Abstracts Information

Rules and Regulations

AAS Council specifies the following regulations for submission and presentation of abstracts at an AAS meeting:

Members

Any AAS member may submit an abstract. You can verify your membership status in the Public Directory or Members-Only Directory, members.aas.org.
Suspended/Inactive members must reinstate their membership.
Presenters must be listed as the first author on the paper.
Presenting/first author must register for the meeting.

Nonmembers

Nonmembers can only present once every 10 years.
Nonmembers are required to have a sponsor who is an AAS Full Member; the sponsor will be notified of each submission.
Undergraduate Guests must submit an abstract as a nonmember and are subject to the usual rules governing presentation of abstracts by nonmembers.
Society of Physics Student Affiliates are considered nonmembers for abstract submission, and may register at the Junior Member rate.

One Abstract Per Meeting

You may only present one abstract (whether oral or poster) per meeting, with the exceptions listed below. There is no limit to the number of abstracts you may co-author; however, you may only serve as the first/presenting author on one abstract.
The following exceptions do not count as your "one" paper. You may still be the first author and presenter for an additional contributed scientific research paper. Exceptions include:
- Prize Lectures
- Invited Talks
- Division Invited Talks
- Special Session Invited Talks
- Contributed education abstracts
- Contributed historical abstracts
- Abstracts for working group meetings

Submission Process

Submission Process - Invited Speakers

Invited Speakers will receive a special link to the abstract form that by-passes the membership validation process. Speakers may also access the form through the regular submission link. Contact abs-help@aas.org for assistance. Invited Speakers include:

AAS Invited Speakers who were invited by the Society Vice-Presidents
Prize Lecturers invited by Society or Division Officers
Division Invited Speakers invited by Division Officers
Session Speakers invited by the Session Organizer

Submission Process - Contributed Presentations

It is assumed that the presenting author is submitting the abstract. If this is not the case, you will need to obtain the presenting author’s AAS login information.

The Abstracts Form for contributed presentations is posted online at: members.aas.org/abstracts

Obtain AAS Login/Password

The abstract submission process begins by logging into the presenting author's AAS account.

If you know your AAS login and password, proceed to the abstract form.
If you do not know your AAS login and password, the abstract form contains password resetting and searching features to assist in locating your AAS account.
The "Email me my login information and reset my password" feature requires that we have your current email address on record. To update an email address contact address@aas.org or 202-328-2010, ext. 101.
For further assistance accessing your AAS account contact webmaster@aas.org or 202-328-2010, ext 112.

Membership Verification

The membership rules are enforced during the login process. If there is a problem with your status you will be given instructions for correcting the problem and a deadline by which the issue must be resolved. Contact membership@aas.org, 202-328-2010, ext. l0l or ext. 109 for assistance with membership issues.

Abstract Form Steps

The form contains instructions on the various steps required to complete a submission. Once you have completed the Title Step you are assigned a control number and may exit and re-enter the system.The abstract must be complete by the deadline, Wednesday, 1 October 2008.

Corrections

Prior to the abstract deadline, authors may make their own corrections by re-entering the form, members.aas.org/abstracts. After the deadline, send corrections to the Help Desk. Corrections are no longer made once the abstracts have been exported to the Press Office, to the BAAS and to the ADS.

Because eligibility is established on the Presenting Author, his/her name may not be edited on the abstract form. Contact the Help Desk to have spelling errors corrected. To switch presenting authors you must submit a new abstract.

Meeting Presentations

Poster Presentations

Posters allow far more time and flexibility and are the default presentation type. Posters are ideal for using charts, graphs or detailed visual aids. The poster area serves as the meeting’s social center, including coffee breaks and cocktail hours.

Your presentation should fit within the 44" x 44" area. Poster boards are slightly different at each meeting and may be as large as four feet square. Please bring your own thumbtacks.
We will arrange poster sessions by topic.
Approximately two hours each day will be set aside for the poster presentations when no other sessions are scheduled. The authors need not be present the entire time but should post the hours when they will be present at their poster.
Posters may be set up after 7:30am and must be removed by the end of the evening cocktail hour. Posters left up after 7:00pm will be discarded.
Requests for extra space to accommodate models or equipment should be made in the “Special Instructions” box on the abstract form and are subject to approval.
When preparing your poster, remember to use bold graphs, photographs, figures, and tables. Include a title and the names of authors in large type. Text should be large enough to be legible from a distance of three to four feet, ~ 20 point font. Keep the poster simple and easy to read. For further recommendations read, How Do You Prepare A Research Poster? on the-aps.org website.
Consider posting a photo of yourself with your presentation.

Oral Abstracts

To give an oral presentation, select “oral” as presentation type on the abstract form. To avoid too many oral sessions running simultaneously, the number of oral presentation time slots are limited. Oral presentations can be changed to posters if there are no remaing slots. All authors whose abstracts are changed will be notified.

Five minutes are allowed for the normal oral presentation and three minutes for open discussion.
When preparing your presentation, we suggest a maximum of three slides or transparencies for a five-minute talk. Slides should be uncluttered and easy to read.
Practice a few times so the presentation fits comfortably into the five-minute slot.
Read the AV instructions.

Dissertation Abstracts

If you would like to present a 15 minute dissertation abstract, select the dissertation abstract form. We urge authors to submit dissertation abstracts one week before the deadline.

Dissertation Abstracts are oral presentations of 15 minutes plus a few minutes for discussion. They should be based upon the author’s dissertation material, and will be presented within regular oral sessions of appropriate topics.
Only students or graduates within one year of receiving the PhD are eligible. The author’s advisor must attest to this fact in writing. The author must submit a copy of the thesis advisor’s letter in PDF format through the abstract submission website by the abstract deadline. A PDF copy of an email message is sufficient as long as the advisor’s email address is legible. If the advisor letter is not received, the dissertation will automatically be treated as a regular abstract.
Students or graduates wishing to submit Dissertation Abstracts must be accepted for membership in the AAS by the abstract deadline. The nomination form can be downloaded from the Membership section of the website or obtained from the AAS Executive Office.)
These abstracts are subject to the same rules of preparation and submission as regular abstracts, but they will be specially marked in the Final Program.
Dissertation abstracts arriving after the abstract deadline will be treated as regular late abstracts.
A person may present a Dissertation Abstract only once.
No AAS funds are available for travel to the meeting for these presentations.

Student Award Posters

For eligibility see, members.aas.org/grants/student.cfm

Invited Presentations

Invited presentations are the highlight of every meeting. To ensure publication of every invited talk, abstracts of all invited presentations are due one week prior to the abstract deadline.

Guidelines for Invited Talks are sent to the individual speakers.
AAS Invited Speakers - those invited by the Society Vice Presidents - will receive guidelines from the AAS Executive Office.
Special, Meeting-in-a-Meeting, Division, Committee or Working Group Session Invited Speakers will receive guidelines from the Session Organizer.
Invited Speakers may present a second contributed abstract.
Read the audiovisual equipment instructions.

Proxy

Abstracts by North American residents may not be presented by proxy. If an author is unable to attend, his or her abstract will be presented by title only. The abstract will still be printed in the BAAS. Notify abs-help@aas.org if an author cannot attend.
In the case of severe physical misfortune, a joint abstract may be presented by a co-author, even if the co-author is presenting another abstract. The original author must notify the Executive Office, making an explicit statement of the cause.
If a member residing outside of North America belatedly discovers that they cannot attend the meeting, they may arrange to have the paper presented by another member. The Executive Office must be notified ahead of time.

Deadlines, Late Abstracts, Schedule Changes

We will strictly adhere to the following deadlines.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 9:00pm EDT, Wednesday 1 October 2008.
Abstracts received after 9:00pm (EDT) will be considered late abstracts. There are no exceptions to this deadline.
The Council mandates that abstracts received after the deadline will not be published in the Meeting Program. Accepted late abstracts are assigned to an extra poster session for late abstracts, scheduled on the last day of the meeting.
Late abstracts will be accepted by the Executive Office until 9:00pm EDT, Monday, 1 December 2008.
No late abstracts are accepted at the meeting. A Late Abstract Schedule will be included in the Program Update distributed at the meeting. Late abstracts are scheduled as poster presentations on the last day of the Meeting. They will be published in a subsequent issue of the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society (BAAS).

Schedule Changes

If, after the Final Program has been released, you have a problem with the scheduling of your abstract, contact Abstract Help(abs-help@aas.org). Include the Session number where you are currently scheduled and the Session(s) number where you would like to be scheduled. No changes will be made to the Meeting Schedule after 30 April 2008.

Publication of Abstracts

The meeting and abstract schedule are published in various formats.

Paper Final Program: Distributed at the meeting; includes abstract titles.
Online Final Program: Available one month prior to the meeting and includes full abstract text. Members and presenters are notified as soon as the Program is online.
Bulletin of the AAS: Distributed at the meeting; includes full abstract text. Late abstracts are published in a subsequent issue.
Program Update: Distributed at the meeting, and includes the late paper titles.
Astrophysics Data System: All abstracts are sent to ADS.

American Astronomical Society

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