents of another submitted abstract by the same author or co-author. Only the last version of the abstract will be considered (based on the recorded completion time in the OASIS system).
Not Appropriate for the General Meeting - The content of the abstract is not relevant to any ASM Division.
Promotional in Nature - The abstract was written to promote a specific product or procedure on behalf of a specific company or organization.
Poorly written - Improper use of the English language renders the abstract incomprehensible.
Duplicate Presenting Author - An author can be the presenting author on only one abstract. Only the first completed abstract will be considered (based on the recorded completion time in the OASIS system).

Notifications

Once an abstract has been received by ASM, the only means of communication and notification of status will be by e-mail. Therefore, it is very important that a valid and current e-mail address be on record to help speed the notification process.

It is incumbent on the presenting author to notify ASM of an e-mail address or other contact information changes. Please note that the database supporting the abstract submission system is not connected to the ASM Membership database. Therefore, changing your address in the Membership database does not cause a corresponding change in the abstract submission database. The presenting author may also ask the submitter to make the change by returning to the abstract submission site and using the "edit author" tool in the specific abstract submission. Please note that once the editing deadline is past, only an ASM staff member may make the change.