The Students’ and Young Scientists’ Scientific

Association (SYSSA) of David Tvildiani

Medical University IXth International
Multidisciplinary Conference Abstract
Writing & Submission Guidelines
● The Students’ and Young Scientists’ Scientific Association’s 2023 IXth
International Multidisciplinary Conference aims to explore interesting and
challenging multidisciplinary cases in medicine.
● The goal of this year’s conference is to use case reports and a few
exceptional literature reviews to:
❖ Describe new/rare medical diseases
❖ Describe unusual presentations of relatively common diseases
❖ Describe unusual complications of a disease and/or its management
❖ Increase awareness of uncommon/rare medical conditions
❖ Suggest correct diagnostic strategies
❖ Showcase the implementation of cutting-edge therapeutic and
diagnostic technologies
❖ Demonstrate more cost-effective approaches to patient care

● With this in mind, please read and familiarize yourself with all rules
and guidelines within this document before writing or submitting
your abstract.

Thank you,
SYSSA Scientific Review Committee
General Rules and Considerations
● Accepted types of manuscripts:
➔ Case reports
➔ Literature Reviews1
● All submitted materials (abstract, presentation, etc) must be in English.
● No more than two individuals may author a single presentation.
● All submitted materials should have a supervisor otherwise your
work would not be accepted.
● Technical details for writing case report abstracts and literature
review abstracts are DIFFERENT! Please adhere to the guideline
appropriate for your manuscript type.
● The number of presentations relating to each topic will be limited. In the
past, some healthy competition has occurred in this regard, as such we
encourage all authors to submit their best work as participants will be
chosen purely on the merits of their work.
● All participants must pass two selection phases by the scientific review
committee to participate in the conference.
➔ Phase 1: Abstract evaluation - which has to be successfully completed
before proceeding to draft your presentation.
➔ Phase 2: Presentation evaluation - which involves feedback and
adjustments.

● Important Dates/Deadlines
➔ Abstract submissions open on March 1st, 2023
➔ Abstract submissions close on March 20th, 2023

1 Literature/Narrative reviews are accepted as a way to encourage participation from

younger medical students who may not have sufficient clinical exposure for submission
of original case reports. However, literature reviews must be EXCEPTIONAL and must
also relate to new developments in the presentation/diagnosis/treatment of medical
conditions.
Overview of Abstract Writing
● What is an abstract?
➔ An abstract is a short document submitted for consideration to the
scientific review committee.
➔ An abstract provides succinct information about an author’s chosen
presentation topic.
➔ An abstract is meant to be engaging and intended to capture the
interest of the review committee.

● Things to keep in mind when planning your abstract…

➔ First and foremost, keep the submission deadline in mind
➔ Keep our technical specifications in mind when drafting your abstract. Not
adhering to these specifications can be the sole reason for abstract rejection
and/or revision.
➔ Determine if and how your topic and content relate to the conference’s
theme.
➔ Clarify what you would like to present - why and how it is relevant to the
audience.
➔ Determine if what you would like to present can be presented in the allowed
timeframe.
➔ These abstracts do not undergo a peer-review process as abstracts for
scientific journal articles, instead, they are meant to be used by the scientific
review committee to determine the suitability of an author’s chosen
topic/case prior to acceptance.

● Writing your abstract…

Although the specific requirements of your abstract will vary (see specific
technical guidelines below), they should generally contain the following
components:
➔ Title
● The title serves as a summary of the abstract itself, incorporating its
main idea and context.
● It serves two purposes:
❖ To attract attention and convince readers that the abstract topic is
 important, relevant, and innovative.
❖ It also represents the first component in determining the
suitability of your topic and helps the scientific review committee
categorize your abstract/presentation.
● Make your title concise, descriptive, engaging, and relevant to the
topic.
● “Less is more” - try to limit your title to 10-15 words
● Some technical notes:
❖ Capitalize the first letter of each major word in titles.
❖ Do not capitalize subsequent articles (eg, a, an, the), prepositions
of 3 or fewer letters, coordinating conjunctions (and, or, for, nor,
but, per), or the to in infinitives.
❖ Do capitalize a 2 letter verb, such as Is or Be
➔ Authors
● No more than two individuals may author a single presentation.
● Only those individuals who have contributed significantly to the intellectual
content of an abstract may be included as authors.
● The presenting author must be listed as the first author in the manuscript.
● The submitting author will receive all correspondence relating to the
abstract. As such, it would be our strong recommendation that the
submitting authors are also the presenting authors.
● The presenting author is required to ensure that all co-author is aware of
the content of the manuscript and agree to its submission prior to sending
it in.
● The supervisor must be listed as the last author in the manuscript.
● The supervisor’s information should be included in the following format:
❖ Name, degree, and institutional affiliation
● The author’s information should be included in the following format:
❖ Name, degree, and institutional affiliation
❖ Authorship section of your submitted manuscript should look like this:
➔
Body
●
The
 body of the abstract should accomplish the following goals:
❖ Clearly and concisely state the topic of the presentation
❖ Demonstrate that the author has familiarized themselves with
the topic/case, and will be able to expand on their topic during
the presentation.
❖ Establishes that the author’s choice of topic/case is an issue
that has merit, is interesting, and is worth answering/looking
into.
● The body of the abstract should NOT include reference citations.
However, all submissions will be evaluated for similarity and
plagiarism. Submissions deemed plagiarized will be disqualified.
● The body of the abstract should NOT exceed 350 words.
➔ Keywords
● Authors should indicate three to ten keywords that correlate with the
main topic of their abstract.

Specifications for Case Report Abstracts

● Overview of Writing A Case Report Abstract
➔ Case Report abstracts are structured and should contain the following
sections:
● Title
● Author, Co-Author, Supervisor Information
● Background
● Case Presentation
● Discussion/Conclusion
● Lessons Learned
● Keywords
➔ The abstract, excluding title & author information, should NOT exceed 350
words.
➔ The abstract should NOT contain citations/references.

❖ Title…
➢ The case report abstract title should aim to emphasize the clinical
condition and main teaching point.
 ➢ Useful descriptive terms to include in your case report title:
■ Case-related terms: rare case, unusual case, presentation, causes,
symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, complications, challenges.
■ Patient-related terms: infant, child, adolescent, adult, elderly,
man/woman, patients
➢ Good Title Examples:
■ Acute Pancreatitis - on of Falciparum Malaria
■ Bone Wax as a Cause of a Foreign Body Granuloma in a
Resternotomy: A Case Report
■ Acute Myocardial Infarction Following 5-Fluorouracil Treatment
■ Adult Ileal Intussusception: A Case of Primary Diffuse Large B-cell
Lymphoma
■ Metastatic Disease to the Pancreas from Squamous Cell Lung
Cancer: A Case Report
❖ Author Information…
➢ All information about writing the author segment can be found above in
“Overview of Writing an Abstract”
❖ Introduction/Background…
➢ The introduction should be 1-3 sentences.
➢ The introduction should describe the context of the case and explain its
novelty/relevance and importance. In other words, “Why should we
care?”
❖ Case Presentation…
➢ The case presentation should be 6-10 sentences.
➢ This segment should be the longest section, however, it is important to
remember you are limited in wording. Therefore, include only the information
relevant to your reason for presenting the case.
➢ Relevant information may include patient demographics (age, gender,
nationality, etc.), chief/presenting complaint, medical history, physical
examination, investigational studies, interventions, complications/challenges,
and patient’s progress, and outcome.
❖ Discussion/Conclusion…
➢ The discussion/conclusion should be 1-3 sentences.
➢ This segment should aim to briefly summarize the overall clinical implication
and impact of the case and provide clinical suggestions/considerations.
➢ This section may answer any of the following questions:
■ How is this case different from others?
■ What is unusual about this case?
 ■ Does this case differ from what is currently accepted?
■ What can be done differently in the future for a similar case?
❖ Lessons Learned…
➢ The lessons learned should be 1-3 sentences.
➢ This section should state/re-state 2-3 key lessons learned or “take-home”
messages from your case.
➢ These lessons should be directly supported by original data and
findings/results from your case report.
❖ Keywords…
➢ Please include 3-10 keywords representing the main content of the article.

➔ At the end of the abstract authors should include the following:

❖ A conflict of interest and financial disclosure statement. If there are no
conflicts of interest and/or financial disclosures to make, authors should
state “The authors have no conflicts of interest or financial interests to
declare”.
❖ Authors should also attest that their submitted case report abstract is
original work and is not under review at any other conference.
 ➔ Below is the format in which your case report abstract should be drafted:

Specifications for Literature/Narrative Review

Abstracts
● Overview of writing a Literature/Narrative Review Abstract
➔ SYSSA will continue to accept abstract submissions for Literature/Narrative
reviews from medical students.
➔ Literature/Narrative review abstracts are unstructured, but should follow all
considerations listed above in the section “Overview of Writing an Abstract”.
 ➔ The abstract should NOT exceed 500 words.
➔ The abstract should NOT contain more than 5 references.

● Things to keep in mind…

➔ Although the abstract for literature/narrative review is unstructured, the body of
the abstract should accomplish the following:
● Clearly and concisely state the topic of the presentation
● Offer critical evaluation of relevant current literature from existing studies
● Demonstrates the author’s comprehensive understanding of the
presentation topic
● Establishes that the author’s choice of topic is an issue that has merit, is
interesting, and is worth answering/looking into.
➔ The body of the abstract should include citations/ references, as the text will be
evaluated for similarity and plagiarism. Submissions deemed plagiarized will
be disqualified.
● We prefer the use of Vancouver citation/referencing style
● Detailed instructions can be found on the following link.

➔ Below is the format in which your

literature review abstract should
be drafted:

Submitting Your
Abstract
● Before you submit…
➔ Ensure that your document meets all abstract guidelines, as submissions
that do not conform to guidelines will be sent back for revisions!
➔ All submitted materials should be in Times New Roman Size 12 and be
submitted in the format of an MS Word (.doc or .docx) document.
➔ Ensure that the abstract represents your complete, desired form as the
 scientific review committee will make the first judgment based on your
abstract submission.
➔ It is preferable to send in your abstract before the given deadline. Late
documents, due to any reason, will not be accepted unless the deadline is
extended.
➔ Submit your abstracts at
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdvHo_7_Xnwz3Sjtkvq77R-
800gCr3t2HiSZLNmNmx1vM1CKg/viewform

➔ When submitting your abstract, please also include the following information
in the email:
● Full name, ensure that it is spelled correctly
● Position/department/faculty
● Institution/Country
● Contact Information (email address and phone number)

● About the abstract review process…

➔ After submission, you will be acknowledged for
the receipt of your abstract via an email within two
working days.
➔ After acknowledging the receipt, your abstract will
undergo a review by the scientific committee.
➔ Results of the abstract review will be sent to the author within two weeks of
the submission date.
➔ Acceptance or rejection of the paper will be sent to the authors with reviewer
comments.
➔ If a revision is required, the revised abstract must be sent back within a
week.
➔ If your abstract is accepted, you will be asked to submit your presentation by
the second given deadline.

Guideline for Presentation Preparation and

Submission
● What is a presentation?
➔ Presentations refer to slides developed from abstracts accepted for
 presentation following the abstract submission and review process.
➔ Presentations, depending on the topic, can last from 10 to 30 minutes.
As always, less is more.
➔ Guidelines regarding the presentation are much more lax and much is
left to the author’s creative discretion. Nonetheless, there are a few
key points we would like authors to take note of.

● Things to keep in mind when creating your presentation…

➔ Layout
● The title should be large and visible, and it should be followed by the
names of the authors below.
● Ideally the presentation should be divided into a series of
segments with clear headings.
● Flow of information should be logical and easy to follow.
● Layout should be consistent and neat.
● Avoid clutter on the slides.
● Create a balance between visuals and text: PowerPoint presentations
are a visual medium, so you don’t want to have too much text.
➔ Text
● Text should be short and concise. To help with this, keep the
following in mind:
❖ Only write information that is important and supplements
spoken text
❖ Try to avoid using paragraphs
❖ Consider keeping any text elements to 50 words or less
● Consider using bullet points, instead of paragraphs.
● Any text should be large!
❖ Minimum font size for titles: 36-44 pt.
❖ Minimum font size for text: 24-28 pt.
● Presentation must include references wherever you make a
statement or include statistics.

➔ Visuals
● Good graphics are key!
● Consider using an image or graph, instead of text, to communicate
your ideas.
● Use simple, relevant images and graphs that are appropriately sized
and of good resolution.
● Submitting your presentation and the review process…

➔ Presentation submission
● Similar concepts of the abstract submission process are applicable to
the presentation submission process as well.
● We ask that authors use the same email thread that they used for
abstract submission when sending in their presentations.
● Presentations in both PowerPoint or Keynote formats will be accepted.

➔ Presentation review
● The scientific review committee will meet with all speakers to ensure the
high quality of the presentations prior to the conference date.
● During this meeting, speakers will be evaluated on content,
quality of their presentation, timing, and speech.