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Preparing to Submit an Abstract

Conference Overview

The ABCT Convention was created for scientists, practitioners, students, and scholars who come from a broad range of disciplines. The central goal is to provide educational and scientific experiences related to behavioral and cognitive therapies and related scientific endeavors that meet the needs of attendees across experience levels, interest areas, and theoretical orientations. Some presentations offer the chance to learn what is new and exciting in behavioral and cognitive assessment and treatment. Other presentations address the clinical-scientific issues of how we develop empirical support for our work and the underlying psychopathology. The convention also provides opportunities for professional networking. The ABCT Convention consists of General Sessions, Targeted and Special Programing, and Ticketed Events.

Submission Information

1. DEADLINE: Thursday, March 14 at 11:59 p.m. PST

2. CHARACTER LIMIT: Character count does not include spaces.

  • Symposia: 13,800 characters for the entire text. The summary abstract: 2800 characters. Individual presentation abstracts: 2200 characters each; three to five presentations total.
  • Research Spotlight Presentations: 1950 characters
  • Panel Discussions & Clinical Round Tables: 1950 characters
  • Poster Sessions: 2800 characters

3. ABSTRACT LIMIT: An individual must limit to 6 the number of submissions in which he or she is the first author (including posters), the chair or moderator, the discussant, panelist, or an invited speaker. Acceptances will be limited to 4 first author presentations.

For Detailed Submission Instructions:

Review Criteria

  • Abstracts are reviewed based on several criteria including significance, approach, innovation, inclusion of diverse populations, relevance to ABCT’s mission and goals, contributing team, and SIG sponsorship. Although the contributing team question is asked, the ratings will not count in the overall score for any abstract.
  • Ratings range from 0 (poor) to 4 (excellent) and are uniquely tailored for each type of submission (e.g., clinical roundtables have different objectives than symposia, thus description of ratings are different within these broad categories; spotlight presentations have an additional item assessing fit with this presentation format). The inclusion of diverse population question is rated as either 0 or 1. Please see below for review criteria utilized for each type of submission.

 

  • Submissions are masked. That is, reviewers do not have access to author names or affiliations to reduce bias in ratings (just like a manuscript peer review process). Reviewers may still recuse themselves if it is readily apparent that the data/submission comes from their own lab, a close collaborator, or a project they have previously been involved with.
  • Relevance to ABCT mission and goals and contributing team are rated based on the information provided to these questions in the submission portal.
  • Submissions are reviewed and scored independently by 3 Program Committee members (2 for posters).
  • Program chairs utilize the composite scores of the reviewer ratings and SIG sponsorship to make final program decisions.
  • Given the large number of high-quality submissions across submission types, acceptance decisions are difficult, and we are unable to provide individual feedback on submissions or reconsider rejected submissions.
  • Program chairs have created an instructional video and guide to aid reviewers in their review process.
  • We encourage submitters to carefully review the criteria utilized by reviewers when preparing their submissions.

Sample Abstracts:

My Account Info

Manage your Membership information, email preferences, and more.

Journals

Membership in ABCT grants you access to three journals.

Convention

We are now accepting Abstract submissions for Continuing Education Ticketed Sessions at the 2024 ABCT Convention in Philadelphia, PA.

My Account Info

Manage your Membership information, email preferences, and more.

Journals

Membership in ABCT grants you access to three journals.

Convention

We are now accepting Abstract submissions for Continuing Education Ticketed Sessions at the 2024 ABCT Convention in Philadelphia, PA.