Abstract Guidelines

SURGICON is an international surgical congress, requiring all scientific papers to be written in English, focused on the surgical field and categorized under one of the three main scientific themes listed below.

In order to submit a scientific paper, you should be registered as an Active participant. You have to send your abstract prior to the deadline, and wait for the accepted abstracts to be announced.

Each abstract can be submitted once per category (Oral Presentation, Poster or Debate) and only by one author who will register as an Active participant and will be the presenting author. In the case that the registered presenting author will not be able to present during the Congress, one of his co-authors can present the paper (only if the co-author is already registered as a passive participant and meets the eligibility criteria for active participation). In this situation, the registered presenting author must notify the Organising Committee of this change by sending an e-mail to scientific@surgicon.ro. Failure to do so by minimum 24 hours prior to the congress will result in failure to receive the certificate.

It is not allowed for two or more participants to send the same abstract. Scientific papers already presented during previous conferences will not be accepted.

There is a maximum of 4 co-authors for each paper. Each participant can send a maximum of 2 abstracts, one in the Debate Section and the other one for Oral/Poster Presentation.

All accepted abstracts will be included in the Abstract Book.

Abstract submission deadline is September 8th at 23:59 GMT+3!

What types of studies can you present?

The following types of presentations are accepted:

• Original research/ Cohort study/ Clinical study
• Review/ Meta-analysis
• Case report

Abstract Evaluation Criteria

Your paper will be evaluated according to an array of criteria.

Original research/ Cohort study/ Clinical study

• Title should be scientifically accurate and easy to understand and depict the study as either observational or interventional;
• Introduction should be clear and brief, appropriate for the subject - explicit statement of the main objective or question;
• RELEVANT Inclusion AND Exclusion criteria of the patients should be specified in a clear manner;
• Present the key elements of the study design. Describe setting, locations, relevant dates - including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, data collection, complications of interventions or anything that applies. Describe parameters followed and evolution of the patients. Describe all the statistical methods used;
• Specify the methods used to present and synthesise information, specify any potential confounders or effect modifiers and especially BIAS risk evaluation;
• Set up primary and secondary objectives;
• Results - report the number of patients, the eligible number of patients, patients that completed follow up and analysed;
• Results:
  • Include descriptive data: demographic information, clinical or social
  • Outcome data: describe the number of events of each outcome
  • Main results: give the estimates and precision (95% CI) and, if applicable, mention statistical inference markers
• Any subgroup analysis should be reported;
• Conclusion and Discussions: primary, secondary and safety outcomes should be summarized, along with discussion of the limitations and warn over results which may have been affected by any confounding factors;
• The information should be presented in a clear and concise manner, grammatically correct, fitting in the word number limit ;
• Relevance of the subject should be paramount - the subject should be related to the surgical field - surgical anatomy, surgical procedures, interventional techniques and everything else that qualifies.

Review/ Meta-analysis

• Title should be scientifically accurate and easy to understand and depict the study as either observational or interventional;
• Introduction is clear and brief, appropriate for the subject - explicit statement of the main objective or question;
• RELEVANT Inclusion AND Exclusion criteria are specified in a clear manner;
• Information sources AND Temporal frame specified;
• Specify the methods used to present and synthesise information;
• In Results, include the total number of studies and participants. Present results for main outcomes. If comparison is made to show which procedure or group is being favoured, indicate the direction of the effect. Provide a general interpretation of the results and important implications and in relationship with the subject;
• Limitations of the study should be presented;
• Conclusion should be based on data presented;
• The information should be presented in a clear and concise manner, grammatically correct, fitting in the word number limit;
• Relevance of the subject should be paramount - the subject should be related to the surgical field - surgical anatomy, surgical procedures, interventional techniques and everything else that qualifies.

Case report

• Title should be scientifically accurate and easy to understand and depict the study as a Case Presentation;
• Introduction should establish background based on literature references and summarize the singularity of the paper and its contribution to the field;
• Case Presentation
  • Patient Information and Timeline: specific information and main concerns should be presented, along with any other relevant items (e.g.: medical history, family, psychosocial, racial, genetic information)
  • Clinical Findings: relevant physical examination or anamnestic/clinical findings
  • Diagnostic Assessment: methods, challanges, differential or presumptive diagnosis and prognostic characteristics (if applicable)
  • Therapeutic Intervention: types of interventions, changes in therapeutic course
  • Follow-Up and Outcomes: clinical- and patient-assessed outcomes, follow-up tests, intervention adherens and tolerability, complications, side effects
• Discussion and Conclusions
  • Strengths and limitations in your approach, the rationale for your conclusions but with no inference on the general population due to statistical weakness, take away lessons and contribution to literature.

Abstract Structure

The presentation type should be selected during the submission process. The Scientific Department reserves the right to change the Oral presentations to Poster presentations, with prior notification of the presenting author through email according to the availability of the Scientific Programme and the results of abstract evaluation by the specialists in the scientific committee.

All abstracts must have up to 300 words (the only exception being the abstracts for the Debate Competition, in which case the limit is 600 words) and respect one of the following structures:

Oral Presentation

The oral presentation should be clear, concise, coherent (following a logical line of presentation), non-redundant, non-contradictory. Each session has a jury, consisting of acknowledged physicians in the specific field.

This year, all oral presentations will be held onsite.

How to register for the Oral Presentation section of the Scientific Competition?

Send your abstract and select your preference for the Oral Presentation Competition of the Scientific Competition. After you receive an email that your abstract has been accepted for the Oral Presentation Competition, you must send the PowerPoint presentation to scientific@surgicon.ro by 15th of October.

Rules

• Presenting time: 7 minutes with 3 minutes of questions and discussions; any extension beyond this time limit will result in a subtraction of points from the final score;
• Labelling: images and graphs have to be clear, with labels explaining each item in the graph. Each image and graph will have a number and title, centered and placed under each figure.
• Tables: if used they should have a centered title placed either above or below the table.
• Personal data protection: it is widely accepted that the identity of the patient or the information that allows his/her identification should not be disclosed. The most frequent ways to avoid disclosure of personal data is to cover the name, address or distinctive characters with a black band or blur effect. For pictures showing the face of the patient, cover the eyes with a black band or use a blur effect.
• Speech:the presenting author must speak freely; any written support except the actual presentation is forbidden;
• Delivery: the presenting author must deliver his/her oral presentation in English; no other language is accepted.

Tips and tricks

The following guidelines are meant to be considered recommendations from the Scientific Department of SURGICON and by no means are they compulsory or will hinder your presentation if not followed. We strongly encourage originality and new approaches, but we prefer to give less experienced participants a strong base.

• Animations  are attractive, but try to avoid overusing them.
• Fonts need to be visible. The title of the presentation should be at least 30 and the body text of the slide should be at least 20. Sans serif (e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Calibri) fonts are generally best suited for PowerPoint presentations.
• Bullet points should be kept at a maximum of 3-4 per slide. It is advisable to split a loaded slide into 2 different slides.
• The colour scheme should have a light background and dark text to assure a good level of contrast and make the text easy to read.

Recommended structure

• Title of the presentation, name of the presenting author, co-author(s) and scientific coordinator(s) (first slide)
• Introduction (1-2 slides)
• Table of contents (1 slide)
• Intermediate slides (10-15 slides)
• Conclusion (1-2 slides)
• References (1 slide)

Poster presentation

A poster is a document which can synthetically communicate the results of one’s scientific work. Participants should keep in mind that they have 5 minutes for presenting their posters, so it is recommended to make presentations as synthetic as possible.

How to register for the Poster section of the Scientific Competition?

• Send your abstract and select your preference for the Poster Competition of the Scientific Competition.
• After you receive an email that your abstract has been accepted for the Poster Competition, you must send the e-poster in .jpeg, .jpg, .pdf format to scientific@surgicon.ro by 15th of October.

The posters will be displayed at the main scientific venue and in the designated section of our website the entire duration of our congress. The participants will have the opportunity to vote their favourite presenting author, deciding thus the winner of this section.

Rules

• Presentation time:  5 minutes.
• Labelling:  images and graphs have to be clear, with labels explaining each item in the graph. Each image and graph will have a number and title, centered and placed under that figure.
• Tables: if used they should have a centered title placed either above or below the table.
• Personal data protection: it is widely accepted that the identity of the patient or the information that allows his/her identification should not be disclosed. The most frequent ways to avoid disclosure of personal data is to cover the name, address or distinctive characters with a black band or blur effect. For pictures showing the face of the patient, cover the eyes with a black band or use a blur effect.
• All posters must have one page only.

Tips and tricks

The following guidelines are meant to be considered recommendations from the Scientific Department of SURGICON and by no means are they compulsory or will hinder your presentation if not followed. We strongly encourage originality and new approaches, but we prefer to give less experienced active participants a strong base.

• Size: Choose a poster size of either A0 portrait, or A1 landscape.
• Colours: Choose a colour scheme of 2-3 colours and use it consistently. If you use too many colours, the reader will assume you used these colours for a reason. Too many colours can also weaken the message of the illustrations.
• Font Dimension: The posters should be easy to read from a distance of about two meters. The font size can be as follows: 85pt for the title, 36–44pt for the headers, and 24–34pt for the body text. These dimensions are not mandatory.
• Font Style: Sans serif (Arial, Helvetica, Calibri) fonts are generally best suited for this type of visual presentations, as they can be easily read from a distance as well.
• Frames: If you decide to use the borders, make sure you leave enough space between the content and the border itself.
• Highlights: Use the highlight technique with moderation. You have the right to highlight the text using bold or italic, but do not underline as it reduces readability.

Debate Competition

As a doctor, one of the most important skills to have is guiding your patients to the right treatment for their needs. To do this, you need to show confidence, bring sensible arguments for your decision and present everything as clearly as possible in a short time. All of these qualities sound more like the arsenal of a public speaker or a debater than a doctor, but debating ideas and convincing people is the everyday hustle of all medical professionals.

SURGICON is the place where young minds come to discuss ideas, share experiences and form networks. In the spirit of this belief, we are hosting one Scientific Debate Competition. This section presents the opportunity to put two different techniques face-to-face in order to compare them or weigh the PROs and CONs of a surgical treatment.

What happens during a Debate Competition?

There will be a moderator who will host the event and give the participants the right to speak. The moderator is also going to present a background story, an introduction or a short description of what is going to be discussed in order to set the status quo.

There will be 4 active participants per session grouped into 2 teams - each team presenting arguments for a different side.

They will take turns presenting their arguments (team A – team B – team A – team B). Each participant has 7 minutes to present their idea/argument and 3 more minutes to answer questions from the public and the opposing team. After all the participants present their arguments there will be a general round of questions that members from both teams will have to answer, regarding comparisons between the 2 presented techniques and particular situations in which one of them can prove to be more or less beneficial than the other.

In the end, one team will be selected as the winner by the jury and the public will vote for the best speaker who will be awarded a separate prize.

How do I submit the abstract for the Debate Competition?

In order to join the Debate Competition, you must find a friend and register on our website as active participants. Both of you should register an abstract of no more than 600 words, describing the arguments and ideas you are going to present. In the Abstract submission form, both teammates must be mentioned by their full-name and in the order in which they will be presenting.

In the abstract, you must present the side you chose and the 2 arguments that will be the basis of your presentation. For more details regarding the required structure of the abstract please see the ‘’Abstract Guidelines’’ tab.

Rules

• Presentation:  all active participants are required to have a PowerPoint presentation to enhance their discourse or to better highlight their data.
• Duration:  each participant has 7 minutes for their speech; if you pass your allocated time with more than 30 seconds, the moderator will stop the presentation.
• Questions:  all questions addressed by an active participant should be related to the medical data and should not be considered by any member of the jury or the moderator a direct attack to another active participant. If so, the organisers reserve the right to act accordingly and apply whatever penalties they see fit.
• Template:  all active participants in the Debate Competition are required to use the template given by the SURGICON Scientific Department via email.

Tips and tricks

• Remember that in a debate match you are not trying to prove that you are right, you are trying to persuade your audience.
• Active participants and the audience are free to ask questions – the moderator can ask you to speed it up if you are taking too long.
• You are free to decide how you are going to envision your presentation together with your teammate; we recommend that the first speaker presents the stronger argument, while the second is going to present another argument and draw a conclusion from what has been showcased by your team.
• Remember, you are a team, you want to have a central idea that both of your presentations will cover. That idea should be the minimum with which any person in the room should leave after your presentations.