Abstracts

The Scientific Committee of the 20th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology invites the submission of abstracts for oral and poster presentation. Detailed instructions will be provided with the notice of acceptance to presenters.

Important Dates

• Abstract submission starts - 1st March, 2015
• Abstract submission deadline - 31st July, 2015 20th September, 2015
• Abstract Acceptance Notification - 31st August, 2015 30th September, 2015

Abstract Structure

Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words in total (this includes title, text, references, table/figure, acknowledgements).
Abstracts should comprise the following elements, with each beginning a new paragraph:

• Title: The abstract title should be in initial capital/lower case, not all capitals.
• Authors: Authors’ names should be supplied in the surname-last format and should be in initial capital/lower case, not all capitals. The presenting author should be listed first. Institutional affiliations should be indicated with superscript numbers following the author name.
• Affiliation: All affiliations should contain institution, city and country. The presenting author’s affiliation should be listed first.
• Abstract text: Sub-headings (i.e. Introduction/Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusions) are encouraged Abbreviations used must be defined in parentheses on first mention in the text.
• References: References are discouraged and should be limited to 3. References should be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they first appear in the text and should follow the reference style of Respirology (see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1440-1843/homepage/ForAuthors.html). Any references included in a reference list must be cited within the abstract text.
• Tables/Figures: Inclusion of tables and figures are discouraged and should be limited to no more than 1 figure or table. If a table or figure is included, it must be cited in the abstract text.
• Acknowledgements/Conflict of Interest: Any acknowledgements or conflict of interest statements can be listed briefly at the end of the abstract.

General guidelines

• Abstracts should contain original data and meet international ethical and scientific standards.
• The Author is responsible for disclosing any potential, real or perceived Conflicts of Interest including Funding sources.
• The Author is responsible to ensuring that the abstract is free from plagiarism (which may be checked by plagiarism software by APSR or its delegate).
• If abstracts have been previously presented in whole or part, this must be stated clearly in the abstract and presentation. Acceptance or rejection of previously presented data (whole or part of) will be at the discretion of the APSR.
• Abstracts and presentation must not be discriminating on ethnic, race, gender and other grounds.
• Case reports that include findings that are significant and have applied appropriate statistical and analytical methods will be considered for presentation. We regret to inform you that case reports that do not fall within this scope, could not be accepted for oral or poster presentation at APSR 2015.
• Submission should be made by the PRESENTING AUTHOR. A maximum of three abstracts is allowed by the same Presenting Author.
• All abstracts should be submitted online using the SUBMISSION FORM at this website. Upon receipt, an email acknowledgement will be sent to the submitter.
• All abstracts must be submitted in English and should be within 300 words. The title of abstract should be within 25 words. First author shall be the presenting author.
• Please do not include tables and graphs in the abstract. If abbreviations are used, please ensure these are standard abbreviations; for special or unusual abbreviations, please indicate its full terminology in parentheses, the first time it appears in the abstract. Non-proprietary (generic) names of drugs, written in lowercase, are required at the first mention of a drug. Trade names are not allowed in the abstract.
• In respect of the competition, please submit the abstract in its final form only, ensure that you double check that all information are accurate before submitting. Multiple copies of the same abstract will be disqualified from acceptance.
• All presenting authors must be a registered delegate, without exception, to present their abstracts at scientific sessions. Abstracts will be published in the congress abstract book only if the presenting author is registered with full payment by 10 November 2015.

Selection Criteria

If an abstract satisfies the criteria above, and is accepted for final judging, the final selection of abstracts by the Central Congress Committee will be based on the following criteria:

• Scientific rationale and clinical relevance of the objective
• Innovation and originality of the project
• Appropriateness of the methodology, data analysis and conclusion
• Clarity of presentation

Forms of Presentation

Selected abstracts will be allocated with an opportunity to be presented in either poster or oral format, in English, to the Panel of Judges appointed by the APSR 2015 Local Congress Committee. Poster and Oral Presentations are scheduled for Friday, 4th December - Sunday, 6th December 2015 at the Congress.
The Committee reserves the right to determine the final form of presentation for each accepted abstract.

Awards and Prizes

At the discretion of the judging panel, accepted abstracts will be considered for the competition below. Do note that an outstanding abstract can only take one prize/award.

Best Poster and Best Oral Presentation Prizes

These prizes are aimed at recognising outstanding works submitted to the Call-for-Abstracts. A list of finalists would be judged onsite for eligibility to be the winner. Winners will be announced at the APSR 2015 Gala Dinner & Cultural Night to receive a USD 250 cash note prize.

APSR Travel Award

Outstanding works by abstract presenters will be further considered for a limited number of Travel Awards. The highly-coveted award will be offered based on the scientific merit of the submitted abstract, and is aimed at partially supporting investigators from developing regions to attend the congress. Award will be in the form of USD 500 cash note grant, receivable only upon arrival at the APSR 2015 after checking in at Registration. Do note that as a part of participation criteria, you must still be a registered delegate to be eligible for the award.

APSR Young Investigator Award

Outstanding works by abstract presenters at/under the age of 40 years at the time of abstract submission, will be considered for the Young Investigator Award. This highly-coveted award will be offered based on the scientific merit of the submitted abstract. Presenting author of the best abstract under consideration, will be required to provide official documentary proof of age.

APSR-ERS Young Investigator

Separately, members of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), who are under age 35 and accurately indicate so in the online abstract submission form, would be additionally considered by the ERS committee respectively, for the Young Investigator Award jointly granted by the APSR and the respective host society. This latter supplement will only apply to presenting authors who are already members at the time of abstract submission; inaccurate submission could lead to disqualification so kindly double check that all details submitted are accurate.

Topic Categories

You may select one of the following topics for your paper. An abstract should be submitted under one thematic category only.

• Asthma
  
• 
  Bronchoscopy and Interventional Techniques
  
• Cell and Molecular Biology
  
• Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  
• Clinical Allergy & Immunology
  
• Clinical Respiratory Medicine
  
• Critical Care Medicine
  
• Environmental & Occupational Health and Epidemiology
  
• Interstitial Lung Disease
  
• Lung Cancer
  
• Paediatrics
  
• Pulmonary Circulation
  
• Respiratory Infections (non-tuberculosis)
  
• Respiratory Neurobiology and Sleep
  
• Respiratory Structure and Function
  
• Tuberculosis
  
• 
  Others
  

In Case of Late Breaking News - Abstracts Guideline

• A late breaking abstract should contain new significant information that was not yet available at the time of abstract submission closing
• The data in the abstract must not be published prior to the meeting.
• This category is not intended for routine abstract submission
• Only major trials or ground-breaking scientific discoveries will be accepted, the decision of the APSR is final
• If you have a Late Breaking Abstract containing new significant information on major trials or ground-breaking scientific discovery, please write to apsr2015@relianceconventions.com with the subject "Late Breaking Abstract"; the committee will be informed to consider this late breaking news