Submitting your abstract

Anyone working in hospice, palliative and end of life care can submit an abstract. We welcome original submissions from the voluntary sector and NHS, as well as other sectors and stakeholders (e.g. care home sector, academia).

We look forward to hearing from colleagues across the full range of roles, including (but not limited to):

• clinicians
• educationalists
• fundraisers
• marketers
• managers
• social workers
• trustees
• volunteers.

Do you think only of academic research when you hear the word 'abstract'? We invite you to think again.

Topics

We are interested in a broad range of topics. This may include:

• audit
• quality improvement or service improvement initiatives
• research
• literature reviews
• other activities in relation to changing the landscape in end of life care.

Your abstract doesn’t have to be about clinical aspects of care.

If you are unsure whether your abstract is suitable for submission you can contact the call for papers team. We are always pleased to have such conversations.

Published status

Please note that we cannot accept work that has been presented or published elsewhere. 

Works in progress

We are keen to hear about work which will be completed this year or that is in progress.  

For work that is in progress, please make sure that your project is reasonably far along. At the point of  submission, you should have something to say about initial learning.  

Successful authors will present their abstract(s) at our National Conference. Abstracts will either be presented as short talks (‘oral presentations') or displayed as posters.

Accepted abstracts will also appear in an online conference supplement published by BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. 

They may also be included on Hospice UK’s website and / or an app which is available only to the conference’s delegates. 

Where work is accepted for presentation, authors must pay the delegate registration fee by the required date.

Oral presentations will last a maximum of 15 minutes (a 10 minute presentation, plus 5 minutes for questions).

Oral presentations are grouped into themed sessions. Each themed session usually lasts an hour and consists of a maximum of four presentations.   

Where will posters be displayed?

Posters are displayed in the exhibition hall throughout the three day conference. The call for papers team group the posters into themed collections to help delegates navigate the exhibition to their particular areas of interest.  

Posters will also be made available as PDFs on our National Conference app. Only conference delegates will have access to this app.

Author responsibilities

The main author is expected to be available by their poster(s) at scheduled times during breaks. This is so that they can discuss their work with delegates. If an abstract has been submitted by several people, only one of the authors needs to be by their poster during each break.

Authors must make their own arrangements for putting up and taking down their poster at the conference venue.  

Poster competition

All posters presented at conference are automatically entered into the poster competition.

We will award a prize, courtesy of BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, to the lead author of one of the posters. The competition will be judged by a Hospice UK panel. The panel will consider content, design and innovation.  

COVID-19

We will continue to monitor the situation as regards COVID-19. Hospice UK may, at its sole discretion, opt to hold the conference online instead of at a physical venue, irrespective of whether any legal restrictions have been re-introduced.

If the conference does move online then the poster exhibition will also go ahead online.  

Take a look at our sample abstracts to understand how abstracts are scored. This can help you understand the reasons why work may or may not be successful.

• Abstract example 1 – would not be accepted
• Abstract example 2 – unlikely to be accepted
• Abstract example 3 – likely to be accepted
• Abstract example 4 – very likely to be accepted

Sometimes, an abstract can fall short because not enough detail has been provided for each of the assessment criteria. Make sure you give enough information under each of the headings. This ensures that the reviewers can allocate scores for your abstract.

If there is no content under a heading, then the score for this element will be zero. 

Word count:

Title = 100 characters max.

Abstract text = 300 words max (excluding references).

Format:

Please provide information for all required sections. These are:

• Background
• Aim
• Method
• Results 
• Conclusion

Authors:

Please note all authors or, as a minimum, the lead author who will be available for future contact. Make sure to note the affiliation(s) of each author. This is the organisation or institution where the author is based.

Indication of presentation preference:

Indicate your preferred presentation format - oral presentation or poster. 

Reference style:

Please use the Vancouver referencing style. Read more on this from the library at the University of York.

You can include a maximum of five references.

Please note that abbreviated references may be added to your published abstract by the call for papers team if your abstract is accepted for presentation.

Acknowledgements:

• If you are submitting an abstract in relation to a research study, please acknowledge within this that ethical approval was gained and if possible, include the ethics number

• It is good practice to acknowledge funding received from research bodies. The abstract submission form has a specific text box so that you can add this information if you wish. 

  If your abstract is accepted for presentation, the research funder information will be included in the published abstract.

• Where asked in the submission process, do please remember to indicate you accept all Terms and Conditions

Conflicts of interest:

Please note any potential conflicts of interest - this can be as simple as noting another hospice you collaborated with. This helps us allocate impartial reviewers to the task of assessing your abstract.

You must submit your abstract via the online conference portal.

Creating an account

Open the conference portal. Once there, you will have to set up an account using the ‘Create New Account’ button.

Please note that accounts created in past years to submit an abstract are no longer valid. Everyone who wishes to submit for this year's conference will need to set up a new account.

Please register using the email address you want us to contact in relation to your abstract(s). Make sure to keep your login details safe.

Viewing and editing your submission

Your account will allow you to log back into your profile to save and edit your abstract. You will only be able to do this before you have submitted your abstract.

Entering author details

You must enter the details of all authors into the online system. Please include organisational affiliation details for all authors.  

Make sure to confirm that all details are correct for all authors before submitting.

Confirming your submission has been received

Once your abstract has been submitted you will receive an automated confirmation response.

If you do not receive this confirmation, your submission may not have been completed successfully. In this case, please contact Fitwise.

Please note that in submitting an abstract you and any other authors of the abstract agree to Hospice UK’s terms and conditions. 

You also agree to the terms and conditions of BMJ’s standard licence to publish for abstracts, as publisher of the selected abstracts within an online conference supplement of BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care.

As regards the BMJ licence, if copyright is held by your employer or any third party, you must first (before submitting) obtain their express written authority allowing you to agree the BMJ’s standard licence.  

As all accepted abstracts are published, we recommend ensuring that the organisation you work with is agreeable to the publication of the abstract submitted. This should be done prior to submission. Many organisations have a specific policy that relates to this.