Abstract Guidelines and Submission
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Deadline: May 6, 2026 (11:59pm eastern)
All accepted abstracts will be published on the SDBP Meeting App and abstracts that have not been previously presented will also be published in the electronic version of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, the official journal of SDBP.
INVITED SPEAKERS: Limited funds are available to support invited speakers (topic experts) who are not members of SDBP and would therefore be unlikely/unable to present at the meeting without the availability of supplemental funding. Please review and follow the updated Invited Speaker policy and submit the required Letter of Intent to the Program Committee co-chairs (Sarah Nyp: ssnyp@cmh.edu & Julie Pajek: Jpajek@metrohealth.org). Requests for funding to support invited speakers must be submitted by the submission due date - download policy here: SDBP Invited Speaker Policy - Annual Meeting.
MEETING REGISTRATION FOR SELECTED SUBMISSIONS: Authors and presenters will be responsible for all their own travel expenses and will be required to register for the Annual Meeting.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION TYPES
Please make sure to review the full descriptions in the link below. All proposals are peer-reviewed and anonymous to reviewers. We are soliciting multiple types of proposals.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
ABSTRACT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. PREPARATION OF ABSTRACTS: Abstracts must conform exactly to the instructions provided for electronic submission.
2. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: All submissions must include a statement addressing conflict of interest. If the research, speaker, or presenter was partially funded or fully funded by a Proprietary organization (e.g., a pharmaceutical or device manufacturer), a statement to that effect must be included as noted within the online submission program. Example: "This research was funded in part by the XYZ Corporation, Baltimore, MD." If the authors/speakers/presenters do not have a conflict of interest, inclusion of a statement such as “The authors do not have a conflict of interest to declare,” is sufficient.
3. COMPLETENESS OF DATA: The abstract should include all study results. All research presented at SDBP should be complete. Submissions that include preliminary data will not be considered for presentation.
4. HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL: It is expected that all research has received IRB permission at the host institution. If your institution exempts certain types of research, we ask that you obtain a letter verifying the exemption for your study. Research completed without IRB review or exemption in writing will not be accepted or published.
5. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS: There is no limit on the number of abstracts submitted by an author, but the submission of multiple, similar abstracts from the same investigator(s) or laboratory is strongly discouraged particularly if they are highly overlapping and could be combined into a single submission. Due to the high number of quality submissions received each year, the program committee may limit the number of accepted abstracts from any single institution or research group.
6. REVIEW SCORING: Abstracts will be de-identified and reviewed anonymously. Do not include author names or affiliations within the abstract title or the abstract body section. Note: All information in the abstract body should be provided without presenter/author names. For example, Beverly Behavior, PhD should be referred to as: Presenter A (PhD, Psychology); Maeve Medicine, MD should be referred to as Presenter B (MD, Developmental Pediatrics); Roger Resource, PhD, LCSW should be referred to as Author C (PhD, LCSW), etc., to ensure ability for SDBP to review de-identified submissions.
7. PERMISSION TO RECORD: Acceptance of an invitation to present a submitted abstract signifies that all presenters/authors have given permission for the presentation to be recorded in digital formats of SDBP choosing for distribution and/or sale by SDBP for educational purposes.
Use of AI Disclosure Statement: AI (Artificial Intelligence) may be used as a tool for specific portions of the abstract, but authors must disclose the AI tools used for generating abstract content. Additionally, the authors will be responsible for the accuracy of AI-generated content.
The meeting will be CME/CE accredited and therefore ACCME essentials for planning the meeting must be followed. Accepted sessions may be required to provide multiple choice questions for CME/MOC (Maintenance of Certification) purposes.
NOTE: Responsibility of submitting author: The person submitting the abstract is listed as the presenting author. This author will be the sole point of contact for information regarding the submission and is responsible for notifying all co-authors regarding the outcome of the workshop submission and any changes to the program, as communicated by SDBP in a timely manner.
INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE AND ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
SDBP is committed to the respect of all people and encourages authors to take care to avoid stigmatizing language in abstracts and presentations. SDBP has members and attendees with various identities and lived experiences, and we aim to create a safe and inclusive space for all to learn, share, and collaborate. Submitters are encouraged to review the below resources that provide helpful guidance regarding the use of appropriate terminology and inclusivity.
- Words Matter: AAP Guidelines on Inclusive, Anti-biased Language
- APA’s Bias-Free Language
- Diversity Style Guide: www.diversitystyleguide.com
- Conscious Style Guide: https://consciousstyleguide.com
General words/concepts to avoid include suffering from/victim, special needs, inspiring/inspiration when connected with disability, and preferred pronouns (just use pronouns)
- Person-First vs Identity-First Language. By using the disability language choice made by groups of disabled individuals, we honor their preferences and being and is a sign of professional awareness and respect. Authors are encouraged to use terms and descriptions that both honor and explain person-first and identity-first perspectives. Presenters should avoid ableist language and recognize that members of groups being discussed may be present in the audience. Respectful language may include person first (such as child with Down syndrome) or identity-first (autistic people) depending on the preferences of the individuals or groups being described.
- Race should not be used as a proxy for poverty/SES or as a risk factor for disability or disease.
- The term “minority” should be used as a mathematical term and should not be used as a socio-political term. “Minoritized” is the preferred term to convey the idea of people being targeted for marginalization and oppression.
- Accepted presentations will be requested to include digital accessibility in their presentations (alt-text and image descriptions).
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL ABSTRACTS
- Abstracts must be prepared according to the guidelines for submission. Those not conforming to the required format may be rejected.
- ABSTRACT STYLE: Please check your abstract carefully for typographical errors, misspellings, grammatical errors, etc. This type of error will be glaringly apparent in the published abstract.
- TITLE: The title should be brief but clearly identify the nature of the study. Appropriate use of upper and lowercase is expected.
- Research abstracts should describe the results of a scientific study. Research abstracts that describe case reports or clinical programs are unlikely to be accepted.
- Avoid abbreviations in the abstract title. Place nonstandard abbreviations in parentheses after the full word the first time it appears. Use no more than three nonstandard abbreviations.
- Both negative and positive findings are important. Please consider this when submitting high-quality, solid research abstracts.
- DRUG NAMES: Nonproprietary (generic) names in lowercase are required the first time a drug is mentioned. Proprietary names are discouraged and should only be included when necessary. If included, proprietary names are capitalized, e.g., furosemide (Lasix).
- The RESULTS section of the abstract needs to include the quantitative results of statistical analysis. Describing findings in general terms, such as Group X had "higher scores" or "improved more" than Group Y or that variables A & B were "significantly related" is not helpful to the reviewer or the audience. The text should include statistics that indicate the type and magnitude of these effects, such as means and standard deviations, percentages, odds ratios, correlations, regression estimates, etc., as appropriate to your analyses. Including p values alone is not sufficient. Reviewers use these to determine if the reported findings are meaningful and to help determine whether any nonsignificant results might really be due to lack of power when the sample size is small.
ONLINE SUBMISSION NOTES
This section contains helpful information to guide you through the online submission process. We recommend that you utilize this page as a reference during this process.
- Log onto the SDBP abstract submission system by entering your SDBP member login. If you are not a member, you will be asked to "create an SDBP Account" which can be used in the future. Once you create a login/password, you will need to return to the abstract submission page and click the "Log in with your SDBP Account." This will take you to your main abstract page where you can start and submit multiple abstracts.
- You can log off at any time without submitting your abstract and return to continue your work at another time. As long as you do not formally submit the abstract, it can be edited and revised online as many times as needed.
- The abstract review process utilizes an anonymous scoring system. Demographic information collected from the corresponding author will not be available to reviewers or considered in the review process.
- The abstract is to be typed or cut and pasted directly into the space provided on the submission form. (We recommend cutting and pasting from a word processing program.) Do not include the title of the abstract or the author(s) name in the body of the abstract.
- Verify that your abstract is correct by clicking Preview Abstract.