Abstracts can be submitted via the online Abstract Submission Service only.

Submission Period: Opening of the Online Submission Services: June 22, 2018
Submission deadline: September 25, 2018, 23:59 (CET- Central European Time)

ABSTRACT Guidelines

TITLE
Maximum 200 characters typed in lower-case letters, except for abbreviations and study names. Please be careful that your title might be truncated if you copy and paste it into the field.

TOPIC
Select one topic from the list of topics presented, which best describes the abstract content (for Abstract Evaluation). Make sure you select the appropriate topic, as this choice will determine which graders will review your abstract.

OPTIONS
No Option - Standard submission or Young Investigators Award (YIA): You may choose to submit your abstract to be considered for the Young Investigator Award. Note that if you submit your abstract for this Award, you have to complete the specific requirements, as specified in the ”Young Investigator Award – Guidelines” document.

ABSTRACT AUTHORS AND INSTITUTIONS
Authors list: Your abstract must list at least 1 author in order to be submitted. Please note that the first author should be the abstract presenter by default. Nevertheless, it can be changed through the agreement form process at a later stage. In all cases, the presenter must be part of the authors list included in the submitted abstract.
The submitter certifies that he has permission from all persons he enters as co-authors to be listed in this abstract and that they are aware that their names will appear in all publications.

The names of authors will be published as listed on the submission form. Please make sure the information given for each author is correct.
NB: If none of the authors are able to present the abstract during the congress, the abstract should be withdrawn.

INSTITUTIONS AND EMAIL ADDRESSES
You will be requested to add the name of the institution and the email address in addition to the name of the authors.

ABSTRACT CONTENT
All abstracts must be submitted (and will be presented) in English using UK English.
Submitted abstracts should not have been published in any other journals and/or online publications, nor presented at any previous international congress. Content presented in a national meeting is however allowed.
The following structure of your abstract is compulsory: download template

• Background/Introduction
• Purpose
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion(s)
  

There is not a specific maximum of words, but rather a maximum total size: the abstract including table or picture must be totally include in the space proposed.

• The maximum abstract size is 35 lines. (average 3600 characters)
• The abstract could not contain more than one table and/or one picture

Abstract picture: Your picture file must meet the following criteria:

• Format: JPEG or GIF
• Size: less than 1 MB
• Measures no larger than 600 pixels(x) x 800 pixels(y)
• Please make sure that any pictures/images are of good quality

All sources of financial support (including governmental grants) for this research should be listed under this heading. All grant funding agency abbreviations should be spelled out. This information will be published.

Important: As the grading and selection process is blinded, the title and body text must not contain identifying features, ie information such as:

• Names (authors or others)
• Names of institute (hospitals, medical schools, clinics,...)
• Cities

Also not authorised

• Trademarks. Use generic drug names. The use of commercial drug names, brands and registered trademarks is strictly prohibited. Drugs should be referred to by the active substance or pharmacological designation.
• Company names and location
• Web sites and email addresses

Failure to comply with the above requirements may lead to automatic rejection of the submission. Limit use of acronyms and abbreviations. Define at first use with acronym or abbreviation in parentheses.

Please note that any medical research involving human subjects must conform to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association. We remind you that patient’s photo’s should be avoided and the patient must never be identifiable in your presentation.

Abstract submitted on animal studies: Study must follow the "Principles of laboratory animal care" (NIH Publication no. 85-23 revised 1985) and according to the national law if applicable.

ABSTRACT PREVIEW AND SUBMISSION
Please read through your abstract carefully before submitting it, as you cannot change it once submitted and we can not modify the content / author list / topic / picture for you once it has been submitted.

Draft Status: If you do not click on the submit button, your abstract will be saved in Draft Status. You will then be able to review it and submit it at a later time (but only before the deadline).

NB: Abstracts that are in draft status after the deadline will not be considered for selection.

Do not forget to click on the Submit button to validate your abstract submission. You will receive an automatic confirmation by email.

There is no limit to the number of abstracts an author may submit, but you should not submit the same research twice, even under a different topic. If you submit two abstracts with the same content, the abstract submission service will automatically keep the most recent abstract submitted and withdraw the other.

Changes and corrections: Once submitted, it is not possible to make any corrections to the abstract content or information (such as authors details, topic, correction of typos in the text, etc.). What can be done:

• During Submission Period - Online Submission service is open -

In order to correct your abstract you must withdraw it and submit a new corrected version prior to the deadline (See below for withdrawal procedure).

• After submission deadline - Online Submission service is closed -

Replacement of your abstract is not possible. Changes cannot be made to the submitted version. In case of errors in your abstract, you may indicate the correction during the presentation at the congress (on your poster or oral presentation). However, changes will not be included in any of the publications (online, final programme, abstract-book).

• Withdrawal - If you want to withdraw an abstract already submitted, please notify us as quickly as possible at via email:
  bsc@downtowneurope.be stating the title and number of the abstract to be withdrawn.

Note that, withdrawals are still accepted after the submission deadline and Abstracts may still appear in publications. All Abstracts withdrawal requests must be received in writing (via e-mail) by the end of November 2018 to avoid publication in the Abstract Book.

ABSTRACTS RESULTS
All abstracts will be reviewed by the members of the BSC Board. The final selection will be made by the beginning of December 2018 and the results will be communicated shortly after.
The best abstracts in each category will be scheduled for an Oral Presentation, others will be presented as Posters, if accepted. The Board of the BSC will determine day and time of presentation during 7th and 8th Feb 2019.

NB: Allocated presentation times cannot be changed.
An email message will be sent to each abstract submitter informing them of the status of the abstract. If the abstract is accepted, the submitter will receive further instructions concerning the presentation format.

PUBLICATION OF ABSTRACTS
All accepted abstracts will be published online or/and as an abstract in Acta Cardiologica.

AFFIRMATION OF ORIGINALITY AND COPYRIGHT TRANSFER STATEMENT
By submitting your work to the BSC, you consent to have authors’ names, affiliation and biographical material being used in connection with the publication of your work.

Author(s) represents and warrants that he/she/they is/are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, and that the work is original and does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary, or personal right of any third party.

The submitter hereby affirms that the work submitted is original, except for extracts from copyrighted works fully authorized by the copyright holders, and that all statements declared as facts are based on thorough examination and investigation for accurateness.

The submitter signs for all co-authors. He/she accepts responsibility on the present rules for submission and presentation on behalf of all co-authors.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The BSC requests speakers, chairpersons and poster presenters to disclose potential conflict of interest. Abstract presenters are requested to disclose potential conflicts of interest regarding their presentation in the first slide. Poster presenters are requested to disclose potential conflicts of interest regarding poster presentation at the bottom of their poster. This will allow the audience to take potential conflicts of interest into account when assessing the objectivity of the presentation.

DATA PRIVACY
By certifying that you have read these Submission rules, you also confirm having received the prior approval, from the co-authors to provide their data to the BSC.

SUBMISSION
By submitting your work you certify that you read, understand and agree the submission rules.

INFO
General questions can be addressed to the secretariat of the Belgian Society of Cardiology:
Email: bsc@bscardio.be or phone nr. +32 (0)2 644 62 32.

Any queries regarding the working of the submission system, may be taken up with Downtown Europe:
Email: bsc@downtowneurope.be or by phone nr. +32 (0)2 732 35 20.