ASTRO will be accepting abstract submissions Wednesday, December 16, 2020, through Monday, March 1, 2021.
- Abstracts must be properly formatted and organized into four sections identified by the following bolded headers: Purpose/Objectives, Materials/Methods, Results and Conclusions.
- Abstracts should include a scientific hypothesis in the Purpose/Objectives section, and implications for research, policy or practice in the Conclusions section, when applicable.
- Presentations must give a balanced view of therapeutic options. Brand names of pharmaceuticals and trade names of medical devices cannot be used in the title or body of the abstract. ASTRO reserves the right to replace proprietary names with generic names.
- Institution names should not be included in the title or body of the abstract. Alternative language is “at one institution” or “a multi-institution” study, etc. This does not apply to cooperative research group names.
- The title should not include results.
- The abstract cannot contain illustrations, images or graphs. If the abstract is accepted, presenters may include these items in their on-site presentations.
- An abstract may contain one small table. The maximum character limit, including the title and body of the abstract, is 2,600 characters. Spaces are not counted.
- A maximum of 20 authors’ names may be listed on each abstract. There are no exceptions. Authorship credit should only be given if all three of the following criteria are met. There is not mechanism for listing co-lead authors, or co-PI’s. Each author must have made substantial contributions to:
- conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data, and
- drafting the abstract or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and
- final approval of the version to be submitted/published.
Special Physics Session
There will be a special Physics subcategory which will solicit cutting edge research that will exemplify this theme: “Advances in Stereotactic and Hypofractionated Response Modeling and Treatments.” Abstracts for this subcategory will be reviewed and selected by an independent panel of experts and presented in an oral session.
Special Biology Session
There will be a special Biology subcategory which will solicit cutting edge research that will exemplify this theme: “Innovative Biologic Approaches to Personalize Radiotherapy.” Abstracts for this subcategory will be reviewed and selected by an independent panel of experts and presented in an oral session.
Interim Analysis
- In general, ASTRO does not accept abstracts reporting an interim analysis that is intended to evaluate experimental treatment regimen(s) with respect to efficacy or safety at any time prior to formal completion of a trial.
- Abstracts reporting trial process updates, such as accrual, baseline characteristics, and non-protocol specific safety information, will be considered for posters only for promotional purposes.
Database Studies
- Retrospective registry databases, such as National Cancer Database (NCDB), Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER), etc., are valuable resources for patterns of care assessment, and may generate important evidence for comparative effectiveness research.
- For comparative effectiveness reports, prioritization will be given to those when the level 1 evidence from randomized trials is obsolete or difficult to obtain. Abstracts should include brief descriptions on statistical methods and justifications, such as the choice of statistical significance level, effect size, methods for confounding adjustment, etc., to facilitate proper interpretations.
Policy on Studies Sponsored by Commercial Interests
- Abstracts may be submitted from commercial entities (those producing, marketing, reselling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients reporting on the discovery of their scientific research). Such presentations will be subject to a rigorous peer review to ensure the validity of the research results and conclusions. In addition, abstract content is subject to change after review so that it is not biased toward any proprietary interests.
- A commercial interest is defined as any entity developing, producing, marketing, reselling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients. Any potential conflict will be identified and managed according to ACCME guidelines, and ASTRO’s COI management policies.
- The presenting author of an abstract must NOT have a relevant/ specific ownership interest, i.e., owner, founder, partner, etc., in the scientific content in the abstract. If a conflict of interest exists, the abstract must be presented by a co-author with no relevant ownership interests.
- If the presenting author is employed by a commercial interest, as defined above, an alternate presenter must be named. This applies only to abstracts presented in sessions selected to receive CME, such as oral scientific and Quick Pitch scientific sessions.
- ASTRO will exercise all rights in ensuring that abstracts reporting the discovery of scientific research remain in compliance with ACCME standards for offering CME.
Disclosure Policy
ASTRO is an accredited provider of continuing medical education and adheres to the policies and standards set forth by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). As such, abstract authors are required to disclose relationships with commercial interests. A commercial interest is defined as “any entity developing, producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by or used on patients.”
To ensure its compliance, ASTRO expects that the content and related materials will promote improvements or quality in health care and not a specific proprietary business interest or commercial bias.
We employ several strategies to ensure absence of bias:
- Presenters are required to provide disclosure of relationships with commercial interests.
- Presenters are required to provide a balanced view of therapeutic options.
- All abstracts undergo a rigorous peer review process.
- Potential conflicts are managed by additional committee review, advance slide review and session audits.
Embargo Policy and ASTRO Press Policy
All abstracts to be presented at ASTRO’s Annual Meeting are embargoed until the date and time of scientific presentation or presentation at an ASTRO news briefing, whichever occurs first. The embargo policy applies to all abstracts regardless of whether information is obtained from another source.
Embargo violations by media professionals may result in suspension of credentials at the ASTRO Annual Meeting as well as future meetings and may also impact the ability to receive advance media materials for future meetings. Embargo violations by abstract authors and/or sponsors may result in removal of the abstract from the scientific program. Abstract authors are responsible for notifying financial and other sponsors about this embargo policy.
Questions about the embargo policy may be directed to
ASTRO’s media relations team.
The full text of the abstracts selected for oral and poster presentation will be available online at the start of ASTRO’s Annual Meeting. Abstracts also will be published in a supplement of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (
www.redjournal.org).