Abstract and Instructional Course Submissions

AOSSM’s continuing medical education program offers the highest quality sports medicine learning opportunities that promote positive change in the care of athletes.

Abstracts for Annual Meeting and Specialty Day

Submissions are evaluated objectively with consideration of the following criteria:

• Degree to which the submission meets program objectives
• Relevance, constructiveness, and contribution to the practice and/or development of orthopaedic sports medicine
• Desirability of the content topic
• Scientific quality
• Originality
• Clarity and organization
• Freedom from personal, institutional, organizational, and/or segment of the field bias

Content areas:

• Anatomy
  • Ankle/Foot
  • Elbow
  • Hand/Wrist
  • Hip/Pelvis/Thigh
  • Knee
  • Shoulder
  • Spine
  • Tibia/Fibula
• Sports Medicine (general or research)
  

The abstract text is limited to 5,000 characters, including the words “objectives, methods, results, conclusion” but not including spaces. Up to four (4) images or tables are allowed per abstract.

One may be a presenter on only one (1) podium and one (1) poster presentation at a Society meeting unless one is the recipient of a Research Award. AOSSM designs its educational programs to highlight new research. Presenters are requested to advise AOSSM staff immediately if accepting another invitation to present this abstract at a non-AOSSM venue up to and including the AOSSM Annual Meeting or Specialty Day meeting in question. Revisions of submitted abstracts are not permitted after the submission deadline. If a given abstract is accepted for a podium or poster presentation, it becomes ineligible for a podium presentation at any future Specialty Day or Annual Meeting that includes abstracts.

Instructional Courses for Annual Meeting

An individual is eligible to serve as faculty on a maximum of three Instructional Courses per Annual Meeting (one each day). An individual is eligible to serve as faculty on the same Instructional Course for a maximum of three (3) consecutive years. After a one (1) year hiatus, an individual is once again eligible for consideration on that particular course.

Format options:

• Traditional classroom
• Roundtable discussion

Content areas:

• Anatomy: Ankle/Foot; Elbow; Hand/Wrist; Hip/Pelvis/Thigh; Knee; Shoulder; Spine; Tibia/Fibula
• Team Physician
• Biologics
• Pediatrics
• Practice Management
• Prevention/Return-to-Play

Journal Submission of Podium and Poster Presentations

All abstracts selected for podium or poster presentation must be submitted in manuscript form to one of the AOSSM journals: The American Journal of Sports Medicine, The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, Sports Health, or The Video Journal of Sports Medicine. Abstracts previously published are not eligible for presentation at an AOSSM meeting. The submitted manuscript must be declined by an AOSSM journal before it can be submitted elsewhere. If one has already submitted a manuscript to an AOSSM journal and it has been accepted for publication, presenters are urged to communicate with journal staff and request that publication be deferred until after the AOSSM meeting in question. Staff will do their best to accommodate all such requests.

Policy for Violation of AOSSM first publication rights of Society research presentations.

When a violation of the publication requirement is discovered and confirmed, all the authors (including the authors of the annual Research Awards) involved shall be barred from having research of which they are authors presented at the next AOSSM Annual Meeting and next Specialty Day (podium or poster) for which abstract submission has not yet occurred.

All authors are held accountable.

All authors will also be barred for one year from submitting a manuscript for publication to any of the AOSSM journals.

Repeat offenders will bear the same consequences for five years of submission cycles each for the AOSSM Annual Meeting and AOSSM Specialty Day and five years at each of the journals.

Content Without Commercial Bias
The AOSSM must ensure balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor in all of its educational activities. It is an ACCME requirement that audiences at educational programs for which continuing medical education hours are awarded be informed of a presenter’s academic and professional affiliations, and the existence of any significant financial interest or other relationship an author or co-author has with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial product(s) or services. Any such relationship must be disclosed.

In accordance with ACCME standards, please note that the presenter of any accepted abstract cannot be employed by an ineligible company. Employees of ineligible companies are prohibited from having any role in the planning or implementation of CME activities related to the ineligible company’s business lines or products.

ACCME Guidelines for Compliance

Your abstract and/or poster will be reviewed for compliance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

Below are lists of guidelines to assist you in developing the highest quality educational content and materials. These guidelines also ensure compliance to the AOSSM’s CME Policies.

You may be required to edit your submission if it is found to be noncompliant with these standards:

• ACCME and HIPPA Compliance- All individually identifiable health information regarding a client or patient must be sufficiently edited or modified to ensure HIPPA compliance.
• Presentations must give a balanced view of therapeutic options. All recommendations for patient care must be based on current science, evidence, and clinical reasoning.
• New and evolving topics must be clearly identified in the presentation slides.
• Presentations must be free of commercial bias for or against any company, product, drug, or device.
• Educational materials (slides, abstracts, handouts, videos, and photos) must not include:
  • Ineligible companies’ corporate or product logos.
    
  • Company, product, drug, or device brand/trade names. (Use generic names)
  • If brand/trade names are listed, there MUST be at least two (2) other names listed to avoid the perception of bias.
  • If only one is listed, it must be proven the ONLY or the BEST product, device, or drug available.
• All logos or brand names visible in photos or videos must be completely covered.

Disclosure Guidelines

AOSSM is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). We appreciate your help in partnering with us to follow accreditation guidelines and help us create high-quality education independent of industry influence. To participate as a person in control of the educational content of this accredited CE activity, we ask that all invited planners, faculty, and speakers disclose all financial relationships with any ineligible companies* over the past 24 months.

ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education require providers to mitigate relevant financial relationships to prevent commercial bias and disclose the presence or absence of all relevant financial relationships to learners prior to the activity.

According to Standard 3.2 of the ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, “Owners and employees of ineligible companies must be excluded from controlling content or participating as planners or faculty in accredited education”.

In compliance with the ACCME standards, please note the following AOSSM policies:

• The Presenting Author of any accepted abstract /poster cannot be employed by an ACCME- defined ineligible company*.
• Employees of ineligible companies are prohibited from having any role in the planning or implementation of CME activities related to the ineligible company’s business lines or products.

*An ineligible company (formerly called a commercial interest) is one whose primary business is producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care products used by, on patients. The ACCME does not consider providers of clinical service directly to patients to be ineligible companies.

Frequently Asked Questions