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• Session Proposals and Review

 

 

Review and Endorsement of Scientific Session Proposals

The scientific sessions offered each year at the SOT Annual Meeting (including Continuing Education [CE] courses, symposia, workshops, and career development sessions) are proposed and developed by members of SOT, just like you! If you have an idea for a scientific session that is relevant to RASS, please consider submitting a session proposal for endorsement by RASS.

Formal Review of Session Proposals

Session proposals submitted to RASS through the formal proposal review will be considered for endorsement. The deadline for submitting a proposal for consideration is mid-May of the year prior to the SOT Annual Meeting. Instructions for developing and submitting session proposals can be found on the Session Proposals page of the SOT website, which contains information about session types and formats, how to prepare and submit a proposal, and best practices for writing a proposal. The website also includes sample proposals that can help guide you in developing your proposal and maximizing its chance of acceptance.

Pre-Review of Session Proposals

Session proposals can also be submitted to RASS for pre-review. Pre-review is not required for endorsement, but it is a great opportunity to receive peer review and feedback from the RASS Executive Committee (EC) to strengthen your proposal and increase your chance of endorsement. The SOT Scientific Program Committee and CE Committee have found that proposals that undergo the peer review and refinement process with potential endorsers before formal submission typically receive higher scores during formal review. The deadline for submitting a proposal to RASS for pre-review is early May. More information can be found in the annual RASS Spring Newsletter. To submit your proposal for pre-review to RASS, please send your proposal to sotrassawards@gmail.com.

Criteria Considered During Review

The pre-review process is designed to assist you in refining your proposal before formal submission. Thus, we strongly encourage you to submit a fully developed proposal for pre-review, which will ensure that you receive the most constructive and helpful feedback from the RASS EC. Please see the Session Proposals page of the SOT website for detailed instructions on developing and submitting session proposals, including guidelines and best practices for writing a proposal. The RASS EC will evaluate session proposals using similar criteria during pre-review and formal review. Some considerations include:

• Is the session well developed?
• Is the breadth of the session appropriate?
• Do the presentations fit together and align with the session theme?
• Do the speakers represent a balance of perspective and affiliation? (A diverse panel of speakers representing various backgrounds, professional sectors, organizations, and companies is highly encouraged.)
• Is the topic timely and nonredundant with topics from recent meetings? (Novel or unique ideas are encouraged.)
• Is the session highly relevant to toxicology and RASS? (Ideas relevant to RASS and also of interest to the broader toxicology community are encouraged.)