2008 Call for Late-Breaking Abstracts
The 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology will be held starting Saturday, December 6, through Tuesday, December 9, in San Francisco, California.
The ASH Program Committee recognizes that the results of some exciting research were not available by the general abstract submission deadline of August 21, 2008. Hence, ASH offers a late-breaking abstract deadline for abstracts that highlight novel and substantive studies of high impact. The goal of this initiative is to enrich the ASH annual meeting with outstanding studies that are completed after the general abstract submission deadline.
The 2008 ASH Annual Meeting abstracts and online scheduler are now available. Late-breaking abstracts are included in the online program.
- Eligibility
- Responsibilities of the Presenting Author
- Authors’ Consent and Waiver of Claims
- General Guidelines
- How to Request Special Consideration
- Abstract Review and Selection Process
- Acceptance/Rejection Notification
- Abstract Withdrawal
- Publication of Accepted Late-Breaking Abstracts
- Late-Breaking Abstracts
- Abstract Submission Policies
- How to Submit an Abstract
- Preparing an Abstract for Submission
- Electronic Signature
- Sample Abstract
- Questions?
- ASH Annual Meeting Registration and Housing
Eligibility
To submit a late-breaking abstract, the following criteria must be met:
- Late-breaking abstracts should highlight novel and substantive studies of high impact. The late-breaking abstract deadline is not intended to be merely an extension of the general submission deadline; it will focus on capturing abstracts with ground-breaking and novel data that otherwise could not be presented at the annual meeting.
- The selection process will be highly competitive; no more than six abstracts will be selected for an oral presentation in a late-breaking abstracts session on Tuesday morning of the ASH annual meeting.
- Examples of suitable late-breaking abstracts might include the results of a practice-changing prospective clinical trial or the discovery of a mechanism underlying or characterizing a disease process (such as the JAK2 mutation in myeloproliferative disorders), which were not fully available by the general abstract submission deadline.
- Late-breaking abstracts are not eligible for oral or poster presentation in the regular ASH annual meeting abstract program.
- Late-breaking abstracts will not be chosen from among the abstracts submitted by the general submission deadline, but all other ASH policies stated in the general submission abstracts will still apply.
- The accepted late-breaking abstracts will be published online. Due to time constraints, they will not be part of the print Blood abstracts issue.
- At least one of the authors must be an ASH member who is current in payment of his/her membership dues. If none of the abstract authors are ASH members, the abstract must be sponsored by a current ASH member or it will not be reviewed. ASH members are urged to use their judgment in restricting sponsorship to a reasonable number of abstracts, keeping in mind that they are endorsing the authenticity and quality of each abstract that they sponsor. Research and/or studies must fit into one of the ASH 2008 Abstract Review Categories.
- Data published either online or in print by October 29 or to be presented at the ASH annual meeting or ASH Friday Satellite Symposia will not be eligible for consideration. Authors must request Special Consideration if the abstract is a minor extension (10 percent) of previously published work or if the author has a reason to believe that the data will be published either online or in print or presented at a major meeting prior to the ASH annual meeting.
Responsibilities of the Presenting Author
- The first author listed for each abstract serves as the presenting author and as the primary contact for all correspondence regarding the abstract, unless otherwise specified in the online abstract submission system.
- The presenting author must be one of the co-authors listed on the submitted abstract.
- The presenting author is responsible for the following:
- Ensuring that all authors have read the abstract and agreed to be co-authors. Failure to get approval from all authors will result in rejection of the abstract.
- Notifying all co-authors of any additions, deletions, and changes to the program, as may be communicated by ASH.
- Obtaining all the conflict of interest disclosure and copyright transfer information from co-authors.
- Forwarding all correspondence to all co-authors, including the ASH policies and guidelines, and the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Commercial Support for Continuing Medical Education (CME).
- Ensuring that all authors have read the abstract and agreed to be co-authors. Failure to get approval from all authors will result in rejection of the abstract.
Authors’ Consent and Waiver of Claims
Each abstract author agrees and certifies that he or she:
- has read all rules and agrees to be bound by them,
- is responsible for submission of the abstract in accordance with the rules, and
- waives any and all claims against ASH and any reviewer arising out of or relating to the abstract submission and review process, including but not limited to peer review and grading of abstracts.
General Guidelines
- The abstract must address scientific questions, detailed clinical observations, or contain primary scientific data.
- Abstracts submitted to ASH are considered embargoed from the time of submission. This means that the data in the abstract cannot be submitted to other meetings and/or publishers once submitted for the ASH annual meeting.
- All research and studies that involve human and animal subjects reported in submitted abstracts must comply with the guiding principles for experimental procedures found in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association.
- Data from the long-term follow-up of previously presented clinical trials may be submitted only if significant new information can be shown. In this case, please ask for Special Consideration.
- Interim analysis of a prospective randomized clinical trial will be considered only if it is performed as planned in the original protocol and is statistically valid. If your abstract involves interim analysis, explain the details of your study in the text box provided in the online abstract submission system.
- Failure of authors to request special consideration for an abstract including content that has been published or presented at a major meeting prior to the ASH annual meeting will result in exclusion from the program.
- No revisions can be made after the abstract submission deadline.
- After the October 29 submission deadline, late-breaking abstracts may not be withdrawn once submitted.
- Presentation at the annual meeting must reflect the abstract. In particular, the abstract title, authorship, and scientific content of the presentation at the annual meeting must match that of the submitted abstract.
How to Request Special Consideration
Special consideration may be requested by explaining the special circumstances in the text box provided during online abstract submission.
If special consideration is requested for presentation of previously published data, ASH reserves the right to exclude the abstract from the program.
Abstract Review and Selection Process
- After the submission deadline has passed, all completed late-breaking abstracts will be made available to the ASH Scientific Program Co-Chairs and Officers for review, scoring, and final selection.
- Abstracts will be evaluated solely on their scientific merits.
- Incomplete abstracts will not be reviewed.
- The same study should not be submitted as multiple abstracts. Abstracts that appear as more than one version of a single study will be rejected.
- Abstracts will be peer-reviewed according to the subject categories. During online submission, authors must select one abstract review category. Submitters can use the list of this year’s abstract review categories, which provides detailed descriptions of each category, to select the correct abstract category classification. If you are unsure which category to select, choose the category that is the closest fit. During the review process, the abstract may be re-categorized by the reviewers.
- Of all late-breaking abstracts submitted for consideration, no more than six will be selected for oral presentation in a late-breaking abstracts simultaneous session on Tuesday morning of the ASH annual meeting. Each formal oral presentation is typically followed by a brief discussion.
Acceptance/Rejection Notification
- Notification regarding acceptance or rejection of abstracts will be sent to the presenting author on or after November 15, 2008 by e-mail; consequently, an accurate e-mail address is critical. If you have not received an e-mail notification by November 20, 2008, contact ASHabstracts@hematology.org.
- The decision of the ASH Scientific Program Co-Chairs and ASH Officers regarding acceptance and presentation of abstracts is final.
Abstract Withdrawal
- Authors can withdraw the late-breaking abstracts by the submission deadline, October 29, 2008. Abstract withdrawal requests received after the deadline will not be accepted.
- ASH reserves the right to withdraw abstracts that are in violation of the Society’s policies and guidelines, such as those that have been previously published or presented, have been deemed scientifically unsound, or have been found to include inaccurate data, etc.
Publication of Accepted Late-Breaking Abstracts
- The six late-breaking abstracts accepted for the 2008 annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology will be published online with general submission abstracts as part of the online annual meeting program available through the ASH Web site. They will also be published on the Blood Web site.
- Late-breaking abstract submissions that are not accepted for presentation will not be published either in print or online.
Late-Breaking Abstracts
Recognizing that the results of some top-quality research may not be available by the general abstract submission deadline, the ASH Program Committee offers an option for late-breaking abstracts. The site will open October 22 and will close October 29, 2008. Late-breaking abstracts will undergo regular peer-review evaluation. Only six abstracts will be accepted. The accepted abstracts will only be published online and will not be part of the special Abstract supplement to Blood. Abstracts not accepted will not be published in any form.
Abstract Submission Policies
- Conflict-of-Interest disclosure policy
- ASH is committed to ensuring the integrity of its scientific, educational, and research programs. The ASH Conflict-of-Interest Policy requires disclosure of any financial or other interest that might be construed as resulting in an actual, potential, or apparent conflict.
- ASH abides by rules formulated by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), which requires that you disclose any relevant financial relationship you or your spouse/partner have had within the past 12 months. For this purpose, "relevant financial relationships" are those from which you have received or may receive financial benefit and which are related to the continuing medical education (CME) content.
- As a CME provider accredited by the ACCME, ASH must ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all presentations at the ASH Annual Meeting.
- By completing this section of the online abstract submission, you agree that you have read the ASH Conflict-of-Interest Policy and you understand and support its intent.
- This policy is not intended to prevent a presentation. It is merely intended to openly identify potential conflicts so audience members may form their own judgments about the presentation with a full disclosure of the facts.
- Appropriate disclosure will be stated in the special Abstracts issue of Blood (the Abstracts issue dated November 16). Abstracts will not be considered for the program without completion of disclosure information for all of the authors.
Author Responsibility Regarding Conflict-of-Interest Disclosure
- The first author is responsible for obtaining disclosure information from all co-authors.
- All authors and co-authors are required to provide any relevant information concerning personal or professional circumstances and relationships that might reasonably be expected to affect the author’s view on the presentation.
- This includes relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other corporations whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the presentation topic. If no relevant relationships exist, this must be stated as well.
When to Disclose
Please disclose any relationships or circumstances that might affect or appear to affect the research presented. These relationships include you or any individual with whom you directly share income.
What to Disclose
You must disclose the relationship and state the name of the company for each of the following areas in which you maintain a relationship. Exact dollar amounts are not necessary. You will have the option to note that there is no information to disclose or to provide disclosure information pertinent to the abstract. Disclosed information pertinent to the abstract may include the following areas:
- Employment
- Consultancy
- Ownership interests (including stock options) in a start-up company, the stock of which is not publicly traded
- Ownership interest (including stock options, but excluding indirect investments through mutual funds and the like) in a publicly traded company
- Research funding
- Honoraria received directly from an entity
- Patents and royalties
- Paid expert testimony
- Membership on an entity’s board of directors, speakers bureau, or advisory committees
- Any other financial relationship
- You will be required to note whether your presentation will include discussion of off-label use of products. If so, you must provide a brief explanation.
- If you are providing recommendations involving clinical medicine, they will be based on evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for their indication and contraindications in the care of patients. All scientific research referred to in support of a patient-care recommendation will conform to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection, and analysis.
- The content of the information with which you are involved will promote quality in health care or advancements in science, and will not promote a specific proprietary business interest or a commercial interest. Content for this publication will be well-balanced and unbiased.
- If you have been trained or utilized by a commercial entity or its agents as a speaker (e.g., speakers bureau) for any commercial interest, the promotional aspects of that presentation will not be included in any way with the activity.
- ASH is committed to ensuring the integrity of its scientific, educational, and research programs. The ASH Conflict-of-Interest Policy requires disclosure of any financial or other interest that might be construed as resulting in an actual, potential, or apparent conflict.
- Embargo Policy
- Abstracts submitted to the ASH Annual Meeting are considered embargoed from the time of submission.
- For the research and study to be eligible for presentation at the ASH annual meeting, information contained in the abstract, as well as additional data and information to be presented about the research and/or study at the annual meeting, may not be made public before the abstract has been published/presented at the ASH annual meeting.
- Prior to the embargo being lifted, the first author, co-authors, and sponsor of the abstract must abide by the following policies:
- Not to publish the information or provide it to others who may publish it.
- Not to release the research/study to news media.
- Not to use the information for trading in the securities of any issuer or provide it to others who may use it for securities-trading purposes.
- Not to publish the information or provide it to others who may publish it.
- If the policy is violated, the abstract may be automatically withdrawn from presentation at the ASH annual meeting and from publication online.
- Abstracts submitted to the ASH Annual Meeting are considered embargoed from the time of submission.
How to Submit a Late-Breaking Abstract
The late-breaking abstract site is open October 22 – October 29, 2008.
- All abstracts must be submitted by October 29, 2008, at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Standard Time. Submissions that are incomplete by the deadline will be rejected.
- Late-breaking abstracts must be submitted online through the official online abstract submission system. E-mails and word processing files not submitted through the site will not be accepted.
- There is a $60 nonrefundable handling fee for submitting an abstract. Payment must be made by credit card; Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are accepted. Purchase orders and checks will not be accepted. The abstract submission fee does not include registration for the annual meeting; therefore, all authors planning to attend the ASH annual meeting must register separately.
- Electronic submission works optimally with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6+, Mozilla Firefox 1.5+, and Netscape Navigator 7.7+. Safari or MAC OS 10.3/10.4 are supported, but their use is discouraged, since not all features would be available. The online abstract submission system will provide links so that you can download the free browser software.
- Please check the appropriate box during submission if this marks the first time that you are submitting an abstract for the ASH annual meeting.
- Once you have submitted the title page information, a draft of your abstract will be saved and you will be able to return to edit and update it from anywhere with Internet access. You will receive an e-mail providing a link to your submission.
- Abstracts cannot be submitted and will not be reviewed without proper payment and completion of the "Submission Information" and "Disclosure" sections of the online abstract submission program.
- Any technical questions regarding the submission process should be directed to ash@confex.com.
Preparing an Abstract for Submission
Contact Information
- Your name, degree, institution, address, phone number, and e-mail address must be provided. As the corresponding author, you will be the recipient of all future correspondence from ASH.
- The corresponding author should be the first author (presenter) of the abstract, unless otherwise indicated during submission.
Co-Authors
Names of co-authors and institutions must be provided. The program will automatically place an asterisk (*) after the name of each non-member author.
Copyright Policy
All authors must assign copyright of the abstract to ASH, unless one of the authors is a U.S. Federal employee.
Abstract Title
- The abstract title should be brief, clearly indicating the nature of the abstract.
- The abstract title must be in upper case. Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions (i.e., as, because, although). Except for the first word of the title, lowercase all articles, coordinate conjunctions (i.e., and, or, nor), and prepositions, regardless of length. Also, lowercase "to" in an infinitive.
- Additionally, keep letters lowercase if the lowercase letters have a specific meaning, such as pH or NaCl.
- Do not put a period at the end of the title.
Use of Product Names
- Non-proprietary (generic/scientific) names should be used.
- If necessary, you may include a proprietary name in parentheses directly following the generic name after its first mention in the body of the abstract. ASH reserves the right to replace proprietary names with generic names to adhere to this policy.
Abbreviations
- Use standard abbreviations. Place abbreviations in parentheses immediately after the first mention of a term or phrase; the abbreviation can then be used throughout the abstract.
- Do not abbreviate compounds in the title of the abstract.
Abstract Body, Tables, and Figures
- Late-breaking abstracts submitted for the 50th ASH Annual Meeting are published online using the text submitted by the author without copy editorial changes. It is the responsibility of the author to proofread the abstract carefully.
- The entire body of the abstract, including text and tables/figures must not exceed 3,800 characters. Title, authors’ names, and affiliations are counted separately.
- Do not use bold type or underline formatting. Italic type is acceptable.
- The text must be a single paragraph and you do not need to indent the first line.
- Special Greek and mathematical symbols are available in a character map within the program.
- Use numerals to indicate numbers, except when beginning sentences.
- The first letter of the name of a proprietary drug should be capitalized; generic names are preferred and should be written without capitals.
- Simple tables and graphs may be included. The online abstract submission system provides step-by-step instructions on inserting tables and graphs in the preferred HTML format.
- Any references should be noted as citations within the text and not as footnotes at the end.
Selection of Abstract Review Category
- Please refer to the list of this year’s abstract review categories, which provides detailed descriptions of each category, to assist you in selecting the correct abstract classification.
- Be sure to select from the program’s drop-down menu the review category that best describes your abstract.
- The abstract will be reviewed for category assignment and may be reassigned if necessary.
Electronic Signature
Completion of all required disclosure information in the online abstract submission system serves as an agreement and is accepted in lieu of a faxed signature. It certifies the ASH abstract submitter's understanding of the rules for participation contained in the online abstract submission program, including:
- All authors approve of submitting this work for presentation and publication;
- The author(s) transfer(s) all copyright ownership of the named abstract to the American Society of Hematology (except when one or more authors are U.S. Government employees);
- All authors have read the ASH Abstract Conflict-of-Interest Policy and have acted in accordance with that policy;
- The author(s) agree(s) to materially confine the presentations to information in the abstract, if accepted for presentation. If an author has more than one abstract accepted, each presentation will be materially confined to the information in the abstract selected for the specific session;
- The presenting author will be available to present the abstract if selected for the program. The author(s) will immediately notify ASH if the presenting author must be changed; and
- The data in the abstract are not expected to be published either online or in print by October 29, nor will they be materially presented at another major meeting or at Friday Satellite Symposia prior to the ASH annual meeting.
Sample Abstract
A sample abstract is provided for your reference below.
Resident CD8 T Cells in Bone Marrow Transplants Mediate GVL Activity Without GVHD; Blood CD8 T Cells Mediate Severe GVHD. Defu Zeng*,1 Fengshuo Lan*,1 Philip Huie*,2 John Higgins*,2 Samuel Strober*.1 (Intr. by Michael Richard Verneris) 1Medicine/Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA; 2Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA. Graft versus leukemia (GVL) mediated by the donor T cells is one of the most beneficial effect of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). However, GVL is associated with graft versus host disease (GVHD), a major obstacle of allogeneic BMT. In the current study, CD8 T cells from peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) of C57BL/6 mice were compared with regard to surface phenotype, cytokine secretion profile and function after BMT. Less than 1% of PB but about 20% of BM CD8 T cells were NK1.1+. The PB CD8 T cells produced large amounts of IL-2 and IFN-? but little IL-4. In contrast, the BM CD8 T cells produced large amounts of IFN-? and IL-4, but small amounts of IL-2. Graded numbers (6-500x103) of sorted PB and BM CD8 T cells from C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice were injected with 1.5x106 T cell depleted (TCD) donor marrow cells into lethally irradiated MHC-mismatched BALB/c (H-2d) recipients to test their capacity in GVHD. The PB CD8 T cells were at least 5 times more potent than either BM CD4 or CD8 T cells in GVHD, since 100x103 PB CD8 T cells induced typical signs of GVHD, but 500x103 of BM CD4 or CD8 T cells did not induce any signs of GVHD. Furthermore, the BM CD8 T cells were tested for facilitation of engraftment and GVL. Although 75x103 TCD BM alone only resulted in 10% of the recipients surviving for more than 100 days, addition of 25-500x103 BM CD8 T cells but not the BM CD4 T cells resulted in 70% of the recipients surviving for more than 100 days. While all the recipients given Rag-2-/- BM and BCL1 cells died of tumor by day 40, addition of 500x103 BM CD8 T cells but not the BM CD4 T cells allowed all the recipients to survive for more than 100 days without detectable BCL1 cells. 500x103 BM CD8 T cells from (C57BL/6xBALB/c) F1 did not facilitate engraftment or mediate GVL. These results indicate that PB and BM CD8 T cells are markedly different by NK1.1 marker, cytokine secretion profile and GVHD capacity. The alloreactive BM but not PB CD8 T cells exert GVL and facilitation of engraftment without GVHD. |
Questions?
Send related correspondence and questions regarding abstract submissions or notifications to ASHabstracts@hematology.org.
ASH Annual Meeting Registration and Housing
- Please note that submitting an abstract does not register you for the ASH annual meeting.
- ASH encourages attendees to register online.
- Advance registration is available through November 6. Registrations made after the November 6 deadline will be charged the on-site registration fee.