General
- Abstracts should be written and submitted by the author. Abstracts written and submitted by industry personnel on behalf of a doctor are not allowed.
- All submissions (with the exception of Practice Management instruction course submissions) must have at least one Academy Fellow or Member or Candidate for Membership as an instructor or author of the presentation. The Senior Instructor/Author does not need to be the Member.
- Submission of an abstract constitutes a commitment by the instructors/authors to present if selected. Failure to present may result in exclusion from the scientific program for two years.
- Members of the American Academy of Optometry are invited to submit instruction course and paper/poster abstracts as an instructor/author. The submission must include at least one Academy Fellow or Member or Candidate for Membership as an instructor/author.
- Paper/Poster abstract submissions are limited to two submissions as presenting author and four overall per meeting.
- For instruction course submissions, senior instructors may submit up to two courses as the Senior Instructor. It is recommended that individuals present on no more than four courses total.
- For video submissions, a limit of two submissions as Senior Producer, and four overall, is recommended.
- Do not use proprietary names alone in the title or body of the abstract. If necessary, you may include a proprietary name in parentheses directly after the generic name on first use in the body of the abstract. The American Academy of Ophthalmology reserves the right to replace proprietary names with generic names.
- All submissions must be made online by the deadline. Changes to abstracts may not be made once the deadline passes. The Academy will not review any abstract submissions submitted as hard copies or via email.
- Membership privileges are not transferable. All presenters are required to register for the annual meeting and pay all applicable fees.
- The Academy does not pay honoraria or travel/housing expenses for any presenters at the annual meeting.
- The Academy will notify all senior instructors/presenting authors of the status of submitted abstracts by email. It is the responsibility of the senior instructor/presenting author to contact the Academy if notification is not received within two weeks of the published notification dates.
- The Academy communicates directly with the senior instructor/presenting author. It is the senior instructor/presenting author’s responsibility to notify instructors/authors of all information related to the abstract.
Obtain information regarding membership to the Academy and AAOE.
Copyright
The Academy holds copyright on all material presented at the Academy's annual meeting.
The Academy will not consider material that has already been published or submitted for publication unless Ophthalmology was given the first right of refusal. The Academy holds copyright on all material presented at the Academy's annual meeting until and unless such material is found unsuitable for publication in Ophthalmology. Should an author wish to publish his or her material elsewhere, it may not be submitted for consideration until Ophthalmology has released the presenter from any copyright obligations. A program participant who does not comply with this Academy policy will be prohibited from participating in the program for two years.
Submitting Scientific Papers to Ophthalmology
It is no longer mandatory that all manuscripts based on annual meeting presentations be submitted to the Academy's journal, Ophthalmology. However, the journal does retain the right of first refusal for all manuscripts based on annual meeting presentations, both podium and poster.
Anyone who wishes to publish such a paper must first submit the manuscript to Ophthalmology. The editor-in-chief is the only person who can grant exceptions to this rule.
Submit manuscripts electronically to Elsevier.
Financial Interest Disclosure Policies
All persons in a position to control the content of an activity must disclose whether or not they have entered into any ophthalmology-related financial interests over the past 24 months.
- Submitting authors of an abstract must disclose whether or not they have any financial interests. This is required even if they have no financial interests.
- The Academy requests financial disclosure from all presenting authors/instructors. Submission of this information indicates that each presenting author/instructor has complied with the Academy's policy and will disclose their financial interests at the time of their presentation.
- Failure to comply with the disclosure policy when known and deliberate will result in exclusion from the program for two years.
- Financial interest will be disclosed through the Program and Mobile Meeting Guide.
- Even though disclosure has been made, presentations and handouts should not promote the use of any commercial product.
Disclosure of financial interest should also be made at the time of the presentation.
- Podium presenters are required to display a financial interest slide at the beginning of their presentation and to verbally disclose any financial interest relevant to the presentation.
- Poster presenters are required to post their financial interests on their e-poster.
- Video producers are required to announce their financial interests at the beginning of their video.
Presenters Employed by a Commercial Interest
Presenters who are employed by a company, own a company or own stock in a private company may be permitted to present under limited circumstances:
- When the content is not related to the business lines or products of their employer/company.
- When the content of the accredited activity is limited to basic science research, such as pre-clinical research and drug discovery, or the methodologies of research, and they do not make care recommendations.
- As technicians in Skills Transfer Labs limited to demonstrating the safe and proper use of medical devices and do not recommend whether or when a device is used.
Control of Content
The Academy considers presenting authors, not co-authors, to be in control of the educational content. It is Academy policy and traditional scientific publishing and professional courtesy to acknowledge all people contributing to the research, regardless of CME control of the live presentation of that content. This acknowledgement is made in a similar way in other Academy CME activities. Though they are acknowledged, co-authors do not have control of the CME content and their disclosures are not published or resolved.
Standard Non-Exclusive Agreement for Meeting Presenters
All meeting participants are required to submit the Standard Non-Exclusive Agreement for Meeting Presenters (permission to record).
The American Academy of Ophthalmology’s Standard Non-Exclusive Agreement for Meeting Presenters is the legal document that records the mutual agreement and understanding about permissions granted by the author. By accepting the agreement, authors make it possible for the Academy to share the Presentation and/or Presentation materials with our members and other interested individuals. “Non-Exclusive” in the title of the document means that the author retains the right to use their own materials.