Thank you for your abstract submissions to the SOMOS 2008 Conference. 178 total submissions were received.

A review committee has been established and has already begun reviewing each submission. Each submitter will be emailed notification of their acceptance or non-acceptance in either a poster or podium capacity to the conference.

A full acceptance list will also be posted online per the deadlines below. As a reminder podium presenters will be required to submit a manuscript and CME paperwork as well as adhere to all deadlines.

Important Information:

• August 1, 2008 (Midnight CST)- Deadline for Submitting Abstracts. No late submissions will be accepted.
• September 1, 2008 - Podium and Poster Presenters will be notified.
• October 1, 2008- All Manuscripts must be e-mailed to conference@trueresearch.org
• Poster Presenters: Make Posters 4'X6' and have 8.5"X11" (letter) sized copies of your posters available to hand out. Poster presentations will be shown Tuesday-Friday. The presenters are requested to be at their Posters during the Poster Sessions to discuss their findings.
• Podium Presenters: Each Podium presentation will be approximately 5-7 minutes in length. Standard audiovisual equipment in the scientific session room includes an LCD projector and Windows Computer. Personal laptops cannot be used for presentations.
• New Slide Presentation Guidelines: For those planning on having a slide/PowerPoint presentation at the conference please use the following guidelines to assist our IT team in offering the smoothest and quickest A/V service for the conference.
  • Presentations must be PC compatible (Windows XP) and Microsoft Office 2003 compatible. Sorry, we do not have support for Macs.
  • Please name your slide with your Last Name followed by the title of your presentation.
  • All presentations must be written to a CD and turned in at the sound booth at the starting date of the conference.
• October 31, 2008 - All CME documents are due to conference@trueresearch.org

INTRODUCTION

The members of the Program Committee and Panel Reviewers grade approximately 250 abstracts for each Annual Meeting. These abstracts are are blinded to the reviewer. Approximatley 50 Podium Presentations and 50 Poster Presentations are accepted. The Program Chair/Committee exercises some discretion in final paper selection in an attempt to balance the program. Abstracts are graded on a 0 to 10 rating, and a paper accepted generally will have an average weighted score of 7.0.
SOMOS Reserves the right to withdraw an Abstract at any time.

ABSTRACT CONTENT

Abstracts must adequately describe the objectives and results of the work so that the quality, originality, and thoroughness can be evaluated by the Program Committee.

Each abstract MUST be less than 650 words and include the following components:

• Title of Abstract
• Author's Name- Include rank and/or credentials
• Institution (Ex: University or Duty Base with City and State)
• Co-Author's Name- Include rank and/or credentials
• Objectives - An introductory sentence indicating the purpose of the study
• Methods - A brief description of pertinent experimental procedures
• Results - A summary of the NEW, UNPUBLISHED DATA
• Conclusion - A statement of the conclusions

Abstracts missing any of the above items (with the exception of Co-Authors) WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED
Graphs, Pictures, Ect. Are not permitted. Abstracts must be copied and pasted into the web form.

CRITERIA TO CONSIDER WHEN SUBMITTING AN ABSTRACT

• Use title and key words appropriately
• Indicate any potential conflict(s) of interest
• Represent original research
• Represent a significant issue
• Be well organized and include Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions
  • Include an Objective that:
    • Is simple and clear
    • Clarifies the importance of the study
  • Include a Method that:
    • Is reproducible
    • Avoids irrelevant data
    • Describes sample with sufficient detail so that it is clear what population(s) the sample represents
    • Describes how the sample is of adequate size
    • Describes how sample was formed to avoid biases
    • Describes pretested unambiguous instruments and materials, including all surveys, tests, questionnaires, interview forms, and other tools used to provide data
    • Includes controls and clarifies them, with evidence of reliability and validity
    • Includes well-defined criteria for evaluation of variables.
    • Describes procedures, whether or not the study is prospective randomized, and researcher activities
  • Include Results that:
    • Summarize, including techniques and analysis used, including appropriate power analysis
    • Include complications or missing data, if applicable
    • Include validated outcomes
  • Include a Conclusion that:
    • Follows from methods
    • Includes discussion of limitations, if applicable
    • Recognizes limitations of study and suggests new research needed to extend current findings

MANUSCRIPTS

By September 15, 2008, the primary author will be required to submit a manuscript, via e-mail, to Conference@trueresearch.org. This is an absolute requirement to allow presentation of any study. Those that fail to submit by the published deadline will not be allowed to present their study.

The primary author will be given the option of submitting their manuscript to the American Journal of Orthopedics which will run a special SOMOS edition to publish selected manuscripts from the meeting. If you are interested, please submit your manuscript in the format prescribed by the AJO. Formatting instructions may be found on their website: http://www.amjorthopedics.com/html/aut/aut.asp

Please include a title page with your manuscript that includes a statement that this paper was presented at SOMOS 2008 and all authors’ names, ranks and contact information. Further guidance for manuscript submission will be disseminated at the meeting.

PRE-SUBMISSION AGREEMENT