Guidelines for Abstract-Submission

Submission, Deadline

The abstract is limited to 3,000 characters (ca. 400 words) incl. blanks, up to 2 table charts (50 characters deduction each) and 1 graphic design (300 characters deduction).
The title should be short and significant. The text has to be orthographically suitable for publishing.
The following structure of the abstract is mandatory: Objectives, methods, results and conclusions.
Concerning the methods it has to be clear if the study is prospective or retrospective. Statistical procedures have to be specified.
The methodology of data entry and evaluation of clinical papers must comprehensively describe the level of evidence (EbM-Levels).
The setup of experimental studies has to be documented.
The abstract has to contain all relevant data and figures. Abbreviations must be defined at first usage.
The usage of special formatting should be limited. The correct replication in all media cannot be granted.
It is not allowed to submit an abstract several times to different subjects of the congress.
The number of papers submitted by the same author is limited to 10.
The number of authors is limited to 10 altogether. The presenter must be listed first.

The presenter is responsible for the compliance with data protection, copyrights, ethic regulations and laws on animal protection.
To assure the anonymous review it is not allowed to mention any names or locations in the paper.
Results that have already been published or lectured elsewhere cannot be submitted.
Accepted papers will be published for quotation at German Medical Science (www.egms.de) according to the principles of open access.
Authors’ fees or royalties cannot be claimed.
All listed authors have to consent to the abstract text as well as to their publication in all congress media.
Conflicts of interest by commercial support have to be disclosed.

All submitted abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by several experts.
Review criteria are: Aim and objective (inventive, important, clearly defined), material and methodology (adequate design, prospective or retrospective), results (complete, trend-setting, statistically covered) and conclusions (critical, well deduced, current literature).
Abstracts that show formal errors (multi-submission, not anonymised, already published) will be rejected.
E-Mail notifications about acceptance or refusal will be sent to the presenting author subsequent to the reviewing process.
In case of acceptance as oral or poster, the presenting author automatically receives a free congress ticket. All co-authors have to register formally if required.

EbM Award: The DGOU supports evidence based medicine in orthopaedics and traumatology by donating EUR 5,000. The paper must be submitted and accepted as an oral presentation at DKOU along with the application for the EbM Award to the DKOU office.
EFORT Grant: The best abstract may be forwarded to EFORT for presentation as “Best National Paper” at the following Annual Meeting. Travel expenses as well as accommodation will be reimbursed by DGOU within the given limits.
Poster Award: The 3 posters with the highest scores will receive between EUR 500 and 1,500 by DGOU. The rating is based on the score of the review process, the graphical design as well as the presentation during the Poster Session.
Wilhelm Roux Award: The best experimental paper presented at the DKOU will be nominated by the Basic Research Section of DGOU and awarded EUR 5,000 donated by Aesculap. All papers submitted to Basic Research and accepted as an oral presentation automatically participate in the competition.