Present & Convene

The deadline for proposal submission for AbSciCon24 has closed. Please see below for more information on what to expect after proposal submission and session scheduling processes and policies. If you have any additional questions, please contact the AbSciCon Scientific Program Team.

What to Expect After Submitting a Proposal

If you submitted a session proposal, you will be notified of acceptance in late October. If your session proposal is accepted, please review the following next steps:

Session Proposal Review

The program committee reviews session proposals through mid-October. During this process, the program committee reserves the right to:

• Reject or merge multiple proposals submitted by the same chair(s) on related topics.
• Move sessions to another AbSciCon topic.
• Merge proposals on similar topics.
• Request that chairs revise the session title and/or description.

In October, the program committee notified chairs of sessions that needed to be merged or have their session descriptions revised.

In late October, AbSciCon will notify chairs if their sessions have been accepted.

Inviting Authors to Submit

You may invite up to two authors to submit abstracts to your session. You will have access to the system to send formal invitations up until the abstract deadline if needed; however, it is suggested that you issue all invitations by 27 December 2023. Please adhere to this deadline to ensure authors have enough time to accept the invitation, prepare, and submit the abstract.

Conveners will have access to the invitation tool until 10 January 2024, but invitations should be sent as early as possible. There will be no exceptions to the abstract submission deadline.

How to Invite Authors

• Login to the User Portal by 27 December 2023.
• Click on "My Account.”
• Select the name of your session.
• Click the “Invited Author Management” button.
• You may invite a total of two authors with the invitation tool.
• Do not make any promises to your invited authors that they are guaranteed an oral presentation. The final decisions about presentation type and session format, including oral sessions, are made by the Scientific Organizing Committee. If a session is allocated an oral session, which is also not guaranteed, the convener schedules the authors in that session and the length of presentations during the scheduling process.

Invited Author Guidelines and Policies

• Invited authors must submit their abstracts via the link included in the invitation email by 10 January 2024.
• If the abstract is not submitted through the formal invitation link, the abstract will not have an invited author status.
• Invited authors must pay all fees associated with attending the meeting, including abstract submission fees and online or in-person meeting registration.
• Session conveners may not be the first author or presenter on an invited abstract in the session they are convening.
• Conveners are allowed to submit abstracts to their own session but are not allowed to be invited authors to their own session or to schedule themselves as an oral presentation.

Abstract Monitoring

If your session was accepted, it will be available to receive abstract submissions through 10 January 2024. Conveners are responsible for ensuring that the abstracts submitted to their session are topically appropriate. Abstracts cannot be transferred after the program is finalized, so please monitor submissions regularly during this time.

Note: abstract text is not viewable by the public during this period.

How to Review Submitted Abstracts

• Conveners may monitor through the abstract submission site or conveners may login to the abstract management portal using their AGU universal account. The abstract submission site will be closed for submissions after 10 January 2024.
• Click on your session name.
• Click on the “View Submissions” page.
• Abstract titles and author names are shown above the list of chairs.

What to Look For

• Check for any abstracts that are not topically relevant to your session or that you think were submitted in error. This may happen due to author oversight or a misunderstanding of the session’s intent. If you see any:
• Email the appropriate program committee representative by 10 January 2024 so the abstract can be moved to an appropriate session.
• If your session has not received many abstracts:
• You may not request that an author move their abstract from another session to your session.
• Review the program for other sessions with which your session can be merged based on similar abstract submissions.
• Notify your program committee representatives if you have any suggestions on potential merges. If the committee proceeds with the suggested merger, this will be completed after the abstract submission deadline.

Please note: sessions with no submitted abstracts by the deadline will be withdrawn. Sessions with few abstracts may be merged after the abstract deadline.

Session Allocation and Scheduling

Once the abstract submission window closes on 10 January 2024, the scientific organizing committee begins the scheduling and allocation process. If you have any questions regarding your allocated sessions, please contact the designated program committee representative.

Allocation

• The designated committee members determine the session type (i.e., poster, oral, eLightning session OR a combination of the three) and the number of allocations granted to each submitted session.
• Detailed information on session scheduling will be provided to conveners in early October.
• In mid-January, at least one convener (the primary liaison) must be available to respond to any program committee requests and to schedule the session.
• Following the 10 January 2024 abstract deadline, the program committee may decline an abstract for inclusion in the program.
• The committee may also merge similar sessions and transfer any misplaced abstracts into a different, more appropriate session than the one to which they were submitted. The final decisions about the placement of individual abstracts within sessions are made by the committee.

Abstract Review and Scheduling

During the scheduling period in late January, chairs can log into the abstract management site to begin abstract reviews and session scheduling (arranging the order of their abstracts).

Conveners:

• Must fully review and rate their abstracts as accepted or rejected based on their scientific results and/or their applications, or another focus.
• May recommend an abstract for rejection or report any concerns regarding a submitted abstract to the program committee.
• Review the overview of session formats.
• Should schedule any abstract authors who requested a poster presentation in a poster session.
• Must designate a minimum of two session chairs (who do not have to be existing conveners). The maximum number of chairs allowed per session is four.

Once the Scientific Organizing Committee scheduling meeting begins in early February, conveners will no longer have access to their sessions online. During the scheduling meeting, the committee will schedule any sessions not already scheduled by the conveners as they see fit. The committee is responsible for assigning all dates and times for each allocated session.

Final Program

• Abstract notifications and notifications of your session’s official scheduled date and time will be sent on 28 February 2024.
• After notifications are distributed, authors are required to accept or decline their presentation. Please monitor your session to note withdrawals.
• If the presenting author declines, their abstract will be withdrawn from your session.
• Due to the size of the program, if you are moderating multiple sessions and have also submitted abstracts to the scientific program, the scientific organizing committee CANNOT guarantee that you will be free of scheduling conflicts at the meeting.
• Ensure your co-conveners are available to step in to moderate a session if needed.

Replacing an Oral Presentation

After the program is published in late February, if an author withdraws from an oral session, the session convener can request that a presentation from the accompanying poster session, if applicable, be moved to replace the withdrawn oral presentation. This can be done only with accompanying sessions and with the poster presenter’s explicit consent.

To replace a withdrawn oral presentation, email the AbSciCon Scientific Program Team with the details of the withdrawn abstract, details of the abstract proposed to replace that oral presentation and a message in which the author consents to being moved.

Note: New abstracts CANNOT be added to fill empty slots in any session.