01At a glance
Abstracts are submitted in English and peer-reviewed for oral or poster presentation. You may submit as many abstracts as you wish. The key limits are:
| Requirement | Limit |
|---|---|
| Title | Maximum 100 characters. No abbreviations in the title. |
| Body | Maximum 3,000 characters including spaces (roughly 400+ words), structured Introduction / Methods / Results / Conclusions. |
| Figures | Up to 2, as JPG / GIF / PNG (ideally 600 dpi, max 2 MB each). No tables in the body — upload tables as figures. |
| Keywords | Exactly 4, chosen from the portal dropdown lists. |
| Abbreviations | At most 3 nonstandard abbreviations, each defined at first use. |
| Language | English for both the abstract and the presentation. |
Publication. Accepted abstracts are expected to be published online in an official meeting supplement; publication details, including the journal, will be confirmed by the organizing committee. Abstracts not accepted for presentation will not be published.
02Audience & purpose
The meeting is designed for surgeons, immunologists, scientists and allied health professionals interested in the clinical and research aspects of vascularized composite allotransplantation. Material is presented through symposia, concurrent workshops, peer-reviewed oral and poster presentations, and small parallel workshops for in-depth discussion of clinical and basic-science topics.
The meeting aims to review the latest clinical and basic-science advances in VCA medicine and surgery; to examine recent developments in transplant biology, immunology and graft preservation; and to consider the broader social and policy issues in the field. Above all, we encourage you to reserve your best and most thoughtful work for this international meeting.
03Structure & preparation
Abstracts must conform exactly to the electronic submission template. During the upload step you will download the MS Word template, insert your content, and upload it back to the system.
Do not include the title, author names or affiliations in the document. Doing so compromises the blinded review process and may result in automatic rejection.
The body is organised into four sections
- Introduction
- A short introduction indicating the rationale of the study.
- Methods
- A brief description of the pertinent methodological procedures.
- Results
- A summary of the results of the research.
- Conclusions
- A statement of the main conclusions.
Abbreviations should follow the Style Manual for Biological Journals. Use capitalised proprietary or product names only when absolutely necessary; otherwise use lowercase, chemically generic drug names. Submit figures with no surrounding white space, and make sure text stays readable when scaled down for print.
04Review & changes
- Abstracts are blinded for peer review. Be cautious with institutional references in the body — abstracts that identify authors or institutions will not be reviewed.
- An abstract is eligible only if it has not been previously published as an article at the time of submission.
- You may edit freely until the submission deadline. After the deadline, only minor administrative updates are allowed — author or institution spelling, disclosures, keywords, and questionnaire entries.
- The absolute deadline for minor updates or withdrawals is December 14, 2026. No corrections, withdrawals or changes are accepted after this date.
- Ensure all co-authors approve the submission, publication and potential presentation.
- You will receive an email confirmation once your submission is finalised. The submitting author must complete their disclosure.
05Ethics & integrity
Informed consent
Studies involving human subjects must conform to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Declaration of Istanbul, and meet all requirements governing informed consent in the country where the study was performed.
Use of animals
All studies involving animals must conform to the 1991 revision of the Guiding Principles in the Care and Use of Animals.
Plagiarism
Every abstract undergoes a plagiarism review. If plagiarism is found, all abstracts by that author are subject to immediate rejection, the submitting author's profile will be terminated, and any associated scholarship applications voided.
Employees of commercial interests
Employees of commercial interests are encouraged to submit, but abstracts should not include clinical patient-care recommendations. They should focus on biology, physiology or physics and the discovery process, and must not promote specific commercial products, treatments or diagnostics.
06Clinical content validation
- All clinical recommendations must rest on evidence accepted within the medical profession as adequate justification for patient-care indications and contraindications.
- All research cited in support of a clinical recommendation must conform to generally accepted standards of experimental design, data collection and analysis.
- Content must not promote recommendations, treatments or practice styles outside the definition of CME, or those known to carry risks outweighing clinical benefit, or known to be ineffective. Abstracts advocating unscientific diagnostic or therapeutic modalities will be rejected.
07Submitting online
These notes apply once the online submission portal opens — we suggest keeping them for reference.
- Work through each section under “Submission Steps”, following the instructions in each.
- Use Save Information to save your progress; this does not submit the abstract for review. Always save before logging off.
- You can log off and return at any time. Unsubmitted abstracts can be edited as often as needed before the deadline.
- Sharing your username and password gives that person access to edit every abstract you have not yet submitted.
- Check your abstract with Preview Abstract, then use Submit only when it is complete and final.
08Embargo & publication
In compliance with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), accepted abstracts are made public on the ISVCA website ahead of the meeting. The first public release is May 1, 2027.
Coverage of additional research presented at the meeting is embargoed until the time of presentation. Institutions, organisations and companies whose products may be affected by an abstract may issue a press release timed to the abstract's availability; however, anything beyond the content of the abstract itself — for example, discussion during a scientific presentation — is embargoed until the scientific sessions begin.
Violations may lead to withdrawal of the abstract and other appropriate measures. Journalists who break the embargo may have their press credentials revoked.