Each year, the SOT Annual Meeting and ToxExpo features more than 2,600 scientific abstract presentations. The following are the most commonly asked questions regarding abstract submissions to help guide you through the process.
To submit an abstract, visit the abstract submission site, which is open from August 15 to October 7 each year. New users: Create a user name and password for direct log-in during future visits to the site. Previous users: You may use the same log-in and password you established if you submitted a Scientific Session, CE proposal, or poster abstract last year. After logging-in, click the “New Submission” button near the top right (above the deadline date).
The abstract submission instructional template was designed with easy navigation in mind. That is why we recommend that you proceed through the system in a step-by-step fashion, carefully completing each screen. You can navigate this system either by clicking the “Save and Continue” button at the bottom of each page or by clicking the “Submission Step” box in the left sidebar on each page. For instructions with screenshots, please consult our Abstract Submission Instructions.
Abstracts that are selected to be presented orally, as opposed to as a poster, are scheduled into Platform Sessions. You may indicate your interest in this type of presentation at the beginning of the submission process by choosing “Platform or Poster.” Please note that the programming of your abstract into a particular session type will be at the discretion of the Scientific Program Committee. The Scientific Program Committee may select groups of seven to nine abstracts on a related subject to be in a Platform Session in which each speaker will have 16–20 minutes to provide a PowerPoint presentation.
The SOT Scientific Program Committee will send the appropriate information to the membership in addition to posting information on the SOT website, if it has determined that late-breaking abstracts will be accepted for the upcoming meeting. However, the deadline to submit an abstract is 11:59 pm US Eastern Time on October 7 each year (October 9, if October 7 falls on a Saturday or Sunday).
For the 2017 Annual Meeting, late-breaking abstracts will be accepted from December 5, 2016, to January 12, 2017. Click here to enter the late-breaking abstract site.
If none of the authors (presenting/primary author, or a co-author) is a member of the SOT, sponsorship by a Full or Associate SOT member is required. By sponsoring the abstract, the sponsor acknowledges that the research has been done according to the SOT Code of Ethics.
The cost to submit an abstract is $50 (regular abstract period), or $75 (late-breaking abstract period). Submissions fees are non-refundable.
At this time, SOT can only accept payment by credit card. Accepted credit cards include Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.
A print receipt option will appear once the abstract fee payment has been approved.
At this time, we cannot offer refunds for any abstracts that have been submitted for the SOT Annual Meeting. The fees collected cover the cost to process the abstracts whether or not one attends the Annual Meeting.
Notifications will be sent to individuals in early December by email. You must keep your email information updated within the submission site. If your email address changes, please log into the system and follow the instructions to update your information.
The title must clearly indicate the nature of the abstract. The body of the abstract must contain the following information: a) a statement of the rationale and scope of the study presented; b) a brief description of the experimental procedures; c) the data that resulted from the study; and d) principal conclusion(s) based on interpretation of the results. In the case of studies that do not describe laboratory or field experiments, make the following modifications: a) instead of experimental procedures, the research or assessment approach should be briefly described, and b) instead of resultant data, the study’s results or findings should be summarized explicitly. When describing your research or assessment approaches, please refrain from using introductory phrases such as “will be presented.”
To save your entries, you must click the “Save and Continue” button at the bottom of the page.
This system has a 120-minute time-out feature. After 120 minutes of inactivity, the system will automatically log you out. If this happens, your entries up to that point WILL BE SAVED and you will be returned to the place where you left off when you log back in. If you get a “Page Cannot Be Displayed” error, you have probably been logged out.
There is a limit of 2,300 characters for the text of your abstract submission. This includes title, authors, institutions, references, and the abstract body. The character limit does not include spaces.
You may copy and paste your full title and abstract into the appropriate fields in the abstract system from an MS Word document, and the special characters will be preserved in the abstract system. Also, if using Internet Explorer, a “special characters” link will appear in the Title and Abstract steps. Clicking this link will produce a special character palette that will allow you to copy and paste special characters into the Title or Abstract boxes.
Please enter all authors in the order they should appear in the heading of the abstract. As a default, the name of the Contact Author will appear in the first position. As you enter each author, if you wish to change their order of appearance, please use the “Change the Order These Author(s) Are Listed“ option in the Author step. Remember, you must save your changes after you have reordered the authors for them to take effect.
Authors are permitted as presenting author on only ONE abstract. There is no restriction of the number of co-authorships or sponsorships. The SOT Scientific Program Committee reserves the right to require consolidation of multiple abstracts submitted from a single study.
Yes, we require that you enter an institutional affiliation for each author. Use the “Add Institution” option in the Author step for each affiliation. Only three institutional affiliations will be allowed per author.
If you have any conflicts of interest that you need to disclose, please indicate them during the abstract submission process in the Author step. If your abstract is accepted, you must include those conflicts on a disclosure slide in your platform presentation or make the disclosure on your poster.
Up to three keywords should be selected, but you are required to select at least ONE keyword. The keyword selection allows Annual Meeting participants and interested parties the capability to return as many abstracts related to the keyword selected. This information is important and is intended to help with keyword consistency for The Toxicologist indexing, and the SOT meeting app.
Yes. Once you have completed your entire abstract and are ready to submit it, you will be able to view a proof. Click the “Review My Work” step on the left sidebar. Please check this proof carefully and make sure all special characters and formatting are displaying properly. If you find errors, return to the appropriate step by clicking on the step box in the left sidebar menu and make your corrections. Remember that changes are not saved until you click the “Save and Continue” button.
To enter the system, you will need your submission site log-in and your password. In order to edit an abstract that has been submitted, find the abstract submission listed with the green “Completed” designation to the left of the abstract title. Click on the abstract you wish to update. Using the Steps on the left side bar, choose the area of the abstract you wish to edit; make the changes; and click “Save and Continue.”
Yes. SOT will withdraw your abstract when it receives written notification of your intent to withdraw by October 10, each year, prior to Scientific Program Committee review. Abstracts may not be changed or withdrawn once accepted by the Scientific Program Committee. If circumstances prevent attendance, the author must arrange for the paper to be given by a substitute. Acceptance of the abstract by the Committee obligates the author to present the paper.
The submission site does not recognize your SOT membership login information. You designate your login information that will be used to access the submission site separately, but are free to copy your SOT login information to use here.
The system is designed to capture certain required elements which are designated by an asterisk (*) either in the left sidebar or next to an individual data entry field. If you fail to complete a field or make an error when entering required data, an “Error Page” containing a list of incomplete or erroneous items will be displayed after you click the “Save and Continue” button. You will have to go back and correct these errors before your submission will be accepted. Additionally, if you attempt to finalize your abstract submission, but failed to complete one of the steps (for example, the fee payment step), you will receive an error message: STATUS: Incomplete. If you did not complete one of the steps and receive this error, your submission will not be sent to review and will not be assigned within the program.
If you get an error message or experience other problems while entering your abstract, this could mean that you are using an outdated browser version. You should update your browser by using the links at the bottom of the login page. Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher is the recommended browser platform to use with the submission site. In addition, it is extremely important that your browser’s cache function be set to constantly refresh the pages.
If you continue to experience difficulty, contact Tech Support by clicking “Help” in the upper right corner.
Your technical questions or problems with the system should be directed to the Tech Support Team. They can be reached by clicking Help button in the right corner of the screen.
Please ensure that your message contains your name, phone, fax, and email, control ID, and an explanation of the problem. Please do not contact SOT Headquarters with technical questions about the system. However, general questions about the submission and review process may be directed to SOT Headquarters.