XXXVII Panamerican Congress of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery 
Cuenca, Ecuador ~ May 21-24, 2025
Call for Abstracts and Research Competition

Deadlines for Abstracts and manuscript submissions for oral presentations:

GUIDELINES	DEADLINE	REQUIREMENTS
Phase I:  Submission guidelines	Abstract submission due date January 30, 2025	300-word abstract
Phase II. 1. Oral Podium Presentations	The contact authors of selected abstracts for oral presentations will be notified via e-mail, including instructions to submit manuscripts to be eligible for an oral presentation. Manuscript submission due date, May 2,  2025	Manuscript
Phase II. 2. E-posters	The contact authors of selected abstracts will be notified via e-mail.	See information about mini-oral presentations

 Abstract Submission FAQs

Please read the abstract submission guidelines before submitting your abstract

Phase I: Abstract Submission Guidelines

A. General Requirements

The Panamerican Trauma Society (PTS) encourages all health care personnel interested in trauma care to present an abstract focused  on this area. The abstract should describe original research in trauma care, critical care, injury prevention, or burn care. The abstract  must consist of original material not published before the XXXVI Panamerican Congress of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery on May 21-23, 2024 or previously presented in other national or international conferences. Local presentations are allowed.

B. Submission Requirements

1. Use the PTS Online Abstract Submission Format to send your abstract. We do not accept abstracts by email.
2. Use Arial 10 font.
3. Include a list of authors in order of relevance in the workplace, including health care center, city, state and country. Maximum 10 members per group. Indicate the person who will be presenting and the person who will be the corresponding author (contact person). The order of authors may not be changed in the presentation or publication in the Journal.
4. The abstract should contain no more than 300 words including: Objective, Methods, Results and Conclusions.
5. The abstract can be sent in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
6. All authors must select a type of presentation: Oral presentation only, mini-oral presentation only, or both (oral and mini-oral presentation). Please indicate if the abstract is to be considered for oral or mini-oral presentation, or both.
7. All authors must select an abstract category. Please choose between:  Student research competition,  Resident research competition, and General Research competition. 
8. All papers submitted for oral or mini-oral presentations must consist of original material unpublished and not  presented nationally or internationally prior to the annual PTS scientific event.
   
   a. Student Research Competition: This competition is open for all students in health related fields (medical students, nursing students, etc.). The student must be the first author in the abstract. If selected for oral or mini-oral presentation, the presenter must be the first author or a student who is a co-author of the paper. The student abstract must be sponsored by a senior member of the Panamerican Trauma Society.  A STUDENT  WHO HAS NOT YET GRADUATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL, MUST NOT ADDRESS HIMSELF/HERSELF AS A MD. Failure to comply will result in disqualification of your work.
   
   b. Resident Research Competition: This competition is open for all residents and fellows (surgery, critical care, emergency medicine, and other health related training). The resident or fellow must be the first author on the abstract. The abstract must be presented by the first author or co-author who is a resident or fellow. 
   
   c. General Research Competition: This competition is open for all non-residents and non-students. If the abstract is selected for oral or mini-oral presentation, the presenter must be one of the authors listed in the abstract.
   
   
9. All abstracts must be submitted electronically using the web-based submission format. Please DO NOT submit your abstract via e-mail.
10. Participants must provide the PTS with an active email address of a contact person (correspondent author). NOTE: The contact person must be the presenting author of the paper. All relevant information in reference to an abstract will be sent via e-mail to the contact author ONLY.
    
11. After submitting your abstract the corresponding author (contact person) of your paper will receive an automated email message including a registration code of your paper. Please keep that code on your files to refer to your abstract. Please ensure that your email address is accurate.
12. To make any changes to your abstract refer to the automated email message you received when you submitted an abstract. Click on the link to edit your abstract before the submission deadline
13. No changes or additions to the abstracts are allowed after the submission due date . Please make sure to list all the authors who participated on the paper with correct full names.  | Top
    
14.  Case reports selected for an oral presentation will be eligible for mini-oral presentations only.

C. Selection Process

1. The abstract will be considered for review only if it is subject to the submission guidelines.
2. Abstracts will be selected solely on the data submitted. Statements such as “further data will be presented” are strongly discouraged and will decrease the likelihood that the abstract will be selected for presentation at the PTS Annual Meeting.
3. All abstracts will be evaluated based on the following aspects:

   a. Compliance with the submission requirement
   b. Objectives
   c. Research method
   d. Application of epidemiological tools
   e. Coherence of the conclusion
   f. Impact of research

4. Abstracts selected for oral presentations will be presented at a plenary session during the PTS congress. 
5. Abstracts selected for oral presentations will be eligible to participate in the research competition.
   
6. Abstracts selected for mini oral presentations will be presented during the PTS Congress. 
7. Participants must provide the PTS with an active email address of a correspondent author (contact person). All relevant information in reference to an abstract will be sent via e-mail to the correspondent (contact) author ONLY, who will then be responsible for communication with the co-authors.  NOTE: The contact person must be the presenting author of the paper. Other pertinent information about the call for abstracts will be posted on this site.
8. All accepted abstracts for oral (podium) presentations will be considered for publication in the proceedings of the Congress and in a supplemental issue of the Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical care, and Emergency Surgery. 
9.  Abstracts selected for oral and mini-oral presentation may be published in the Journal of the Panamerican Trauma Society. If you wish to publish your work elsewhere, please refrain from submitting your abstract for an oral or mini-oral presentation or research competition. | Top

Phase II. 1. Oral Podium Presentation–Research Paper Competition 

The 300-word abstracts submitted by January 30, 2025 will be assessed and selected for oral podium presentation.  ONLY the corresponding author (contact person) of a selected abstract for oral presentation will be notified via e-mail that his/her abstract has been accepted for oral presentation.

A. General Requirements

The contact author (correspondent) of a selected abstract for oral presentation who sent an abstract by the deadline (January  30, 2025) will be notified via e-mail that his/her work has been selected for oral presentation.

Please note:  All abstracts selected for oral presentation must be submitted either as a 3-page manuscript,  OR submit a 4-15 page manuscript in order to be eligible to participate in the research competition. All these manuscripts will become property of the PTS Journal (The Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery), which will have right of first refusal.

Manuscripts of selected papers for oral presentations may be published at the Panamerican Journal of Trauma. If you want to publish your work elsewhere, please refrain from submitting a manuscript for the research competition.

Deadline for submission of manuscript:  May 2, 2024

(Note: This applies only to authors of accepted papers for oral podium presentation) | Top

B. Manuscript Submission Requirements

To be considered for the PTS research paper competition, all participants selected for oral presentations must submit a full manuscript by the specified deadline. Authors must submit a minimum 3 page manuscript to participate in the oral presentation, or a 4-15 page manuscript to enter the research competition (recommended). This manuscript should be submitted as a final report of a research project following the guidelines of scientific journal publications stated in the Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery (PAJTCCES). See Annex 1 "Instructions for Authors" to meet requirements.    

1. The manuscript should be prepared in Word format and should not exceed 25 pages.
2. Use Arial 11 and double-spaced font.
3. The manuscript may be sent in English, Spanish or Portuguese by e-mail to:  gladys.shanklin@vcuhealth.org, as well as to PAJTCCES by logging on to www.pajtcces.com . The name of your electronic file send by email must include: the category of competition (General, Resident, or Student), the name of the person who is presenting, and the abstract code designated. Sample: Resident-Peter Smith-ILOGB-6 
4. The manuscript must be written in the same language as the submitted abstract.
5. The oral presentation, the manuscript, and the abstract must be in the same language. Breach of this requirement will result in elimination of that paper from the presentations session.
   
6. The manuscript should include the following information: 

   a. Abstract Code: (XXXX)

   b. Abstract Title: (XXXX)

   c. Category: - (General, Resident, or Student)

   d. Presenters Name: (XXXX)

   e. Co-authors: (XXXX)

   f. Institution: (XXXX)

7. The evaluation will be based on the quality of the presentation and the quality of the content of the manuscript.  The evaluation will be based on the following criteria: 
   a. Objectives
   b. Research method
   c. Application of epidemiological tools
   d. Coherence of the conclusion
   e. Impact of research
   
8. Please keep your e-mail address active, as all relevant information will be sent via e-mail to the contact author only.
9. On-time submission of your manuscript is mandatory.  Statements such as “further data will be presented” are strongly discouraged and will decrease the likelihood to be eligible for an oral presentation and participation in the research competition at the PTS Annual Congress.

C. Instructions for oral presentation

1. The conference organizers will provide participants with the tools needed for displaying electronic presentations.
2.  Presenters must provide a final version of their PowerPoint presentations to a technician at the congress at least ONE hour before their participation.
3. The defense of the oral presentation will be 10 minutes, and will be evaluated by a group of local and international experts.
4. Please allow 7 minutes for presentation, and 3  minutes for discussion/questions
5. The date, time, and place of each presentation will be listed in the scientific program.
6. It is recommended that the presenter be available during the entire session of oral presentations.
7. The research competition winners will be announced and awarded during the General Assembly of the SPT. The presenter must be present at the General Assembly of the SPT to receive their award   

      Instructions to design oral presentations 

      All selected papers for oral presentations must be presented electronically in PowerPoint.

1. The PowerPoint presentations should be concise, using short sentences describing the main points and include Slide 1 Title, name of authors, institution and contact address and other slides should contain methods, results, conclusions, and references
2. The recommended fonts are: Arial and Calibri with minimum font size 10.
3. The resolution of the graphics must be 3 MGbytes
4. The slides may include: photographs, graphics, and text color.
5. Animations, videos, and sounds are not permitted.
6. Save your electronic presentation on a USB drive and have a copy of your presentation at the congress. Presenters must provide a final version of their PowerPoint presentations to a technician at the congress at least ONE hour before their participation.
7. The oral presentation must be in the same language of the submitted abstract to the PTS (English, Spanish, Portuguese). Breach of this requirement will result in elimination of that presentation.
8. Please use this PowerPoint sample background for oral presentations

Phase II. 2. Instructions for E-posters submission

All selected abstracts will be displayed electronically on screens sequentially during the Panamerican Trauma Congress. Please follow the instructions below for designing and submitting your presentation.

A. E-posters Submission Requirements

PowerPoint Presentation Format:

1.      The presentation should be clear and concise, using short sentences to describe the main points.
2.      The document must contain ONLY one (1) slide, in 16:9 format distributed as follows:

Recommendations and Restrictions:

Submission:

Exhibition:

The screens will be divided into three categories: student, general and residents. The best abstracts previously scored by a team of evaluators, will be awarded first, second and third place.

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Annex 1: Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Surgery top

Instructions for Authors of Oral Podium Presentations

1. Title Page: The first page of the manuscript should include: title of the manuscript, article type, and name(s) of all authors, including graduate degrees of authors, and the name of institution or affiliation where the work was done.

2. Abstract Structure: An abstract of 300 words or less should be submitted in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Abstracts are needed for original scientific articles only. Short summaries or introductions in English, Spanish or Portuguese should be submitted for all other articles. The format for the abstract is:
a. Background
b. Study Design
c. Results
d. Conclusions

3. Text: The original scientific article should be divided into four sections:

a. Introduction

b. Methods of research

c. Results

d. Discussion

Articles should use generic names for drugs and in parentheses it should be provided the trade name, and company. Do not use patient names, initials, or hospital numbers.

4. References: References should be listed in consecutive numerical order as they are cited in the text. Once a reference is cited, all subsequent citations should be to the original number. All references must be cited in the text or tables. References to journal articles should include: authors, title, journal name as abbreviated in Index Medicus, year, volume number, and page numbers in that order. References to books should include: authors, chapter title, if any; editor in any; title of book; year; city and publisher. Volume and edition numbers, specific pages, and name of translator should be included when appropriate. The author is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references and for their correct text citation.

5. Originality: Manuscript and illustrations submitted for consideration should not have been published elsewhere except for such preliminary material presented to the Panamerican Trauma Society.