REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS

Requirements and Guidelines for Abstract Submissions Updated 112514 2 Overview ICOET invites abstracts to present technical papers, posters, and organized sessions at its 2015 biennial conference. Presentations at ICOET address a broad range of topics which describe current project or planning activities, research findings, emerging issues, or best practices related to the interface between ecology and transportation. Submission Deadline All abstracts must be submitted online by January 30, 2015 at 11:59 PM Eastern U.S. Time. Submission Website Submit abstracts online via a link on the Call for Abstracts web page at www.icoet.net. The submission website includes a web form to enter the author(s) information, and an upload function to submit the abstract as a PDF document. Contact information for the abstract’s Primary Author/session organizer is required to complete the submission process. Co-Author/co-organizer information may be entered when submitting or at a later time. This guidelines document includes templates (see pages 5 and 7) to assist in writing and organizing your abstract using a word processing application such as Microsoft Word. When your abstract is ready, save it as a PDF file for upload to the submission website. Authors may submit multiple abstracts for consideration, but must submit a separate PDF file for each abstract. Note: Users of the submission website will create a Submitter account to login. Abstract submitters may be a Primary Author, a Co-Author, or a third-party Submitter who is assisting the authors. The website allows the Submitter account to login and update abstract information at any time until the submission deadline is past. Presentation Topics and Types Before preparing your abstract, review the information on the Call for Abstracts web page including the Program Topic Areas to identify the topic area that best fits your abstract’s subject matter. Abstract submissions are not limited to the topics and subtopics listed in the Call for Abstracts web page; all abstracts that address aspects of both ecology and transportation will be considered. Authors are welcome to submit multiple abstracts on various subjects that fit the Program Topic areas. When submitting your abstract, indicate the presentation type for which the abstract is to be considered: technical Paper (podium) presentation only, Poster presentation only, Either a paper or poster presentation, or a Session Proposal. Submission Timeline and Notification Abstracts submitted to ICOET are first reviewed and scored by a team of industry peers—practitioners and researchers with understanding of the abstract’s subject matter. Reviewer scores and comments are then forwarded to the ICOET Program Committee for final selection. All Primary authors/organizers will be notified of their abstract selection status.  January 30, 2015: Deadline for all abstract submissions.  Late March 2015: Primary authors/organizers notified of selection status.  June-July 2015: Submission packets due for all presenters to include the technical paper manuscript (podium presenters); poster PDF image file and final abstract (poster presenters); or final session abstract and presenter information (session organizers). All presenters should be registered to attend the conference by this time. ICOET Requirements and Guidelines for Abstract Submissions Updated 112514 3 Abstracts for Papers and Posters An abstract is a summary (500 words or less) of the paper or poster topic you wish to present at ICOET. This is a concise statement of your project or study objectives, methodology, current or anticipated results or outcomes, major significance and implications of the results or outcomes and, if applicable, recommendations for future research. Your abstract should include enough detail to convey what will be learned from reading the full paper or poster, and from attending your presentation at conference. The abstract should be complete and understandable on its own, and should not require reference to the paper or poster for clarity. Avoid using figures, tables, equations, undefined acronyms, or reference citations in your abstract. Abstract submissions for technical papers and posters must include:  Title of the abstract topic.  Abstract (500 words or less) of the subject matter to be presented.  Primary author (required) and any co-author contact information.  Program topic area (from the Call for Abstracts web page) that best fits the abstract content.  Author’s request for paper only, poster only, or either presentation type. When developing your abstract, it is important to consider which presentation type—a paper, a poster, or either format—is best suited to convey your information to the ICOET audience. Should your abstract be selected for the conference program, it is also important to recognize which format allows you sufficient time to prepare and submit the required materials prior to conference, as well as plan for an engaging live presentation. Technical papers are presented at ICOET in podium sessions which run concurrently in the program agenda. Up to four papers are presented per session, with approximately 20 minutes allotted for each presenter to address the topic and answer questions from the audience. Presenters use PowerPoint slides and other audiovisual media to support their remarks. A manuscript of your technical paper is required to be submitted before conference begins. Papers are published electronically in the ICOET online proceedings following the conference. Posters at ICOET are displayed in a large group setting and scheduled as plenary sessions for all conference participants to attend. Presenters appear with their poster displays for approximately two hours to discuss their information with interested attendees. Poster displays are in place before and after the scheduled session for additional viewing periods. A PDF image of your poster and its abstract text (revised as needed) are required to be submitted before conference begins. Poster PDF images and abstracts are published electronically in the ICOET online proceedings following the conference. During its selection process, the Program Committee may invite an abstract author to present in a different format than was requested. This can occur when abstract reviewers recommend a specific format for the topic as described in the abstract, or when the Committee determines that the topic can be best fit into the conference program as a paper or poster. ICOET Requirements and Guidelines for Abstract Submissions Updated 112514 4 Papers and Posters: Writing Your Abstract The IMRaD format describe below provides guidance for writing a coherent and well-organized abstract. IMRaD includes the following components: Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion. This format helps ensure that all important elements are covered systematically and in a sequence that your audience can follow easily. Note that the IMRaD format should be used as a general structure; some topics may not conform exactly to the format. Each IMRaD component answers a question:  Introduction: Why did you start? Answer this question by describing the subject of the paper, relevant literature and current practice, and the purpose of the current study. Clearly set forth the issue, problem, or question addressed. This section helps readers understand the rationale of the paper.  Methods: What did you do? Describe the approach to the problem and/or research design, including, for example, data collection methods or statistical analyses used. This section will help readers evaluate the validity of the work.  Results: What did you find? Present the findings and outcomes. In the full paper or poster, figures, tables, or graphs can be used in this section to convey the information. The results section should be descriptive in nature, and should not include interpretation of the findings or recommendations for practitioners.  Discussion: What does it mean? The discussion section should focus on interpreting the results and outcomes.