Submission Guidelines

• All abstracts must be submitted online - paper submissions will be NOT accepted

• Authors are invited to submit an abstract, on or before February 2, 2026 - 11:59 PM ET. No extensions to this date will be provided.

• Each abstract should consist of four separate paragraphs. These should be labeled Background, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Each abstract should, briefly and concisely, describe the problem or issue being addressed, how the study was performed, the salient results or findings, and what the authors conclude from these results.

• Research presented in abstracts must conform to MRC guidelines for experimental procedures. All investigations involving humans and animals reported in CNSF publications must be conducted in conformity with these principles.

• Abstracts are not to exceed 200 words, excluding title and authors. (tables are not permitted)

• Abstract titles are restricted to 140 characters.

• Conflict of Interest: The CNSF requires presenting authors to declare any conflicts of interest by completing the online form within the abstract submission system. This form must be completed BEFORE you can submit your abstract.

• The CNSF Congress will accept encore abstracts. You will be asked to disclose if the abstract has been previously presented / published during the submission process.

• Abstracts will be graded for quality. Primary authors are limited to 5 submissions and Contributing authors may be recognized on no more than 10 submissions.

• International submissions are accepted however, authors must adhere to the same submission and registration deadlines as all others.  International delegates are expected to have their travel visa and any other documents required to leave their country and enter Canada, well in advance. The CNSF does not issue letters of invitation, nor can it provide assistance with the travel visa process.  Registration refunds are not granted due to inability to attend.  Any associated work will not be included in the program.

• Please have full contact information for the submitting author and all potential presenting authors.

• Spell out all unusual abbreviations in full.

• On completion of your submission, you will receive a confirmation by email. If you do not receive an email within 12 hours, please contact abstracts@intertaskconferences.com.

• Acceptance notices will be sent by e-mail shortly after March 19. If you have not received a notice by the end of March, please contact abstracts@intertaskconferences.com.

• You must Register for the Congress and pay the associated registration fee by April 30 or your abstract will be withdrawn from the program.

Abstracts submitted by January 31 will be reviewed in February. Notification of acceptance and schedule information will be sent out by e-mail shortly after March 19. Abstracts will be judged on a scale of 1 to 4 according to certain criteria:

1. Impact and relevance

2. Scope, experience and research team

3. Significance of findings and results

4. Comprehensiveness and written quality of abstract

Abstract reviewers are asked to make a global “accept” recommendation; although, final responsibility for abstract acceptance to the Congress will rest with the Scientific Program Committee.

RATING CRITERIA

4 - Exceptional

• RCT: local, national or international

• Clinical or basic science/lab or health systems research, in which a specific question has been asked, an investigation protocol has been developed, the study is powered adequately, statistical analyses are appropriate, the conclusions clearly stated, and there is potential for high impact.

• A single patient or family study that establishes the presence of a hitherto un-described disease or kindred.

• Unique historical research or educational study performed rigorously.

3 - Accept

• Retrospective patient-based study that includes robust data/observations on an adequate # patients/subjects to allow a confident conclusion.

• A single patient or family study, basic research study, or health systems study that adds new information to the field.

• Less rigorous or unique historical, educational, basic science or health systems study.

2 - Borderline Accept

• Retrospective patient-based study with just a handful of patients and that allows reasonable although essentially unsubstantiated conclusions to be drawn.

• A single patient or family study, basic research study, or health systems study that adds NO new information to the field of neurosciences, but is considered useful or confirmatory information to bring to attendees.

• Single patient case reports usually of rare or unusual conditions that essentially add nothing to the body of knowledge and are unlikely to be of much or any interest to attendees.

• Case reports that denigrate the skills of other clinicians involved and/or that make a diagnosis entirely based on clinical opinion (“this is the diagnosis because I say it is....”).

• Basic research or health systems research which adds NO new information to the field and is unlikely to be of much or any interest to attendees.

• Minimal historic anecdotes.

1 - Not suitable for acceptance (Reject)

• Not relevant to neurosciences

• Incomprehensible language

• Significant ethical concerns

Stand-by Poster Presentations

• Most abstracts will be accepted as a stand-by poster and will be assigned to a poster session on Tuesday, May 26 or Thursday, May 28. Authors are expected to be at their posters to answer questions during their assigned poster session.

Platform Presentations

• A select number of abstracts will be selected for a platform presentation and will present during the Society Day sessions, Thursday, May 28.

• Authors that have been awarded a Society Prize for an “Expanded Abstract” submission, will present as a platform presentation during the Grand Rounds, Wednesday, May 27. Please refer to the Call for Society Prizes for details and requirements.

Stand-by Posters - May 26 & May 28
Authors with abstracts selected for a poster stand-by presentation (physical poster), will receive instructions with the notification email on or around March 19.

Electronic Posters for the Mobile App
All authors must upload an electronic poster in PDF, .jpg or .png format to their Fourwaves account no later than May 15, 2026.

Society mini-platform Presentation
Authors with abstracts selected for a platform presentation, will receive instructions with the notification email on or around March 19.

• Presenting authors selected for a Society Mini-platform presentation will be allocated 6 minutes of speaking time. There will be a 15-minute Q&A session following the last speaker.

• Presenting authors selected for a platform presentation during the Grand Rounds Session will be allocated 6 minutes of speaking time, and 2 minutes for questions, review and discussion.

• Authors will be responsible for delivery of their PowerPoint presentations to the Speaker Ready Room onsite - 3 hours before their scheduled presentation time.

Notification of acceptance and schedule information will be sent out by e-mail shortly after March 19. Abstracts will be judged on a scale of 1 to 4 according to certain criteria:

1. Impact and relevance

2. Scope, experience and research team

3. Significance of findings and results

4. Comprehensiveness and written quality of abstract

Abstract reviewers are asked to make a global “accept” recommendation; although, final responsibility for abstract acceptance to the Congress will rest with the Scientific Program Committee.

Accepted abstracts and posters will be available for viewing via the mobile app. You will be asked to upload a PDF version of your physical poster to Fourwaves.