The INSAR Scientific Program Committee invites proposals for Panels, Posters, Oral Presentations, and Technology Demonstrations at the INSAR 2025 Annual Meeting to be held in Seattle, WA, USA on April 30 - May 3, 2025. This meeting is planned as an in person event.
Accepted abstracts should be presented in person.
All abstracts are submitted online. Individuals should indicate whether submissions should be considered as (a) part of a Panel, (b) an Individual submission (Oral or Poster) or (c) a Technology Demonstration. Individuals also will be asked to select the 1-3 topic areas that most closely matches the submission. View the full list of Topic Areas here to determine which is the best fit for your submission. Select the "Panel submission" or "Individual submission" button directly under that specific Topic Area.
We particularly encourage Panel submissions that take an integrative, cross-discipline, and/or translational approach and that bring together multiples levels of analyses with autistic individuals' and/or their loved ones' lived experiences.
Abstract notifications (panel, oral, poster and tech demo) are scheduled to be sent out by January 26, 2025.
Notes for 2025
- Continuing for INSAR 2025: Optional Science Development Advisory Program
The INSAR Scientific Program Committee, in collaboration with the Global Senior Leadership and Cultural Diversity Committees, is continuing its initiative to support the involvement in the annual meeting of researchers conducting research in under-represented regions of the world, including low- and middle-income countries as well as under-resourced settings within high-income countries. This initiative also aims to support individuals who identify a need for English language support during the development of abstract submissions for the 2025 Annual Meeting.
"Pre-submission" abstracts may be submitted to receive feedback on the writing and overall presentation prior to final submission. Pre-submission abstracts must be submitted between September 9 and October 8, 2024, and feedback will be provided by October 15, 2024 so that submitters can submit final abstracts before the submission deadline on October 22, 2024. Individuals may request advisory support by uploading a pre-submission abstract, ticking the box marked “I am requesting pre-submission feedback”, and then confirming eligibility. Individuals are eligible if they:
- Currently are or recently have been (i.e., within the past two years) conducting research entirely within a low-resource setting, including but not limited to within a low-middle income country (LMIC) or under-resourced environment within a high-income country, and do not have regular access to a senior mentor at their current site who is experienced in English-language international scientific publication, OR
- Have limited English fluency and do not have current regular access to a research mentor who is experienced in English-language international scientific publication.
Individuals who are conducting research addressing low-resource environments but who are based at, or closely collaborating with, higher-resourced institutions are not eligible.
- NEW for INSAR 2025: Expedited Initial Review Program for Individuals Requiring Visa Applications for Conference Travel
To reduce barriers to attending the INSAR Annual Meeting resulting from lengthy wait-times for visa requests, we are offering an expedited initial review for selected abstract submitters who would benefit from an earlier decision for visa application purposes to attend the INSAR Annual Meeting (in the United States in 2025). This program will only provide information on whether an abstract is accepted or rejected. Information on the timing and format of presentations will not be provided during the expedited initial review. All expedited review abstracts will still subsequently undergo the full review process to determine the presentation format (oral vs poster).
Please note that for INSAR 2025, this new service is only available if the presenting author meets ALL of the following criteria:
- is not eligible to enter the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP),
- is not a citizen of the United States, Canada, or Bermuda,
- does not meet any of the ineligibility criteria to receive a visa under U.S. visa law described here, and
- is willing for their abstract to be accepted as a poster*.
Individuals may request this expedited initial review during abstract submission by ticking the box marked "I am requesting expedited initial review for visa application purpose only", and then confirming eligibility.
*Participation in the expedited initial review program will not affect decisions regarding the final format of presentations. Because final formats cannot be determined until all full reviews are completed, abstracts for which authors only are interested in oral presentations will not be evaluated during the expedited initial review.
- NEW for INSAR 2025: Change of Scope to the previous Technology Demonstration topic area
This year, the Technology Demonstration topic area is expanding to include Digital Health Research and renamed as "Digital Health Research or Technology Demonstration". Digital health research refers to the use of digital devices for measuring and quantifying behavior and physiology. Examples include eye tracking, speech analysis of audio recordings, movement analysis of video recordings, utilizing video games for research, measuring activity and sleep with wearable and nearable devices, etc. This new topic focus aims to integrate research presentations utilizing such techniques for studying autism.
If submitters have a Technology Demonstration to present at the meeting, they will need to select the "Digital Health Research or Technology Demonstration" topic area, and further select the "live demo" button on their submission and describe their demonstration. Technology demonstrations are intended to present new technologies that are useful for basic and/or clinical autism research. All demonstrations must be accompanied by associated research results demonstrating the validity and utility of the demonstrated technology for autism research. If the abstract describes a new tool or technology for intervention,
it must include scientific research results regarding its utility and efficacy from a verified academic institution. Commercial demonstrations will not be accepted.
- General Information for all abstract submissions:
- Submission should focus on new, unpublished results. Abstracts and panels that do not include unpublished results at the time of submission will not be considered.
- The abstract submission fee ($50) will be collected during the submission process. The abstract fee is non-refundable. For Individual Abstract or Tech Demo submissions, the fee is waived if any author is a current INSAR member at the time of submission. For Panel submissions, the fee is waived if the Panel Chair is a current INSAR member at the time of submission. Abstract fees will not be refunded if member authors are added after payment step.
- Submitters will identify their preferred individual submission format(s) among three options: 1) Oral only, 2) Poster only, or 3) Oral or Poster format.
- Panel Presentations:
- The length of the Panel sessions is 2 hours.
- We expect diversity in all proposed panels in viewpoints and approaches, as well as diversity in other domains, including: gender, race, tenure, countries, institutions and disciplines. Panels without significant diversity will not be considered.
- Preference will be given to panels that take an integrative, cross-discipline, and/or translational approach that brings together multiple levels of analyses with autistic individuals' and or their loved ones’ lived experiences.
- Abstracts submitted as part of a panel submission will automatically be considered as an individual submission (oral or poster) if the panel is not accepted, unless the submitter indicates otherwise. Do not submit material more than once (e.g., as part of a panel and as an Individual Oral or Poster submission).
- Oral Presentations:
- All presenting authors for accepted oral presentations are expected to present in person at the meeting. It is requested that invited speakers please contact INSAR immediately if unexpected changes occur prior after acceptance and prior to the meeting that would impact the speaker’s ability to present in-person.
- Oral presentations will be 10 minutes long and are expected to include data outcomes, at least some of which have not been published at the time of abstract submission. While it is expected that some preliminary results will be described in the abstract submission, abstracts that demonstrate the strong likelihood that analyses will be completed by the time of presentation also may be considered.
- The Scientific Program Committee will select the most thematically related and highest rated abstracts to be included in Oral Sessions. If the submitter selects Oral only and the Scientific Program Committee does not select the abstract for an Oral Presentation, the abstract will be withdrawn from consideration. Please indicate Oral or Poster format if there is no objection to the poster format as a default.
- Poster Presentation:
- All presenting authors for accepted poster presentations are required to present a physical poster at the in-person meeting following the stated guidelines.
- The schedule for oral and poster presentations as well as poster presenter instructions will be sent out by March 14, 2025.
- We have planned for larger aisles in the poster area to allow more space for attendee flow in the poster hall.
- Technology Demonstration:
Abstracts selected for the Technology Demonstration session will allow greater participation in the interactive demonstrations. Each presenter will have a larger space to accommodate both a poster and demo. Note: The Tech Demo session will be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025.
- There will not be a Late Breaking Abstract submission for this meeting.
Due to heavy volumes, delayed support response times at submission deadlines are unavoidable. Plan accordingly. We recommend you start your submission at least two weeks prior to the deadline to allow time for staff to assist with login or technical support questions if needed. It is your responsibility to finish your submission by the stated deadline.
Topic Areas for Submissions
Adult Outcome: Medical, Cognitive, Behavioral |
Epidemiology |
Animal Models |
Genetics |
Autism Community Issues and Experiences |
High Support Needs or Profound Autism |
Brain Function (fMRI, fcMRI, MRS, EEG, ERP, MEG) |
International and Cross-Cultural Perspectives |
Brain Structure (MRI, neuropathology) |
Interventions - Behavioral and Educational – Preschool & Infant |
Coexisting Medical, Neurodevelopmental, and Mental Health Conditions |
Interventions - Behavioral and Educational - School-Age, Adolescent, Adult |
Cognition: Attention, Learning, Memory |
Interventions – Biomedical |
Communication and Language |
Molecular and Cellular Biology |
Diagnostic, Behavioral & Intellectual Assessment |
Sensory, Motor, and Repetitive Behaviors and Interests |
Digital Health Research or Technology Demonstration |
Service Delivery/Systems of Care |
Early Development (< 48 months) |
Social Cognition and Social Behavior |
|
Translational Neuroscience |
View Topic Area Keywords |
|
Types of Presentations
Panel Submissions. The aim of panels is to present lectures around a common scientific theme of high relevance to autism research. Submissions should consist of 4 linked presentations submitted as a group by a Panel Chair. A Discussant can be included, but is optional. The role of the discussant will be to provide context for the panel, including for non-experts, and/or a discussion integrating concepts raised in the presentations rather than to serve as a 5th presentation.
Preference will be given to Panel submissions that take an integrative, cross-discipline and/or translational approach that brings together multiple levels of analyses with autistic individuals’ and/or their loved ones’ lived experiences.
The Panel Chair should submit a paragraph describing the general theme of the session and the cutting edge science that will be discussed. It is understood that all named speakers will have committed in advance to participate in the panel if selected. The Panel Chair will also provide information about the diversity represented by the group of presenters (see Review Process and Criteria section).
Panel session length is 2 hours. Each talk can be 20 minutes long, with an additional 5 minutes for questions after each presentation, and 10 minutes allotted for the discussant. If there is no discussant, the Panel Chair would determine the best distribution of that time for either presentations or question and answers.
Papers submitted as part of a panel that is not accepted will automatically be considered as an individual submission. If the abstract is reviewed favorably and is determined to stand alone as an individual submission outside a panel, the Scientific Program Committee will select oral or poster format. Do not submit material more than once (e.g., as part of a panel and as an individual oral presentation). The submitter can indicate if they do not want the abstract considered for oral or poster presentation. If this option is selected, and the panel isn't accepted, the abstract will be withdrawn from consideration.
Oral Presentations should be data-driven, empirical reports of new findings that have not been previously published or presented elsewhere at the time of submission. Oral presentations will be 10 minutes long with 2 additional minutes for questions. Please avoid using the Oral Presentation format to review the literature or describe published techniques. The Scientific Program Committee will evaluate abstracts requested for oral presentations based on their new research content.
Abstracts that are accepted in this format will be grouped into Oral sessions according to common themes by the Scientific Program Committee. There are fewer slots for oral presentations than posters. If the submitter selects the "Oral only" format, and the Scientific Program Committee does not select the abstract for an Oral Presentation, the abstract will be withdrawn from consideration. Please indicate "Oral or Poster" format if there is no objection to the poster format as a default.
Poster Submissions should be data-driven, empirical reports of new findings that have not been previously published or presented elsewhere at the time of submission.
Poster presentations will be approximately 1.5 hours long.
Technology Demonstration / Submissions (i.e., submissions in the "Digital Health Research or Technology Demonstration" topic area that further select the “live demo” button on their submission are intended to present new technologies that are useful for basic and/or clinical autism research. All demonstrations must be accompanied by associated research results demonstrating the validity and utility of the demonstrated technology for autism research. If the abstract describes a new tool or technology for intervention, it must include scientific research results regarding its utility and efficacy from a verified academic institution. Commercial demonstrations will not be accepted.
Review Process and Criteria for All Submissions
Panel, poster, tech demos and oral submissions will be reviewed for scientific merit by independent reviewers. Reviewers are unaware of author identities. Submissions are rated using the following criteria:
- Are the findings important?
- Has there been sufficient progress to ensure that proposed hypotheses will be tested prior to the meeting?
- Is the rationale for the research clearly presented?
- Is there sufficient information about the methods (including participants, when relevant) and data analytic strategy to evaluate the science?
- Is the sample size adequate to provide a reliable finding?
- Are interpretations appropriate and justified by the data?
- Is the topic of relevance to autism research and to INSAR Annual Meeting attendees?
For Panels Only: Proposed panels must be diverse in viewpoints and approaches, as well as diverse in other domains, including: gender, race, ethnicity, tenure, countries, institutions and disciplines. Panels with no diversity will not be considered.
Submissions that do not conform to submission instructions will receive lower ratings. In particular,
- If the material is submitted more than once (e.g., same content in two different formats), this could result in the submission not being reviewed.
- If the abstract lacks sufficient data, for example, an oral presentation that lacks enough content to occupy the 10 minute talk. Avoid lengthy reviews of background literature and published methods.
- Abstracts should represent research that has already been carried out and has produced statistically reliable findings but which has not yet been published (at the time of submission). Abstracts that demonstrate the majority of data collection has been completed but not yet analyzed also will be considered. Abstracts providing promissory notes of research that will be conducted in the future will receive lower scores even if the topic is of interest.
- If reviewers have significant ethical concerns.
Scores are averaged across the peer reviews. Acceptance is determined each year in accordance with INSAR's strategic initiative to promote and enhance the highest quality research, the number of submissions in a submission format and topic area and overall program structure.
Steps and Instructions:
Abstract Preparation
- Report original research.
- All submissions should provide "new" information. Oral and Poster submissions should not have been published or presented previously at the time of submission. Panels may include previously published information, but it is expected that they will also provide new, unpublished data.
- Provide Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions with enough information to allow the reviewer to assess the value of each of these categories. Indicate if the research is exploratory. Rationale, significance of results and general principles should be explained. Methods should be very brief. It is not satisfactory to say, "The results will be discussed."
- Highlight examples of scientific rigor (sample sizes, replication, blinding and controls used).
- Provide biological variables as appropriate (age, sex, species, etc.).
- State units of measure using standard abbreviations.
- When using other abbreviations, fully spell out once and indicate the abbreviation in parentheses that will be used going forward.
Guidelines for Submissions
- Submission of an abstract for presentation at the INSAR Annual Meeting is predicated on the following:
- Any work with human or animal subjects reported in the abstract complies with the guiding policies and principles for experimental procedures endorsed by the regulatory bodies of the jurisdiction (e.g. National Institutes of Health in the US) and/or the standards set by the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH): Good Clinical Practice Requirements.
- Each author has given consent to appear as an author. Each author will automatically receive notice of abstract submission.
- Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest. Any real or perceived financial conflict of interest (COI), such as royalties, pharmaceutical relationships, case litigation, etc., of each investigator must be reported. Any potential for financial gain that may be derived from reported work may constitute a potential conflict of interest. The final step in the process will be the requirement for each author to log into the site and sign the personal COI statement. This must be done by Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at 11:59 PM pacific time. Failure to declare a real or perceived COI, or COI statements from any co-authors that are incomplete at the disclosure deadline, will result in withdrawal of the abstract from meeting presentation, and the Program and Abstract books as well as a prohibition in submitting an abstract to the INSAR Annual Meeting for the following year. All COIs must be displayed in oral and poster presentations and they will be identified in the online program.
- Data Presentation: Presentation of research at the meeting must be substantively identical to that summarized in the abstract. Including new data collected after submission is encouraged.
- All authors must accept and follow INSAR's embargo policy.
- Information submitted to the Annual Meeting as an abstract for oral or poster presentation is embargoed for the purpose of press releases until after the presentation. The Scientific Program Committee will select a small group of abstracts for inclusion in a press book and INSAR will arrange for information release and press conferences during the meeting. Press policies may be viewed on the INSAR website.
- Online submission is required.
- Submissions are only accepted through the online abstract system.
- Submissions are only accepted in English.
- A profile on the INSAR website is required to access the online submitter. INSAR members and recent meeting attendees already have a login, others can create one.
- An individual may submit as the First Author once for each submission type (oral only, poster only, oral or poster, panel). Presenting Author defaults to First Author but can be reassigned to another author on the submission (prior to the submission deadline).
- For members of INSAR, there is no fee to submit abstracts. Non-members will be charged a $50 processing fee during the submission process. This fee is non-refundable.
- Payment must be rendered by credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or American Express only). Double-check credit card information for accuracy.
- Purchase orders are not accepted.
- Abstract submission does not include registration for the annual meeting. Presenting Authors must register and attend the annual meeting.
- All submissions should provide "new" information. Oral and Poster submissions should not have been published or presented previously at the time of submission. Panels may include previously published information, but it is expected that they will also provide new, unpublished data as well.
- Abstracts must be submitted through the INSAR Annual Meeting online submitter by Tuesday, October 22, 2024 at 11:59 PM pacific time.
- TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT FOR AN ORAL PRESENTATION OR POSTER:
The text of abstract submissions must:
- Be 500 words or less.
- Include the following sub-headings: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions -- with enough information to allow the reviewer to assess the value of each of these categories.
- Not include the authors' names and affiliations.
- Graphics (tables/figures) are optional. They do not count toward the 500 word limit. A maximum of two graphics are allowed (2 tables, 2 figures, or one of each), incorporated into a single file. Upload the graphics file using one of the following file formats: .jpg, .gif, .png.
- For Tech Demo submissions:
- Note if the presentation will include a live demo at the meeting.
- If so, briefly describe the demo.
- TO SUBMIT A PANEL:
Enter both a summary of the overall panel theme, information about diversity represented, and an abstract for each proposed talk in the panel.
- Panels require a Panel Chair who is responsible for the content within the panel. The Panel Chair can also serve as a speaker within the panel.
- Individual authors will be sent an email with a link to their specific abstract. It is up to the Panel Chair to decide whether he/she would like to submit all abstracts or ask each author to submit his/her own abstract for the panel.
- The submitter of each abstract can indicate if they do not want their specific abstract considered for oral or poster presentation if the panel not being accepted.
- A discussant can be included, but is optional. The discussant should be identified at the time the panel is submitted; no abstract is submitted for the discussant. The role of the discussant is to provide context for the panel, including for non-experts, and/or a discussion integrating concepts raised in the presentations, rather than to serve as a 5th presentation.
Panels will be evaluated as a whole. If any abstract within the panel is incomplete, the panel will be considered incomplete.
The text of Panel submissions must:
- Include a paragraph (200 words or less) describing the overall theme of the panel, followed by a 500 word or less abstract for each presentation within the panel.
- Include the following sub-headings in each abstract: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions -- with enough information to allow the reviewer to assess the value of each of these categories.
- Not include the authors' names and affiliations.
Note: ALL ABSTRACTS WILL BE PRINTED EXACTLY AS THEY ARE SUBMITTED. Therefore we recommend that you compose the text of the abstract in a separate document before beginning the online submission process. Check the spelling and grammar of the text before submitting it. The conference organizers will not edit any portion of abstracts (e.g., title, authors, affiliations, spelling errors).
As soon as you have submitted the title of your presentation you will automatically receive an email (from insar@confex.com) that includes a password-protected hyperlink. If you must interrupt the submission process before finishing it, you can resume at any time by clicking on the hyperlink in that email.
Confirmation
Disclosures must be complete to proceed to the Confirmation step. You will have a chance to look over the submission to make sure all is complete.
General Instructions
No names or titles should be included in the abstract text. Name and organization fields will be automatically hidden during the abstract review process and will be automatically inserted and properly formatted upon publication.
Presenting authors receive all communications and automatic emails from the abstract system. Additional authors cannot be added to abstracts after the submission deadline. Presenting authors will be automatically informed of the unique ID numbers and passwords assigned to their abstracts. Presenting authors will use their INSAR profile login to access the abstract system. They may view and modify their abstract at any time between submission and the deadline.
Select your submission type (Individual, Panel, Tech Demo) below. Within the submission you will select a Topic Area, Keywords and indicate presentation preferences. For Individual submissions you will see presentation preference options for Oral, Poster, Oral or Poster.
Choose the Topic Area that is the best fit for your research. As you proceed through the submission, you may select a "second preferred category" and "third preferred category" from the options listed if your work spans three different topic areas.
Technical Support
Contact technical support for help in submitting an abstract online.