GENERAL INFORMATION

• All abstracts selected for presentation will be published online in Medical Decision Making, SMDM’s peer-reviewed scientific journal.
• Abstracts should report original work that has not been published prior to the Society's meeting. Although abstracts may reflect work previously presented elsewhere, the work should not have been previously presented at the Society's meeting. Because of copyright law, a submitted abstract may not be identical to a previously published abstract.
• Students must have a substantive role in abstracts submitted for the student prize competition, including the conception and implementation of the research project. While nominees may present abstracts after completing training, they must have been a trainee at the time the abstract was submitted. The name and email address of the supervising faculty member is required. These supervisors will be contacted by the SMDM office and asked to attest to the eligibility of the abstract for the student prize competition.
• Be sure to select one of the following:
  • "Oral" presentation, indicating the abstract should be considered for oral presentation only.
  • "Oral or Poster" presentation, indicating the author prefers oral presentation of the abstract, but poster presentation is an acceptable alternative.
  • "Poster" presentation, indicating the abstract should be considered for poster presentation only.
  • All accepted presenters will be required to register for the Annual Meeting.
• The submitting author is responsible for all expenses associated with the submission and presentation of an abstract.

REVIEW PROCESS

All submitted abstracts will be reviewed and scored by the 2008 Scientific Review Committee. All submitters will be notified of their acceptance status by the end of July.

SUBMISSION

• ALL ABSTRACTS MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH SMDM’S ONLINE ABSTRACT SYSTEM
• ALL abstracts must be submitted by 11:59 Midnight EST on Friday, June 6, 2008 to be eligible for acceptance.
• The submission fee to submit an individual abstract is $40 (member) and $50 (non-member). A MasterCard/Visa/American Express account number and expiration date must accompany each abstract submission. This fee covers administrative costs associated with the call for abstracts and is not a publication fee. The submitting author is responsible for payment of fees, including those billed to third parties. Your abstract will not be accepted for submission unless the submission fee is received. Please note, the abstract submission fee is nonrefundable.
• The following contact information is required for the Presenting Author: First Name, Last Name, Department, Institution, Street Address, City, State, Country, Phone Number, and a valid email address. In addition, First Name, Last Name, Institution, City, State, Country, and a valid email address are required for Co-Author(s).
• Each abstract presenter is required to disclose financial support. Abstract review will NOT be based on this information. This information is required from the University of Alabama, which is the Continuing Medical Education provider for the 30th Annual SMDM Meeting.
• Accepted abstracts will be published AS SUBMITTED in Medical Decision Making and at the Annual Meeting. You should write your abstract carefully and edit it prior to submission as changes will not be accepted after the Submission Deadline.
• You will receive email confirmation that your abstract has been successfully submitted.

FORMATTING ABSTRACTS

• The title should be brief and should clearly indicate the content of the paper. Abbreviations must not be used in titles of abstracts. You will state authors' names and institutional affiliations in separate fields. If an author does not have an institutional affiliation, indicate their city, state/province, and country. Omit titles, degree, institutional appointments, street names, and postal codes. Single space all typing with one space between paragraphs. Underlining or capitalization for emphasis is not acceptable. Indent each paragraph with three character spaces before beginning text.
• Organize the body of the abstract as follows:
  • Statement of the purpose of the study, preferably one sentence.
  • Statement of the method(s) used.
  • Summary of the results presented in sufficient detail to support conclusions.
  • Statement of the conclusions reached. It is not satisfactory to state "The results will be discussed" or "Other data will be presented.
• The abstract, excluding title and author information, should be no longer than 375 words.
• Simple tables or graphs may be included but will reduce on your overall word allotment. The image will be scaled from its original size so the abstract text will fit into its allotted area. The size of the scaled image, table, and/or graph WILL BE the printed size in the final output booklet. Submitter's may want to resubmit the abstract with less text so the image will be larger.
• Graphs and charts can be uploaded on your screen in color. It is important to note that all images will be printed in black in white in the published abstracts. We strongly encourage you to create and/or save your image in black and white prior to uploading.