Ø  All submissions must be completed electronically via the online submission facility.

Ø  You will be required to upload the abstract at the same time through the online site.

Ø  All abstracts must be prepared according to the guidelines provided. Abstracts will only be accepted and published if submitted using the supplied template/s.

Ø  All abstracts must be original work.

Ø  An abstract can be submitted if the work has been or is to be published in a scientific journal or presented at a major national or international meeting prior to APSAD Melbourne 2017, where the content has been significantly changed or updated as to be a different abstract. Already published/presented work must be declared at the time of submission, failure to disclose this information will result in the abstract being rejected. Acceptance is at the discretion of the Scientific Program Committee (SPC).

Ø  An abstract must contain sufficient information so that if published it will be a complete report independent of presentation. The text should not contain statements alluding to results or conclusions not presented within the text.

Ø  Abstract submission acknowledges consent for publication of the abstract in the conference handbook, on the conference website and in the conference proceedings publication – Drug and Alcohol Review APSAD Conference Supplement.

Ø  The presenting author will be required to register for the conference in order to ensure their abstract(s) is included in the final program. Deadline for presenting author registration is Sunday 1 October 2017.

Ø  There are a limited number of oral and poster positions, priority will be given to original submissions. There is no limit to the number of abstracts that may be submitted by an individual. Splitting of a body of work into multiple abstracts is discouraged and consolidation into one abstract is preferred. The SPC reserve the right to limit the number of oral presentations per author to encourage presentation diversity.

Ø  The Conference Secretariat will not be held responsible for abstract submissions not received via the website or for submission errors caused by internet service outages, hardware or software delays, power outages or unforeseen events. If you have any issues with your online submission, please contact the Conference Secretariat at apsadconference@ashm.org.au or phone: +61 2 8204 0770. Any queries related to the Guidelines itself, please contact conference@apsad.org.au or phone: +61 2 9252 2281 for assistance.

Ø  When submitting your abstract details online you must indicate your preferred presentation type:

v  Poster Presentation

v  Oral Presentation: Please choose this option if you would like to present your abstract in an oral presentation

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES

All abstracts must:

Ø  Be prepared in Arial 11 point type only on the appropriate APSAD MELBOURNE 2017 TEMPLATE. The document must not be password protected or read only as this may result in your abstract failing to upload successfully

Ø  Single spacing should be used

Ø  Format - Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file only

Ø  Leave one line between paragraphs

Ø  Specify all abbreviations in full at the first mention, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, thereafter the abbreviation only should be used. Do not use abbreviations in the title

Ø  Abstracts must be original and written in English with Australian spelling

Ø  Abstracts must NOT have a header or footer on the page

Ø  Download the appropriate template for your submission

All abstracts must include:

Ø  TITLE should appear in BOLD in initial capital/lower case, not all capitals at the top of the abstract

Ø  Principal author to appear first

Ø  Underline the name of the author who will be presenting the paper

Ø  Use first name-surname format, with names in all capitals (e.g. ARNOLD B. SMITH, JESSICA JONES, LEE CHAN, WILLIAM McDONALD). Institutional affiliations should be indicated with superscript numbers following the author name.

Ø  Omit degrees and titles

Ø  Include affiliations for each author containing institution, city and country

Body of Abstract:

Ø  Maximum length is 250 words (excess words may not be printed) per presentation

Ø  Content must include the study’s objectives, methodology (if relevant), summary of results and the conclusion

Ø  Present your work as a structured abstract using the appropriate subheadings included on the template

Ø  Do not use the carriage return (Enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph

Ø  References should be included as a list following the abstract. The style of the references should follow the style of the Journal which is Vancouver, i.e. numbered. Any references included in a reference list must be cited within the abstract text

Ø  Tables and figures can be included with abstracts and must be cited in the abstract text. The abstracts themselves must be in text, not table format.

Note: Template ‘Options’:

There is one template with two different subheading options.

We recommend using Section A within the template: For work which describes quantitative data or results. Authors should note that the format requires the presence of concrete results, and this will be noted when abstracts are reviewed. In the case of research in progress, where results are pending at the time of submission, we would encourage this to be noted in your submission.

Subheadings for Section A are; Introduction and Aims, Design and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions.

We recommend Section B: For work which is more descriptive including qualitative research, mixed methods research, policy analysis, methods papers and/or some empirical studies.

Subheadings for Section B are; Introduction/Issues, Method/Approach, Key Findings, Discussions and Conclusions.

Presenters using either section of the Template are encouraged to include the two ‘optional’ points in the template; Implications for Practice or Policy and Implications for Translational Research. If you choose to do so, you will be granted an additional *50 words to answer them.

  Note: Your abstract will not be accepted if it does not conform to the guidelines.

DISCLOSURE OF INTEREST/ETHICAL STATEMENT

APSAD recognises the considerable contribution that industry partners make to professional and research activities. We also recognise the need for transparency of disclosure of potential conflicts of interest by acknowledging these relationships in publications and presentations.

For an example of a disclosure of interest/ethical statement please see below:

‘BS has received funding from Metabolism Corp. No pharmaceutical grants were received in the development of this study.’

Note: If accepted into the program you will be requested to include a disclosure of interest slide into your presentation or include such statements in your poster.

  CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

Abstract presenters will be required to fund their own attendance at the conference and should not submit an abstract if this is not possible.

All presenters will be required to register for the conference by Sunday 1 October 2017. It will be assumed that any presenter not registered by this date has withdrawn from the program and their abstract will be removed from the handbook.