This year, selected presenters will have the fantastic opportunity to present their work alongside other experts. Abstract presentations will be integrated within the relevant topic sessions in place of the ‘Free Communications’ sessions.

Deadline for abstract submissions: This has now closed.

Detailed guidelines for submission are below. Please note that your paper must not have been presented to any other scientific body before this ASM, you are the first author of the submitted paper and you are able to present the work in person if selected.

Key Dates

1. Deadline for receipt of abstracts and biographical details: 12 noon of Wednesday 6 March 2019
2. Authors are notified whether abstracts have been accepted: Wednesday 20 March 2019
3. Participation confirmed by authors: Wednesday 3 April 2019
4. Participating presenters must register by Friday 13 April 2019

Late submissions of abstracts will not be accepted. Failure to meet the specified deadlines or guidelines may result in exclusion from publication/presentation.

All abstracts must be submitted via email to asmabstracts@ranzcog.org.nz

Abstracts should be submitted by the presenting author. Only one author per abstract may be nominated as the presenter.

Submission of abstracts implies the authors' agreement to publish the abstract in the ASM programme handbook.

Please note that all accepted presenters must register for the ASM and pay the appropriate registration fee by Friday 13 April 2019. Abstracts will be withdrawn if registration is not paid by this date.

Abstract format

All submissions must be accompanied by biographical information about the presenting author (maximum of 80 words). Biographical details will be used by the session chair for introduction purposes and will also be published in the delegates' handbook and conference App.

A maximum of 250 words (excluding title, headings and references) will be accepted. Your abstract should be structured to include:

• Objective: state the primary objective of the paper and the major hypothesis tested or research question posed.
  
• Design: describe the design of the study and the rationale for the procedures adopted. 
  
• Method: describe how participants were selected and the number of participants (if documentary data used, state how these were selected), materials employed (if appropriate), methods of data collection and analysis.
  
• Results: include numerical and/or textual data. This should be kept to a minimum and should not include tables or figures. For qualitative analyses briefly describe your findings (e.g. identified themes, categories).
  
• Conclusions: state the conclusions that can be drawn from the study (including for future research, practice, policy and/or theory).
  

All abstracts should be written in English and thoroughly checked for spelling and grammar before submission.

Each abstract must be prepared in Microsoft Word. No other formats will be accepted.

Use single spacing to separate the title, authors' names and affiliations, followed by the text.

The title of the abstract should be written in sentence case i.e. initial capital letter, followed by lower case.

List author/s and affiliations/s (professional affiliations) separated by commas.

Author/s and affiliation/s to be linked by a superscript number.

Please refrain from using printed enhancements such as italics, underlining, bold text etc. Italics may be used for non-English words or scientific names where necessary.

Please note abstracts may be re-formatted for publication in the programme handbook.

Please indicate whether the submission is for oral or poster presentation, or if either format is acceptable.

Presentation Format

Oral presentations:
The best abstracts will be accepted for oral presentation, a ten minute presentation time followed by five minutes of questions from the audience during the Scientific Programme on either Thurs 23 or Fri 24 May 2019 at SKYCITY Convention Centre in Hamilton. Strict time schedules will apply. Particular attention should be paid to keeping PowerPoint presentations short, concise and relevant.

Poster presentations:
Other abstracts will be considered for poster presentations. We suggest you have the research presented on A0 paper. Printing should be done at presenter’s cost. Please note that there will not be an e-poster facility available at this conference. There will be a time allocated for poster authors to be with their poster for judging and to answer questions from the judging panel. The Couvelaire Prize will be awarded by the organising committee for the best poster presentation.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Makiko Wimbush, Conference Coordinator (asmabstracts@ranzcog.org.nz / tel: +64 4 472 4608). All communications about your abstract submission will be sent to the email address you have provided.