Abstract Review

The Abstract Review Committee evaluates all submitted abstracts. Abstracts submitted for talk sessions and/or travel grants are assessed by two reviewers; all other abstracts are assessed by one reviewer. Reviewers are chosen whose area of expertise matches the topic of your abstract.

Abstract Rating

Abstracts submitted for talk sessions and/or travel grants are reviewed on a five-point scale. Each reviewer’s ratings get normalized before averaging them across reviewers. The reviewers have the option to recommend rejection of an abstract.

Abstracts submitted for poster sessions are reviewed by a single reviewer, who either approves the abstract for presentation or makes a recommendation to reject the abstract.

Abstract rating is completed prior to the VSS Board Meeting in late January, during which the abstracts are scheduled into talk and poster sessions.

Rejection Criteria

Criteria for the rejection of abstracts are insufficient results to reach a clear conclusion, fatally flawed or no methods, incomprehensibility, or repetition of well-known literature. Abstracts that are recommended for rejection by at least one reviewer will be additionally evaluated by the Board of Directors. Abstracts will only be rejected if a two-thirds majority of directors at the board meeting vote for rejection.

Based on our experience, there are always some abstracts that fulfill these criteria, and these will indeed be rejected.

Scheduling Abstracts

The VSS Board of Directors meets at the end of January to schedule presentations for the meeting. Abstracts are divided up into thematically organized sessions, as well as presentation preference. (See Presentation Preference Definitions below).

Because there are usually more requests for talks than slots available, the reviewers’ ratings will primarily determine which abstracts will be assigned to the talk sessions. Under very rare circumstances will the Board make small adjustments to ensure that the talks in a single session fit well together or to prevent a session from being dominated by a single laboratory.

Presentation Preferences

  • Talk Preferred – If you are not chosen to give a talk, you may be chosen to give a poster.
  • Poster Preferred – You would be willing to give a talk if asked.
  • Poster Only – You are not willing to give a talk.

Notices of Acceptance

After the reviewing process and after the abstracts are scheduled for the meeting, the authors will be informed about the outcome of the reviewing process. All correspondence, including notification of abstract acceptance and details for poster and talk presentations, will be sent to the “corresponding author” (submitting author) via email. The corresponding author shall be responsible for informing all contributing authors of any related correspondence.