Abstract Submission Guidelines

There is no fee to submit an abstract.

The following are eligible to submit abstracts:

CDA Members or Associates - CDA membership categories:

Member
Legacy Member
Retired Associate
Associate
Resident and Fellow Associate

Other Categories - Those submitting an abstract under “Other Categories” must meet the following requirements:

A Medical Student is defined as any Canadian student enrolled in a MD or MDCM program. Eligible students must be sponsored by a CDA Member dermatologist only in the category listed as Member who is in good standing and in attendance at the conference.

Industry Sponsored: Any industry employed dermatologist or CDA Member Dermatologist submitting an Industry Sponsored and designated abstract. CDA Members who received unrestricted support for a project, but maintained full control over the design, implementation, and analysis of a project, are not considered “Industry Sponsored”. Only submissions associated with confirmed sponsors of the conference will be considered. These submissions are considered for e-poster presentation only (“Industry Poster”). Presenting authors of Industry Posters are not required to register, however registration is strongly encouraged

The CDA does not accept abstracts from any non-members who do not fall into the aforementioned Other Categories. Definitions of who may become a CDA Member or CDA Associate can be found online.

Authors of accepted abstracts grant the CDA, its agents and representatives the right to use their names and abstracts in promotional and other materials published in relation to the annual conference and make the abstracts available on the conference website and mobile application.

JCMS ABSTRACT VOLUME SUPPLEMENT
The Journal of Cutaneous Medicine (JCMS) may also publish a special supplement of 2024 abstracts. Authors will be asked to choose to be included in this tentative publication when submitting an abstract. Should it be commissioned by the CDA, abstracts will be reproduced by the JCMS exactly as submitted and substitutions will not be permitted.

Submissions must be received electronically through the online submission form no later than Monday, January 15, 2024, 23:30 ET. Late or mailed submissions will not be accepted. Submitters may return and edit their submissions until the deadline.

Abstract submission is available in English. Abstracts may however be prepared in either French or English and will be published in the language submitted. Please note that all conference sessions (including abstract presentations) will be conducted in English.

The CDA is willing to consider abstracts that have been - or will be - presented at other conferences. In preparing your abstract submission, please include the appropriate response (yes) and details (date, publication, meeting, etc.) when answering the question, “Has this research been published or presented previously?”

Abstract submissions will be reviewed for presentations in one of two formats:

1. oral presentation in a subspecialty session, or

2. poster presentation (via e-poster)

Submitters will indicate preferred presentation format, however the CDA Education Committee reserves the right to select the final presentation format.

A selection of the top poster abstracts accepted for the conference will be selected for formal presentation onsite ("stand-by" presentations). Those selected will be confirmed in their Notice of Abstract Acceptance letter.

TOPICS
All abstracts submitted must address one of the conference topics for inclusion in the program. When submitting an abstract, please select the topic that your abstract applies to from the list below.

Reminder: Industry sponsored abstracts must be submitted under the category “Industry Poster” and will be considered for e-poster presentation only.

Medical dermatology
Surgical dermatology
Cosmetic dermatology
Pediatric dermatology
Other

Abstracts may be accepted for oral presentations in the following subspecialty sessions. Please indicate the subspecialty for which you are submitting:

1. Canadian Alliance for Pediatric Experts in Skin
2. Canadian Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation
3. Canadian Society for Dermatological Surgery
4. Canadian Society for Investigative Dermatology and the Skin Investigation Network of Canada
5. Innovations in Education

ABSTRACT SPECIFICATIONS

• Abstracts must be entered/pasted into the submission form. If experiencing difficulty with special characters, please submit the abstract, then contact cda@intertaskconferences.com for assistance.
• Titles should be limited to no more than approximately 150 characters (not including spaces). Please use Upper and Lower case, NOT UPPER CASE.
• Limit your abstracts to no more than 300 words (MAXIMUM).
• Refer to generic names rather than brand names.
• Each abstract should have three paragraphs:

1. Introduction
2. Methods, Results
3. Conclusions

• Only one table OR one image may be uploaded (see also: IMAGE UPLOAD REQUIREMENTS).
• Include learning objectives and a takeaway message.
• Titles, learning objectives, takeaway messages, and tables/images will NOT be included in the 300-word count.

IMAGE UPLOAD REQUIREMENTS
Accepted abstracts may be published and or posted online. For optimal online viewing, it is recommended that only high-resolution images (300 dpi) be used. If submitting scanned pages, ensure pages are first scanned using a high-resolution setting. If uploaded images/charts/scans are not legible, they may be omitted from the published abstract.

ANONYMITY
Only FULLY ANONYMOUS versions of abstracts or case reports/series will be accepted for review. No identification of authors, institution of origin, geographic area, sources of funding, or author references may appear in the Title or Text. For example, do not state ‘the study was approved by the University of Ottawa REB’, rather, ‘Local Ethics Committee approval was obtained’.

All submissions MUST identify a presenting author, and the maximum presenters per abstract is one (1).

All correspondence will be sent to the submitter. It is their responsibility to communicate this information to any additional authors.

Except in the case of Industry Posters, Presenting authors MUST register for the Annual Conference and pay the appropriate registration fee by March 20, 2024. Registration to the conference is not complimentary for abstract presenters. Failure to do so will result in the automatic withdrawal of the abstract from the program for non-compliance with the Abstract Submission Guidelines. If the presenting author is unable to attend the meeting, please notify the CDA of an alternate presenter.

If there is a change in the name or address of the presenting author prior to submission deadline of Monday, January 15, 2024, 23:30 ET, edit the abstract in the online submission tool. After this date, please contact: cda@intertaskconferences.com.

New authors CANNOT be added to an abstract after the submission deadline.

All abstracts submitted must comply with these guidelines to be considered for acceptance. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be emailed on or around February 26, 2024. All correspondence will be sent to the submitter. Acceptance notifications will also include instructions to prepare and submit materials for each abstracts' assigned presentation format (e-poster or oral presentation).

Written notification MUST BE sent by the submitter or the identified presenting author to withdraw an accepted abstract. Notification can be sent by email cda@intertaskconferences.com. The notification must include the abstract or case report/series title.

JUDGING
All abstracts will undergo a blinded peer-review process by the Review Committee. Authors should be careful to avoid submitting multiple datasets from one study as multiple abstracts. Multiple submissions from a single study or dataset will be excluded unless prior clarification and approval is provided. Abstracts with no data or incomplete data will be disqualified.

Abstracts will be judged in five areas:

CLARITY: The abstract is clearly written and understandable.

QUALITY: The abstract uses current best practices and/or methodologies. The abstract’s conclusions are reasonable and justified by the data.

IMPORTANCE: The abstract addresses a significant and/or timely problem in patient healthcare and/or in one of the CanMEDS roles.

ORIGINALITY: The abstract challenges existing paradigms and/or presents new approaches. The abstract adds new information to present knowledge and/or provides information that was in doubt due to small sample sizes or other design issues.

CONTRIBUTION: The abstract makes a significant contribution to the field of dermatology. The abstract will change dermatologists’ practices and/or behaviours.

ALL authors of accepted abstracts will be required to submit a conflict of interest disclosure for inclusion in the final program after the judging process is complete. Requirements will be detailed within notification of acceptance, which will be emailed on or around February 26, 2024 to the submitter. Conflict of interest declarations must be completed by March 8, 2024 and presenting author registration no later than March 20, 2024.

The submission of an abstract does not constitute a contract between the Canadian Dermatology Association (CDA) and the abstract submitter and/or authors nor does it constitute acceptance that the abstract will be presented at the CDA Annual Conference either in person or via an electronic poster. A blinded peer-review process by multiple judges will occur following submission to select the successful abstracts for presentation at the CDA Annual Conference.

The 99^th CDA Annual Conference will be an accredited group learning activity offering continuing medical education credits from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the American Medical Association.