ACC.09 and i2 Summit 2009 abstract submissions are now closed. The ACC will be accepting submissions for Late-Breaking Clinical Trials and Emerging Technologies starting Nov. 14.

Abstract Submission Instructions

There are ten major steps necessary to access the ACC on-line abstract system and create an abstract. The steps are listed in the order you will find them in the system. Each step has tips to help you successfully complete each item. You may read through the document in order or touch one of the links below and jump to that item. Please proofread and spell check your abstract carefully.

Again this year, ACC is employing the “single sign-on” process which will improve the efficiency of the registration process. The submitting author’s name and ID number will automatically prepopulate in the abstract submission system; the name and ID number must match and are not editable. The submitting author’s name entered in the passgate system MUST be the author who will present the abstract if selected. Notification of acceptance will be sent to this person. Create a new submission under the presenting author's name each time it differs.  During the acceptance process in December, there will be an opportunity to change presenter author information, if circumstances warrant.  

1. Agree to the terms and conditions for submitting an abstract and create a title for your abstract.
2. Select a category relating to the topic of your abstract. Note: Be sure to view all categories listed for ACC.09 and i2 Summit before making your selection!
3. Enter up to two keywords.
4. Enter your institution information.
5. Enter your author information.
6. Enter or upload the body of the abstract.
7. Enter your preference to present this abstract in a poster presentation format.
8. Enter one Learning Objective that is specific to the presentation you will give if your abstract is accepted.  
9. Enter your payment information for the processing fee.
10. Review your work!!! Make sure all steps are complete and print a copy of the submission for your records.

In addition to learning how to enter your abstract, please review the following important information. Click the links below will take you to the appropriate section.

1. Abstract Revisions
2. Abstract Disposition/Notification of Acceptance
3. Abstract Withdrawal
4. Late-Breaking Clinical Trial Submission
5. Fee Schedule for Presenters
6. Additional graphics help
7. Title and abstract body text guidelines

Who is a Returning/Past Submission User?
You submitted an abstract for consideration in previous years.

Who is a New User?
You have never submitted an abstract.

I. Web Browsers
ACC recommends using Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later in order to take advantage of special features in the ACC on-line abstract system. Netscape browsers will work with the abstract system, but these special features will not be available. The system displays the browser type and version and provides links to download Web browsers.

In order to guarantee your submission appears exactly as you intend, you must set your Web browser encoding to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer: Western European (ISO) To verify the setting, click “View,” then “Encoding” from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Netscape Navigator: Western (ISO-8859-1) To verify the setting, click “View,” then “Character Coding” from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Please note:

1. Asian and Eastern European submitters may not see characters that are misinterpreted by the abstract system unless the encoding/coding is set properly.
2. Macintosh users may have different encoding choices than those listed above.

II. All Users

1. Salutations are only used in correspondence. Please select the American English version that is appropriate from the choices in the pull down menu.
2. Please use American English characters when entering your name and eliminate any non-English characters such as tildes and umlauts.
3. Names and initials should be properly capitalized. Names should not be all upper or lower case.
4. Punctuation (a period) is added to all initial fields. The fields for initials do not need to be filled in unless you want an initial included as part of your name in the final program. Only this first initial will be published. You may use as many or as few as you wish. Leave unused initial fields blank if you do not use them.
5. Suffix is the field used to distinguish intergeneration names. Examples are Jr. (Junior), Sr. (Senior), and III (third). Most individuals will leave this field blank.
6. E-mail addresses are not validated for correctness. Please make sure the address is properly formatted with no spaces, only one @ sign, and only periods (.) not commas (,).
7. Phone and fax numbers should be provided which will allow ACC staff members to contact you during daytime hours from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
8. ACC is implementing a “single sign-on” process again this year to improve the efficiency of the registration process. The name entered in the passgate system MUST be the author who will present the abstract if selected. This information will automatically prepopulate the abstract submission system. Notification of acceptance will be sent to this person. During the acceptance process in December, there will be an opportunity to change presenter author information, if so desired.

III. Entering Abstract Information
A. Title

1. Do not bold any words in the title.
2. Do not include authors in the title. If you enter authors in the title, they will be removed.
3. Do not include institutions in the title. If you enter institutions in the title, they will be removed.
4. Do not use the “Enter” button while in this field. This action will add unwanted carriage returns.
5. Capitalize the first letter of all major words in the title as well as prepositions, articles, and conjunctions of four letters or more.
6. Do not use abbreviations in the title. Abbreviations may be used in the abstract body.
7. Do not underline words in the title.
8. Do not end the title with a period.
9. If the title contains more than one statement, use only one space after a period or colon.
10. Do not use a comma before “and” in a series.
11. Use a comma for number 1,000 and above.
12. Substitute a colon for a dash/hyphen except when using prefixes.
13. Do not use quote marks in a title.
14. Do not underline, italicize, superscript, or subscript any item in the title.
15. Hyphenate the first prefix word when there is more than one prefix word used such as Non-Anti...
16. For more information about title guidelines see Guidelines.

B. Categories

1. Submit an abstract to the ACC's 58^th Annual Scientific Session (ACC.09) if your abstract is in the areas of Myocardial Ischemia and Infarction; Vascular Disease; Hypertension ,Prevention and Lipids; Valvular Heart Disease; Cardiac Function and Heart Failure; Cardiac Arrhythmias; Imaging and Diagnostic Testing; Pediatric Congenital Cardiology Solutions; and Quality of Care and Outcomes Assessment. There are 50 subcategories from which to choose and if your abstract is selected, your paper will be presented as part of the ACC.09 meeting.   
2. Select the single sub-category that is closest to the subject of your abstract.  
3. Submit an abstract to the i2 Summit 2009 forum if your abstract subject matter is mainly in the area of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.  
4. Abstracts submitted to a category that do not match the subject matter of the abstract may be given a low score from reviewers.

C. Keywords

1. Enter up to two keywords.
2. Only one keyword is required.
3. Leave unused/unneeded keyword fields blank.
4. Do not enter the same keyword more than once.

D. Institutions and Authors (Responsible Institutions)

1. List the complete name including a full first name and initials. Multiple word first names should be placed in the “First Name” field.
2. Please use American English characters when entering names and eliminate any non-English characters such as tildes and umlauts.
3. Do not include title, degrees, or suffix in the “Last Name” field.
4. Do not enter more than one author in each “First Name” or “Last Name” field. If this is done, you will be contacted to correct this entry.
5. If more than one abstract is submitted, please spell authors in exactly the same manner. This is important when indexing all authors in the listing in the Final Program.
6. Use the author group field only for the name of an investigating team. This is typically something like “Investigators for ACC.” Do not use the author group to list individual authors. If this is done, you will be contacted to correct this entry. Authors entered as an “Author Group” will not be listed in the author index of the Final Program.
7. The author order is the order that authors will be listed in publications if the abstract is selected for presentation. The presenter will automatically be listed first.
8. The contact information is not used as part of the institutions listed in any abstract publication. Institutions are entered in a separate area.
9. The submitting author will be notified about the outcome of the review and selection process.

E. Abstract (Important Issues)

1. Abstracts MUST conform to specific size limits or they will remain in an incomplete status and will not be reviewed. Your abstract may not contain more than 1,900 characters, not including spaces. A graphic, or a table created with the table generator, equals 600 characters and is included as part of the 1,900 character limit.
2. Use the standard Times New Roman font for text and Symbol font for symbols (DO NOT USE A THIRD-PARTY SYMBOL FONT!); any other fonts will not be accepted. Set all text as flush left, unjustified, and wrapping text as you type. Do NOT place hard returns at the end of each line.

Abstract Body/Text

1. You may type the body of the abstract directly into the space provided for the abstract body or upload this information by a file created with your word processor. To take advantage of the upload feature, use the following supported formats: Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect (only); Internet Explorer 6.0 for Windows and for Macintosh users we recommend Internet Explorer 5.2.3 or Safari 1.0 or 1.2.
2. Do not embed graphics or images in a file you intend to upload. They must be uploaded separately.
3. You may include a table in the body of the abstract by uploading a word processing document that has a table in it. This cannot be a table linked to spreadsheet.
4. You may use five unique abbreviations in the body of the abstract. Spell out the complete phrase followed by the abbreviation in parentheses the first time the abbreviation is used. Abbreviations are not allowed in the title of the abstract.
5. Do not include the title in the abstract body. The title will be collected in the Title Section.
6. Do not include authors and institutions in the abstract body. This data will be collected in the Author Section.
7. The abstract must be presented in the following sequence, using the headings listed:
   (These headings have been setup in the abstract body text for you.)
• Background: In an initial paragraph, provide relevant information regarding the background and purpose of the study, preferably in no more than one or two sentences.
• Methods: Briefly state the methods used.
• Results: Summarize the results in sufficient detail to support the conclusions.
• Conclusion: State the conclusions reached. It is not satisfactory to state “the results will be discussed.”
8. Do not underline, italicize, superscript, or subscript any item in the title.
9. Please proofread carefully for factual, spelling, and size errors. If published, the abstract will appear exactly as the online system confirmation shows.

Tables

1. You may include a table in a file that you upload or create it online using the table generator.
2. It is recommended you create the table in your word processor then use the file upload feature to transfer document to the abstract site. Table generation in a word processor is much easier to accomplish than using the table generator.
3. Do not embed a spreadsheet within your document. Even though it appears as a table, you will not be able to upload the file. You may copy the table from a spreadsheet and then paste it into the word processor as a table instead of a linked spreadsheet. If you are not certain you have done this correctly, please contact technical support at (217) 398-1792.
4. A table equals 600 characters and is included as part of the 1,900 character limit.

Graphics

1. To insure readability of a graphic when viewed during peer review and when published, the following requirements are recommended when submitting a graphic:
• When creating a graphic consider that a graphic is not greater than 3 inches wide (7 centimeters/600 pixels) and 2 inches high (4.9 centimeters/400 pixels)
• It is strongly recommended to use 300 ppi/dpi, the higher the ppi/dpi the better quality of detail when the graphic is printed. A minimum of 72 dots/pixels per inch (ppi/dpi).
• If you need assistance in sizing a graphic please see the additional graphics help section.
2. Graphics should have a file type of “gif”, “jpg”, or “jpeg”. Even though the abstract system may allow you to upload a graphic with a different file type those graphics will not be reviewed or reproduced if the abstract is selected.
3. Do not submit tables as graphics. A table submitted as a graphic will not reproduce well.
4. Do not embed graphics or images in a file you intend to upload. Use the separate graphic upload feature if you wish to include a graphic/image.
5. A graphic equals 600 characters and is included as part of the 1,900 character limit.

Graphics Help Section

1. Please keep in mind that large and or complex graphics may not be readable in the abstract print supplement of JACC.
2. Graphics that are larger than the guidelines permit will be reduced in size, and if in doing so, are found to be illegible, they could be withheld from publication.
3. There should be no “white space” or border around the graphic.
4. Even though your browser may display a graphic format other than .gif, .jpg, or .jpeg, the graphic will not be reviewed and will be withheld from publication.
5. To properly size and set the resolution you will need a graphics program. Most computers come with a simple paint or graphics application with limited editing and file conversion capabilities.
6. If you need a graphics program, consider downloading the 30-day trial version of PhotoStudio from Arcsoft from www.arcsoft.com. This application is available for both Mac and PC users.
• To edit the image from within the application, select edit then image size.
• Save the image in .jpg format.
• Please note that the trial version will convert/open/save the following file types:
• JPG
• BMP
• TIF
• PNG
• PCX
• TGA
• FPX
• PSD
• PCD
• PSF
• EPS
• Even though the application supports a wide range of file formats, the trial version does not support the .gif format. 
• If you have a .gif formatted file you wish to edit, it must be converted to another format first.
• There is no technical support provided for this application.

F.  Learning Objectives

Each submitter is required to submit one Learning Objective that is specific to the presentation, should your abstract be selected.    

Begin each statement of a specific learning outcome with a verb that specifies definite, observable behavior such as “demonstrate,” “identify,” “interpret,” “distinguish,” “describe,” “evaluate,” etc.  You will be asked to complete the following sentence:  “At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to .…”  Tip: Meeting attendees may make their decision to attend an abstract presentation based on the Learning Objective provided.  Relate the Learning Objective to the abstract conclusions/results data to best aid attendee decision-making.

G. When Is an Abstract Entry Considered Complete?

An abstract is complete and ready for submission when, in the “Review My Work” section, you see the words “This submission is complete.” The abstract is only submitted to reviewers after the deadline date. You may update or make changes to your ACC.09 abstract up until Monday, October 6, 2008, 8 a.m., EST. Changes to your i2 Summit abstract may be made up until Monday, November 3, 2008, 8 a.m., EST. The date your abstract was last edited may be found in the Review Your Work Section next to the words “Current Date/Time”. This will change each time the abstract is altered.

Abstract Revisions

Revisions to your abstract can be made until the dates listed above. No changes will be accepted after these dates.  If any changes are made prior to the deadline, you must select “Review My Work” from the menu on the left.  Make certain that you see the words “This submission is complete.”  The presenting author may be changed if the abstract is selected for presentation during the invitation process by contacting ACC staff via email in December.

Abstract Disposition/Notification of Acceptance

You will be sent a notification with the status of your abstract via email in mid-December, 2008 and directed to a web site to supply additional information including disclosure content.

Abstract Withdrawal

To withdraw a submitted abstract, written notification (e-mail, fax, or letter) must be sent to:

The American College of Cardiology
2400 N Street, NW
Washington, DC  20037
Phone: (800) 253-4636, ext. 5307
Fax: (202) 375-6843
kdixon@acc.org

This notification must include abstract title, authors and affiliations (as submitted), the abstract control number, and the name affiliation, phone, fax and e-mail of the aubmitter. We recommend using the abstract summary page as part of this notification.

Late-Breaking Clinical Trial Submission

The Late-Breaking Clinical Trial on-line submission system will open on Friday, November 14, 2008. The deadline for submission is Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. A written update on the trial status and a commitment to present trial results must be received by February 9, 2009, in order for the Program Committee to make a final decision. There will be a processing fee for each trial submitted online.

Fee Schedule for Abstract Presenters

1. There is a $25 (USD) nonrefundable processing fee for each abstract submitted payable online by credit card only.
2. If a person is both an abstract presenter and an invited speaker, the registration fee is waived.

Logging Onto the ACC Abstract System

Because you have read the ACC.09/i2 Summit Abstract Submission Instructions for Using the Web-Based ACC Abstract System, you are now ready to enter your abstract. ACC.09 and i2 Summit abstract submissions are now closed.

Once you have clicked the link, please save it as a favorite in your web browser so that you can quickly return to the Abstract System.

Style and Editing Guidelines