Call for Poster Abstracts

Submission Guidelines

Deadline: April 7, 2021, 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time

The Annual Meeting Organizing Committee (AMOC) for the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting, held in partnership with the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists (CSCC), invites you to submit your research advances to be presented at the meeting. All poster abstract submissions must be made electronically through AACC’s online poster abstract submission site by April 7, 2021, 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time. AACC is not able to accept poster abstracts by any other method.

Formatting Instructions  |  Submission Instructions

Submission Topics  |  Abstract Awards

Submission Site

Timeline at a Glance

• Submission site opens November 19, 2020
• Submission deadline is April 7, 2021, 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time
• Abstract acceptance notices will be sent mid-June 2021
• 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting will be held from September 19-23, 2021
• Posters are presented on Tuesday, September 21 and Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Online Submission

AACC’s online submission site allows you to upload, convert, submit, and track the progress of your poster abstract. Features include:

• Automatic and immediate conversion of Word files, allowing you to see exactly how reviewers will see your submission and, if accepted, how it will look when published.
• Online tools for creating and inserting tables in your poster abstract.
• An interface that shows you exactly where you are in the process and what steps you need to complete.
• Immediate confirmation and online status updates.
• Access to the online submission of your poster and supporting documents.

General Information

Poster abstracts must meet approved standards for scientific validity, quality, and consistency, and must be submitted online correctly to be considered for presentation at the AACC Annual Scientific Meeting as a poster presentation. The following general requirements pertain to all submitted abstracts:

• Materials. Submitters are highly encouraged to review How to Format Your Poster Abstract, How to Submit Your Poster Abstract, and the Abstract Awards before proceeding with your poster abstract submission.
• Online submissions. All poster abstracts must be submitted online prior to 5 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on April 7, 2021 to be considered.
• Membership. You do not need to be an AACC member to submit a poster abstract.
• Authorship. Authorship on multiple poster abstracts is permitted. See Multiple Submissions With Similar Content if you are considering multiple poster abstracts on similar topics.
• Clarity. Writing must be clear, concise, and grammatically correct.
• Prior publication. The content must not have been previously published in a copyrighted, peer reviewed journal, such as Clinical Chemistry, by any one or more of the submitting authors. This does not apply to previous publication in an AACC local section or division newsletter or publication in conference proceedings that are distributed to conference attendees.
• Technical information. Relevant technical information cannot be withheld on the grounds that such information is proprietary. Statements such as “results will be discussed” are unacceptable.
• Promotions. Poster abstracts may not contain any type of advertising or logos.

Required Poster Abstract Information

Each poster abstract must include and clearly state:

• The research/study objective.
• Sufficient information to demonstrate relevance to clinical laboratory medicine.
• Sufficient description of methodology.
• Validation with sufficient data or other objective evidence to support conclusions. Study validation must be a part of all abstracts. Technical studies should include sufficient analytical data and rigorous statistical analysis. “Non-technical” abstracts, such as those describing educational resources, management tools, process improvement, computer software, etc. must include similar or other objective evidence.
• A statement of results and conclusions.

Required Validation Information

Each poster abstract must include validation information relevant to the study. This information may vary depending on the type of study and objectives. The following information should be included when appropriate.

Development or evaluation of a new analytical method or procedure:

• Procedure: including specimens, reagents, standards, and process.
• Measuring range and linearity.
• Precision: within-run and total.
• Accuracy: comparison with accepted method and/or recovery studies that includes basic statistical information such as: n, slope, intercept, standard errors of estimates, and/or range; a concordance matrix may be used for qualitative methods.
• Interferences and cross-reactivity to be included if comparable methods exhibit problems with interference or cross-reactivity.

Clinical studies:

• Population: size, description, and eligibility criteria.
• Reference intervals and/or decision limits.
• Diagnostic accuracy (e.g. clinical sensitivity and specificity, likelihood ratios, areas under ROC curves).

Other studies:

• Description of process or product.
• Inputs (e.g. time, dollars, information, other resources).
• Outputs (e.g. outcomes, productivity, and effect on inputs).
• Comparison of outcome to original or comparative process/product outcome.
• Statistical analysis as appropriate.

Multiple Submissions with Similar Content

Submission of multiple poster abstracts with similar content may result in the rejection of one or more submissions. Examples of multiple abstracts with similar content are:

• Performance characteristics of multiple analytes on the same analyzer.
• Determination of reference ranges for multiple analytes with the same population and instrument.
• Use of one technique to characterize multiple disease states.
• Use of multiple techniques to characterize a single disease state.