Frequently asked questions about abstracts

An abstract is a summary of a paper (research publication). The study and results reported should be novel and not simply an extension of previously published work.

Writing an abstract and submission for the ERS Congress is a great opportunity, as:

• It provides the first chance for you to announce and cite the preliminary findings of your study;
• It allows you to communicate your findings to your peers and get their feedback;
• It is the starting point for achieving the ultimate aim of a research project, the writing and publishing of a full paper in peer-reviewed literature.

The submission period for abstracts is from 1 December 2022 until 15 February 2023. Submission is free.

Online: connect to myERS https://my.ersnet.org/ then choose the menu ‘Abstract/Cases’ and select Congress submission, then access abstracts platform.

Abstracts that are considered as late breaking must contain novel data and this data must became available for public dissemination only after the standard abstract deadline in February 2023.

The study and results reported should be novel and not simply an extension of previously published work. The late-breaking abstract round is not designed to favour investigators who unintentionally missed the deadline for the regular abstract submission.

The submission period for late-breaking abstract is from 1 May to 31 May 2023.

Note that the submission is not free, €75 submission fee applies for each LBA submission (non-refundable). For people based in Switzerland additionally 8% VAT will apply.

You must submit your late breaking abstract online by logging in to myERS and choosing the ‘Abstract’ menu, and then select ‘Congress submission’. The submission period for late-breaking abstract is from 1 May to 31 May 2023.

Note that the submission is not free, €75 submission fee applies for each late-breaking abstract submission (non-refundable). For people based in Switzerland additionally 8% VAT will apply.

The most ground-breaking RCT and very late-breaking clinical trial data from all respiratory disease areas. Best RCTs will be presented as part of the ‘Abstracts Leading to Evolution in Respiratory Medicine Trials’ sessions (ALERT).

The submission period for RCT is from 20 – 30 June 2023.

Note that the submission is not free, €150 submission fee applies for each RCT abstract submission (non-refundable). For people based in Switzerland additionally 8% VAT will apply.

You must submit your RCT abstract online by logging in to myERS and choosing the ‘Abstract’ menu, and then select ‘Congress submission’. The submission period for RCT is from 20 – 30 June 2023.

Note that the submission is not free, €150.00 submission fee applies for each RCT abstract submission (non-refundable). For people based in Switzerland additionally 8% VAT will apply.

Abstracts are intended to present scientific studies and research. If your study is currently ongoing and you only have preliminary data, but it seems relevant or significant, you can submit the abstract. However please be aware that abstracts with incomplete data may have less chance of being accepted for the ERS International Congress.

After your abstract is accepted you cannot update the content of your abstract for the official publication as the accepted version will be published, however you are permitted to present updated information onsite at the Congress.

A maximum of three abstracts (including LBA and RCT abstracts) may be submitted by the same person.

We do not encourage to submit the case study abstracts, however we accept them if they are well prepared. We do not provide specific templates for this kind of abstracts. You may however consider submission of Clinical Case by the extended 22nd February deadline.

Yes, when you are submitting your abstract(s) you will have the opportunity to disclose your conflict of interest. Conflict of interest statement is only required for the first author.

Title: The title should be an accurate description of the abstract’s contents. It should explain as much as possible about the context and the aims of the study. The title should be about 10–12 words long, and should include the scope of the investigation, the study design and the goal. The title should be a description of what was investigated rather than a statement of the results or conclusions. The abstract title should be easy for the reader to understand and should not include jargon or unfamiliar acronyms or abbreviations. The title should not be in capital letters.

Authors: The list of authors should be restricted to those individuals who carried out the study, conceived it, designed it, gathered the data, analysed the numbers and wrote the abstract. The author who will present the abstract should be listed first. Every listed author should read and approve the abstract before it is submitted.

Main text: A good abstract should address the five following questions in the relevant sections:

1. “Why did you start?” – Introduction or background / You should summarise, preferably in one sentence, the current knowledge specifically in relation to the work you are presenting.

2. “What did you try to do?” – Aims and objectives / State the aim of your study, and ideally include a short statement of the study’s hypothesis. A legitimate scientific study is not done “to prove that something is true” but rather “to find out whether it is true.” The distinction may seem small but it makes a significant difference. A formal hypothesis shows that you are objective.

3. “What did you do?” – Methods / In an abstract, the description of the methods has to be concise, and much of the details of what was done must be omitted. However, in a few short sentences, you can give the reader a good idea of the design of the study, the context in which it was done, and the types of patients or measurements that were included.

4. “What did you find?” – Results / It is important to give the main results of the study, not in subjective terms (“We found device X to be superior to device Y”) but also in the form of some real data. You will need to choose which findings to report here: it should be the most important data in your study, and the findings on which your conclusions will be based. Do not include a table or figure unless you need it to show your results.

5. “What does it mean?” – Conclusions / Here, space constraints generally limit you to a single sentence of why you think your findings are important, and their potential implications. Keep your conclusions reasonable and supportable by the findings of your study. Remember that if your study was restricted to certain patients, or a particular therapy, or a specific device, its results may not extend beyond these restrictions.

All accepted abstracts will be published in a supplement of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) by end of November 2023.

Note that the abstract submission deadline hasn’t been announced yet. However, it is very likely to follow this years’ timeline:

• Submission start: December
• Submission deadline: mid February

You can access the:

• Instructions and guidelines here or directly from the submission platform
• Breathe article on “How to write abstract” here

The publication of the data should not have occurred prior to the submission of the abstract for presentation at the ERS international Congress.

While we understand that publication of the data in journals cannot be delayed, the presentation of the original data should be presented for the first time to the audience at the ERS international congress.

Copyright for abstracts is retained by authors (see on submission Terms & Agreement “11. Copyright, if this abstract is accepted, will be held by the author or employer (as part of the conditions of the author(s)’s employment).”)

The abstracts are not published under a creative commons framework (Creative Commons licencing is most generally used to ‘describe’ how you can ‘use/re-use’ an open access document). The abstracts are not published open access. They are free to access (on both the ERS platforms and when they are published as a supplement of the ERJ), which is different to open access, and are copyright to the author.

The maximum length of an abstract is 1,810 characters including characters and spaces in the following: Abstract Title, Abstract Body, Table, and Figures. N.B. if you insert a table, one character will be deducted per cell. If you insert an image/picture/figure, it will deduct 277 characters.

There is no limit regarding number of authors. However, the list of authors should be restricted to those individuals who carried out the study, conceived it, designed it, gathered the data, analysed the numbers and wrote the abstract. The author who will present the abstract should be listed first. Every listed author should read and approve the abstract before it is submitted.

All authors must have a myERS account. If the co-author does not have an account, they can create a myERS account for free.

There is no additional text box available on the submission platform. If author has more than one affiliation, all additional affiliation(s) must be included in the same text box.

The status of your abstract(s) will be available on the submitter myERS account according to the submission round (1^st round, LBA, RCT):

When the notification on acceptance will be sent, the successful authors will receive:

• Session details: type, day, time
• Official acceptance letter
• Instructions and guidelines how to prepare to the session
• Templates (ePoster and PPT)
• Access to the platform to upload files for the ERS virtual congress

No, this information will only be available after you will receive the abstract’s notification email according to the submission round (1^st round, LBA, RCT).

When the notification on acceptance will be sent, the successful authors will receive:

• Session details: type, day, time
• Official acceptance letter
• Instructions and guidelines how to prepare to the session
• Templates (ePoster and PPT)
• Access to the platform to upload files for the ERS virtual congress

All abstracts are graded anonymously by a panel of at least three reviewers on a scale from one (lowest) to six (highest), with an average score of three minimum for acceptance, on the basis of the following criteria:

• The scientific strength
• The methodology
• The data provided
• The novelty and / or originality of its findings

Based on these elements, the decision is taken to accept or reject abstracts for the congress. When allocation of abstracts into sessions begins, ERS officers also consider the limitations of slots available in the congress programme.

You cannot modify your abstract’s body nor title after it is submitted with no exceptions.

Until the 1^st round abstracts submission deadline, you can delate the abstracts and still submit the new correct version. No need to inform the ERS office.

After you receive the notification that your abstract is accepted to the ERS Congress, you will be able to modify only the list of authors via myERS.

It will only be possible after you received notification that your abstract is accepted in June 2023, you need to contact the ERS abstracts office with the completed abstract’s withdrawal form that will be available here from June 2023.

You cannot change the submission category. However, note that if the content would better fit another category, the organisers of the abstract’s sessions might move your abstract into a different category.

Notification to those who succeeded will be sent out mid-June 2023, once the official abstract acceptance/rejection notifications have been sent out.

No, grants and sponsorships are specifically attributed to carefully selected candidates, rendering sponsorships and grants nontransferable.

No, grants and sponsorships are related to your abstract submitted and accepted for the ERS International Congress 2023 and not any other ERS event.

No, grants and sponsorships are not offered for the late-breaking abstract submissions.