Submission Requirements

You may submit one abstract as the First Author (unless you are submitting a Trials in Progress abstract). You may participate as a coauthor on more than one abstract. The following information is required in order to submit your abstract.

Contact Information
Provide your full name, degree, institution, address, telephone number, and email address. As the First Author (Presenter), you will receive all future correspondence from ASCO regarding the status of your abstract. The information provided upon submission MUST belong to the First Author.

Clinical Research and Copyright Policy
Verification that your clinical research was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and, if appropriate to the research, informed consent was obtained for all subjects. Authors must assign copyright of the abstract to ASCO (unless author is a U.S. federal employee).

Identification of Clinical Trials
Indicate whether your research is a clinical trial. A clinical trial is a prospective biomedical or behavioral research study of human subjects that is designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions (e.g., drugs, treatments, devices, or new ways of using known drugs, treatments, or devices) (National Institutes of Health [NIH] Office of Extramural Research. http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm. Accessed September 24, 2010).

Though clinical trial registration is not required for abstract submission, publication, or presentation, certain clinical trials are required to be registered by law and/or prior to journal publication. If a clinical trial is already registered, the First Author will be asked to provide the name of the registry and the trial registration number during the abstract submission process.

Funding Source
Indicate whether the trial was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company, a foundation, or other source. NIH-sponsored trials are those that receive direct NIH funding for their conduct, including cooperative group trials.

Identification of Principal Investigator
Indicate which author(s) is a principal investigator. The principal investigator is the individual (or individuals) with primary responsibility for the development of the protocol, the conduct of the trial, and the interpretation and dissemination of the trial data.

Abstract Title
The title of your abstract must be in sentence case (only the first letter of the first word of the title should be capitalized along with any proper nouns or acronyms). Do not use proprietary drug names in the title; use generic drug names instead. Do not refer to study results or conclusions in the title of the abstract. The title should objectively describe the study. ASCO reserves the right to edit conclusive titles.

Coauthor(s)
The full name, degree, institution, address, phone number and email address of each coauthor. You may list no more than 20 individual authors for each abstract.

Authoring Group Name
The name of the authoring group associated with the trial. Listing a group name is optional. Please do not list individual author names in this field. Individual institution names should not be used as authoring groups. The group name will appear after the last author in the author string.

Disclosure Declaration
You must include your disclosure information as well as that for all coauthors. The Coauthor Disclosure Form may be used by the First Author to obtain disclosure information from coauthors. The First Author must enter all disclosure information through the Abstract Submitter. One disclosure form is for abstracts that report on clinical trials and the other is for all other abstracts. Use the disclosure form that is appropriate for the abstract that you are submitting. Disclosure information for all authors will be distributed as part of ASCO’s Annual Meeting materials.

If the First Author is employed by a commercial interest as defined by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, and the content relates to the products or business lines of the employer, an alternate presenter who does not have a relevant employment relationship must be named if the abstract is selected for presentation in an Oral Abstract Session or Clinical Science Symposium. Oral Abstract Presenters will also be subject to the same disclosure review and management strategies as faculty, per the ASCO Conflict of Interest Implementation Plan for CME Activities.

Principal Investigator Certification
If your research is a clinical trial, certify whether the principal investigator(s) has interests restricted by the ASCO Conflict of Interest Policy. The restrictions on principal investigators do not apply to NIH-sponsored trials.

Additional Questions for Clinical Trial Abstracts That Do Not Identify a PI
If your research is a clinical trial and the trial has not identified a principal investigator the first author will be required to submit information relating to the conduct of the trial and any safeguards against bias that were incorporated into the trial.

Abstract Body/Table
The body of your abstract should describe the objectives and results of your research. You may type your abstract directly into the text box, cut and paste from an existing document, or upload a text file of your abstract. Authors may also include one data table. Illustrations and figures are not permitted. 

Topic Category
Select the most appropriate topic category for the abstract. When submitting your abstract, you will have the option of identifying a secondary topic category for your abstract. Please note that the ASCO Scientific Program Committee has the authority to recategorize an abstract.

Additional Information
Additional information related to your abstract:

• Agreement to present your abstract if selected for presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting
• Type of trial (phases I, II, or III, correlative, quality-of-life, meta-analysis, prevention, exploratory analysis, or other)
• Research category (clinical, translational, laboratory-based)
• Type of funding
• Abstract selected for presentation at the 2011 Breast Cancer Symposium, 2011 Molecular Markers in Cancer Meeting, 2011 Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, or 2012 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium
• Merit Award application

Merit Award Documents
If you are a trainee and wish to be considered for a Merit Award, a letter of support from your Training Program Director and a brief curriculum vitae (no more than two pages) must be attached. You may bypass this step on the ASCO Annual Meeting Abstract Submitter if you are not applying for a Merit Award.

Sponsorship of Abstract by ASCO Member
The name and contact information (email address) of the Sponsor of the abstract is required. (The Sponsor must be an ASCO Full Member.) You may sponsor your own abstract if you are an ASCO Full Member, Allied Physician/Doctoral Scientist, Member in Training, or International Corresponding member. If you are an ASCO Member in Training sponsoring your own abstract, you must have approval from your Training Program Director. Only ASCO Full Members may sponsor more than one abstract. If you are an Affiliate Health Professional Member, you must obtain sponsorship from a Full Member.

Intent to Submit Late-Breaking Abstract
The ASCO Late-Breaking Abstracts Policy allows for the submission of Late-Breaking Abstracts for randomized phase III trials for which no preliminary data are available at the time of the abstract submission deadline, but for which a preplanned analysis of the primary endpoint is scheduled after that date but before April 2, 2012.

For phase III trials to be considered for Late-Breaking Abstract status, this box must be checked. Phase III abstracts lacking data in the Results section of the abstract will be considered for Late-Breaking Abstract status only when this box is checked. Submitting an abstract with the intent to submit a Late-Breaking Abstract does not guarantee selection of the abstract by the Scientific Program Committee for presentation at the Meeting. Only Late-Breaking Abstracts deemed worthy of presentation at an Oral Abstract Session or Poster Discussion Session will be accepted. Late-Breaking Abstracts will not be placed in any other type of session.

Administrative Fee
A $60 nonrefundable administrative fee will be charged per abstract submitted. Payment is due at the time of submission.  Credit cards are the only acceptable form of payment on the submission website.

Abstract Review and Submission
Review all the components of the abstract and click the “Submit” button to complete the abstract submission process. The abstract must be submitted in its entirety prior to the submission deadline, February 1, 2012, 11:59 PM (EST).