Abstract Information

General Guidelines for Submission

• All abstracts must be submitted electronically by the appropriate deadlines. Click here for list of deadlines.
• This is a virtual meeting. All abstract submitters must acknowledge that they understand the talks and posters will be presented virtually and will be available to registered attendees on demand for up to 30 days following the meeting.
• You may submit as many abstracts as you like.
• Nonmembers may submit abstracts without the sponsorship of a member.
• ASCB members enjoy special pricing for abstract submission
• All material must be the work of authors listed and appropriately referenced. The submitting author must provide Conflict of Interest Disclosure information and must read and agree to the ASCB Abstract License and Publishing Agreement for ALL authors.
• All abstracts will be printed and published as they appear in the Preview Step. The organizers are not responsible for and will not copyedit abstract submissions. Please ensure all special characters and formatting display correctly and your author block only appears once.
• All abstract submission fees are nonrefundable.
• The abstract submission fee is separate from meeting registration.

Tips to Ensure Acceptance

Although abstract rejection is rare, the organizers reserve the right to reject any abstract it deems inappropriate. To ensure abstract acceptance:

• Make sure your abstract includes results. Whether new findings presented in an abstract are experimental or theoretical, specific results MUST be included. The results, whether experimental or calculated, must be stated in the abstract. You are free to include your latest data in the final poster you present at the meeting, but you must include substantive results in the original abstract.
• Avoid promotion of a commercial product or service. The Abstract Program Committee tries to ensure poster sessions are not used as venues for commercial promotion. The organizers will NOT accept abstracts that promote a specific product without providing new biological insight. Statements like, “We show that X product works better than Y product” are clear indicators of promotion and will be cause for rejection. In contrast, an abstract that presents findings of interest to cell biologists, but mentions that the work was done with a proprietary and copyrighted product, and co-authors include those at the company who made the product, may be accepted.

Content

Please be sure your abstract contains the following prior to submission:

• A sentence stating the study’s objective (unless this is provided in the title)
• A brief statement of methods, if pertinent
• A summary of the results obtained
• A statement of conclusion (it is not acceptable to state, “the results will be discussed”)

Formatting

Please follow these guidelines when formatting your abstract:

• Use a short, specific title. The title should be entered in title-style capitalization (i.e. Modeling Cytoskeletal Structures with Cytosim). Please do not use a period, or place your title in quotes, use bold, or use ALL CAPS.
• Capitalize initial letters of trade names.
• Please do not write given or family names, titles, or abstracts in ALL CAPS.
• Use standard abbreviations for units of measure; other abbreviations should be spelled out in full at first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis (exceptions: RNA, DNA, etc.).
• Please do not include tables, charts, or other figures.
• Be sure to proofread your work carefully before submission. A preview page will show up prior to finalizing payment. Please ensure your abstract and submission details are correct. It will be printed exactly as it appears in the abstract submission system.
• Special Characters and Formatting:
  • If copying from a Word document into the abstract submission system, be sure to select the icon on the menu bar that allows you to do this (it is the one that looks like the Microsoft Word Icon and has a green check box on it).
    • Once your text appears, please be sure to check “abstract preview” on the right to ensure all special characters and formatting convert properly.

Character Limit/Word Count

• The abstract text is limited to 2,400 characters, NOT including spaces (~400 words). This limit includes the body of the abstract only. If your abstract exceeds this limit, you will be prompted to shorten it before being allowed to continue. There must be a minimum of 400 characters, NOT including spaces, to submit your abstract.
• The abstract title is limited to 200 characters, including spaces.
• There is no character limit for your authors or author affiliations.

Abstract and Poster Publication

Abstract Publication

All abstracts selected for presentation will be available to view online, on our virtual platform, and in the December 15, 2020 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell.  Abstracts will be available on the 2020 Cell Bio Virtual Meeting website on or around November 16, 2020. At that time, all information is considered public.

Abstract Citation

A PDF file of abstracts from the 2020 Cell Bio Virtual Meeting will be published as a supplement in the December 15, 2020, issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell.

Citation Format

Smith AB, Jones CD (2020). Abstract title. Mol. Biol. Cell 28, page # (Abstract #XXXX).

XXXX = the PRESENTATION number assigned to your abstract in early November – NOT the abstract ID number you received when you first submitted your abstract.

Page # = the page of the PDF that your abstract begins on.

View the Abstract License and Publication Agreement.

Editing an Abstract

You can edit author and affiliation information until October 23 by contacting abstracts@ascb.org.

You can edit the title, body, and topic selections of an abstract until the submission deadline. After these dates, please contact abstracts@ascb.org to see if we can accommodate your changes.

Withdrawing an Abstract

• You can login to the submission site and withdraw your abstract before the abstract deadline.
• You can request abstract withdrawal before peer review via email to abstracts@ascb.org by:
  • July 31 for abstracts submitted by the July 30 deadline.
  • September 6 for abstracts submitted by the September 2 deadline.
  • October 9 for abstracts submitted by the October 7 deadline.
• You can request abstract withdrawal via email to abstracts@ascb.org by October 23 so it does not appear in meeting publications. After this date, any withdrawn abstracts may still appear in the Meeting Program, and the supplement to Molecular Biology of the Cell, but organizers will attempt to remove it from the mobile app.

All withdrawal requests must be in writing and must confirm that all authors have been notified and agree with the decision to withdraw. Note: Abstracts that have been submitted successfully and paid for will not be refunded, even if they are withdrawn. The only exception to this rule is if you accidentally submitted a duplicate abstract (same exact title, text, etc.). If this happens, please contact abstracts@ascb.org immediately.