Abstract Submission Policies

APS membership and abstract submission eligibility

APS meeting eligibility

You must be an APS member or member of a reciprocal society to submit an abstract. If you aren't yet a member, you can join APS. If you are a member, please log into your myAPS account to submit your abstract.

If you are an invited speaker or reciprocal society member, you do not need to be APS member to submit an abstract. However, you will need to create an APS web account.

Please review the list of reciprocal societies to learn if you are a member of a reciprocal society.

Unit meeting eligibility

Membership requirements vary when submitting an abstract to unit meetings. Please review upcoming unit meetings on the APS Calendar and the requirements detailed on the appropriate unit event website.

Verifying membership when submitting your abstract

You will need to include your APS membership ID number with your abstract submission. If you are a current member, you can find your membership ID number through your myAPS account.

After joining APS, you will receive your APS membership ID number within 24 hours. If you have joined APS but do not yet have your membership ID number, please enter "membership pending" when submitting our abstract and your membership will be verified after submission.

APS Membership will not issue membership ID numbers during the week of abstract deadlines, so please plan ahead.

Abstract deadlines

Abstracts must be submitted by the deadline to be guaranteed acceptance in the scientific program.

Meeting organizers are not obligated to include contributed abstracts submitted after the deadline.

Upcoming deadlines

Visit the meet meetings and events calendar to find upcoming meetings and submission deadlines.

Abstract submission guidelines

Please refer to the specific abstract submission instructions on the meeting or event website. In general, however, authors should:

• Thoroughly review and edit their abstracts before submitting
• Keep contributed abstract length within the 1,300 character limit
• Add all co-authors before the submission deadline
• Ensure the abstract is relevant to the topical scope of the meeting or event

When submitting your abstract, please include your preference for:

• An oral or poster presentation
• Your preferred presentation time and/or date
• Your preferred order of presentations within a session

At their discretion, event organizers will make an effort to accommodate these scheduling preferences. However, scheduling may be affected by time and space limitations.

Editing abstracts

APS will only correct mistakes and misspellings in the author’s name or affiliation. To edit abstract content, please withdraw the original abstract and resubmit a corrected version before the abstract submission deadline.

You cannot change your abstract content after author notification have been sent to submitters.

Withdrawing abstracts

After submitting your abstract, you will receive a confirmation email with the withdrawal deadline. Abstracts can be withdrawn online before this date and will not appear in the event program. Only the abstract submitter can request to withdraw an abstract.

After the withdrawal deadline, you must contact us to withdraw an abstract submission. The abstract will still appear as "abstract withdrawn" in the printed program, if one is available for the event.

Altered or rejected abstracts

APS may alter or reject abstracts based on the appropriateness of the content for the meeting or for other reasons such as:

• Excessive length
• Failure to comply with style guidelines
• Repeated cancellations from the submitter

Contributed abstract guidelines

Contributed abstract submission eligibility

APS members and reciprocal society members may give one technical contributed presentation, either an oral or poster presentation, at March or April Meeting.

APS members may also submit a contributed abstract that lists a non-member as a presenter. The presenter must attend the meeting and give the presentation.

Technical and non-technical contributed submissions

For each presenting author, only one contributed oral abstract on a technical topic will be accepted into the scientific program. At our discretion, APS may accepted additional technical abstracts as poster presentations, if space is available.

An author may submit an additional oral abstract on a non-technical topic, such as education or policy, to present at a session sponsored by an APS Forum or Committee.

At the APS March and April meetings, oral presentations of contributed abstracts are given 10 minutes for presentation and two minutes for questions. Unit meeting presentation times vary.

Submitting and editing contributed abstracts

Please proofread your abstract carefully and thoroughly before submitting. APS will only correct system-generated LaTeX mistakes and misspellings in authors' names or affiliations. APS will not make additional edits, add new authors or reorder the author list.

When submitting your contributed abstract, please do not exceed 1,300 characters and please comply with the submission system style defaults—do not introduce your own formatting in the abstract.

March Meeting abstract edits

Submitters to APS March Meeting may edit abstracts in the online submission system up until the submission deadline.

Contributed abstract acceptance

If your contributed abstract is accepted, APS will notify you via email. You are responsible for confirming your session date and time and requesting changes by contacting APS Abstract Help.

Invited abstract guidelines

Invited speaker eligibility

APS members may be invited to present a scientific abstract at March or April meeting.

Individual speakers may not be invited to speak at two consecutive meetings. That is, an invited speaker who presented at March Meeting 2023 may not present as an invited speaker at March Meeting 2024. Exceptions are made for speakers who will receive APS Prizes and Awards at the meeting.

Please review the speaker nominations instructions for more information.

In addition to their invited presentation, invited speakers may submit one contributed abstract for the scientific program. APS will communicated with invited speakers about submitting their abstracts and registering for the meeting.

Invited speakers must register to attend the meeting where they are presenting. Some invited speakers' registration fees may be sponsored by an APS unit.

Invited abstract submission instructions

Authors and collaborators

Abstracts submitted for an invited speaker may only have that individual as the author. APS suggests that the invited speaker credit collaborating researchers in a footnote in the paper.

During the submission process, an invited speaker can add collaborators as co-authors. However, the invited speaker must give the presentation, unless a replacement speaker is agreed upon beforehand, as discussed with APS Abstract Help.

An invited paper is expected to have 30 minutes for presentation time, plus six minutes for a question and answer session.

Technical and non-technical invited submissions

If you are submitting an invited abstract, you may also submit one additional abstract of a non-technical nature, such as on education, history of physics or public policy. This abstract may be presented at a session, sponsored by an APS forum or committee, of broad concern to the physics community.

Invited abstract character limits

When submitting an invited abstract, please do not exceed the 2,000 character limit for your invited abstract text.

Withdrawing an invited abstract

If you accept an invitation to present but are later unable to do so, please contact APS Abstract Help.

Advice for abstract writing

As an initial summary of your research, your abstract and its title are your first chance to impress your audience and entice them to attend your presentation or read your paper.

When writing your abstract and title, think about your research's relevance and context. How does your research fit into the broad scope of the meeting where you will present?

Effective titles

When crafting an effective title, be sure that it:

• Predicts the abstract contents
• Contains important keywords
• Defines the research's purpose, scope, tone and methods

Parts of an abstract

Good abstracts include many of the parts of a paper, condensed or simplified to the most essential information:

• Introduction
• Previous or relevant references
• The goal of the project
• A description of how that goal was met
• Key results
• Details about why your results are unique or noteworthy

Additional advice

While writing your abstract, also keep the following in mind:

• Stay within the required character or word count
• Use proper submission format—often LaTeX, MS Word or plain text
• Ensure your abstract is understandable without reading the paper or seeing the presentation
• Proofread
• Define acronyms and minimize jargon

Abstract helpline

If you have questions or require assistance in submitting your abstract, please contact the APS Abstract Help team.

Phone: +1 (301) 209-3290 (Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern)
Email: The APS Abstract help team