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Review Process and Criteria | Scoring System | Awards and Presentation  |  View Past Abstracts- Members Only

The deadline for submissions was June 4, 2010.

Scientific and Non-Scientific Posters are displayed and presented each year at the AATB Annual Meeting. In order to display a poster, a one page Abstract detailing the subject must be submitted to AATB and approved under the guidelines described below.

Abstracts are submitted online using a web link provided at least two months prior to the Annual Meeting. No other form of abstracts will be accepted.

DISCOUNTS
As a value added service to our members, AATB has contracted with SciFor Inc. to offer a 10% discount for designing and/or printing associated Poster Presentations for our Annual Meeting. Information concerning this offer can be found at:

1. Independent reviewers will review, grade and approve all abstracts submitted. The AATB will then select top abstracts for presentation and awards at each Annual Meeting.

2. Abstracts affiliated with or authored by a reviewer will not be reviewed by that same person.

3. Similarly themed abstracts will be grouped into the following categories and reviewed by an
appropriate individual with expertise in that specific discipline or area:

a. Scientific.

These abstracts topics may include but not be limited to:

4. All abstracts will be blinded (authors’ names and affiliations will be removed from the abstract) prior to sending to the Review Committee for objective review and approval.

5. The Review Committee will rate each abstract based on four key areas using a quantitative point scale, where zero (0) is the minimum and three (3) is the maximum amount of points awarded for each section. The maximum possible score per abstract is twelve (12) points. Any abstract having fewer than 8 total points (67%), or receiving a score of zero (0) in any one category will be returned to the author(s) for one revision opportunity.

6. Non-scientific abstracts (e.g., donor eligibility requirements, implementation of common stretching exercises to reduce processing technician injury, bereavement support to donor families, etc.) may not require data analysis. For these abstracts, the total maximum point score will be reduced to nine (9), since the data analysis section will not be evaluated. The same scoring rules will apply for acceptance (67% or a minimum of 6 points).

The following scoring system is intended as a tool to gauge the quality and consistency of the abstracts. Individual abstract point scores will not be published outside of the Review Committee.

a. Scientific/Non-Scientific (0-3):

Scientific abstracts must describe the use of robust and reproducible methods and data analysis techniques. All scientific abstracts must follow a logical progression or format:

· Purpose;

· Methods;

· Results; and

· Conclusions.

Non-Scientific abstracts (Informative) must describe general principles or practices of interest to the tissue banking community. A suggested format for non-scientific abstracts would be:

· Primary objective;

· Background;

· Summary/ outcome/implementation strategy; and/or

· Author(s) recommendation.

b. Data Quality & Analysis [ONLY FOR SCIENTIFIC ABSTRACTS] (0-3): Commonly used mathematical operations (i.e., addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, means/averages, standard deviation, log based transformations, etc.) do not require detailed explanations. Any statistical or complex mathematical calculations must be explained or referenced in the poster (i.e., type of analysis used, level of statistical confidence, percent recovery, etc.). Graphs must have labeled axes with appropriate units and a key, if applicable. Data tables must have clearly displayed column and row titles with unit labels as appropriate.

When describing biological data in your abstract and/or poster, please refer to the full name of any bacterial or fungal microorganisms using standard microbial taxonomy rules (i.e., genus and species). Also, identify the source of the isolate (e.g., ATCC, in-house isolate, etc.). If using cell lines, please identify the lineage (e.g., NIH 3T3).

If any acceptance criteria were used in the execution of your investigation or validation, your abstract and poster must indicate what they were, what type of analysis was used to prove or disprove your hypothesis, and what the outcome was.

c. Conclusions/Summary (0-3): All abstracts must contain a conclusion, summary and/or recommendation statement that can be drawn from the data or information presented in the abstract. It is not appropriate to submit an abstract if you are waiting on experimental data that has not been completed by the abstract submission deadline.

d. Readability (0-3): All abstracts must be submitted in English and conform to contemporary standards in scientific or technical writing (e.g., proper grammar, spelling and sentence structure). Each abstract must follow one of the formats described in paragraph 1(a) of this section (Scoring System). In addition, each abstract must have a descriptive title and the name(s) and affiliation of the author(s).

Format:Each abstract must fit on one page and be less than 3000 characters using either Times New Roman, Arial or Courier with a font size of 12.Please reference examples of past Abstract Award winners on the AATB website.

1. Authors will be formally notified of abstract acceptance prior to the Annual Meeting.

2. Exceptional abstracts will be recommended for podium presentation at the Meeting. Podium presentation is not mandatory, but it is highly encouraged that one of the authors of selected abstracts orally disseminates the content of their poster to the general membership.

3. Awards for the top abstracts will be presented to the authors during the podium presentation. (If any author is an AATB Certified Tissue Bank Specialist (CTBS), please include your CTBS number).

Margie Deuel, Director, Education and Special Projects deuelm@aatb.org