28th Annual Meeting
2013 Abstract & Session Proposals 

NASS 28th Annual Meeting in New Orleans
Call for Abstracts and Proposals

Electronic Abstract Submission Deadline: Wednesday, February 6, 2013, 11:59 PM CST
Acceptance Notifications will be sent on or before May 1, 2013.

NASS invites you to submit abstracts and symposium, special interest group and instructional course proposals for the 28th Annual Meeting, October 9-12, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Information regarding the scientific program, registration and housing will be available in spring 2013.

To submit an abstract or a proposal:

  • Visit the Submission Management System at http://sms.spine.org.
  • Recommended browsers are Internet Explorer and Firefox.
  • You do not have to be a NASS member to submit an abstract or proposal.
  • Use your NASS username (email address) and password (ID number) to login. You can create a new account or request password information from the login page. Each user must have a unique email address as a username to login.
  • Contact the Education Department at education@spine.org with login or submission questions. A Help Desk link is found at the bottom of each page of the submission website.


Symposium and Instructional Course proposals require the following information:

  • Title
  • Description (200-300 words)
  • Educational objectives (3-4)
  • Agenda
  • Suggested faculty with contact information


SIG proposals require the following information:

  • Title
  • Description (2-3 sentences)


Abstract submissions require the following information: 

  • Background Context
  • Purpose
  • Study Design/Setting
  • Patient Sample
  • Outcome Measures (must be included in clinical studies)
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Conclusions
  • FDA Device/Drug Status of all medical devices/medications discussed.


Important information to remember when submitting an abstract:

  • Each author must submit disclosure under his/her record within one year of the abstract submission deadline, using a unique email address/password. If disclosure is not possible by the deadline, please remove the author from your abstract and submit. Authors may be added after abstract acceptance, if disclosure has been submitted.

  • The text of the abstract should have a total character count of no more than 3,500 (each letter, space and punctuation mark counts as one character). The system is set to notify you if you exceed the character limit. If you do, the system will not allow you to proceed with the final submission step without first modifying your abstract to meet the character limit.

  • Figures, tables and images are not accepted during the submission process because they will not be printed with the abstract if accepted.

  • NASS policy states that abstracts may not be withdrawn after acceptance. If an accepted abstract is not presented at the meeting, the ensuing penalty is that the abstract will be listed as “Refuse to Present” in the Final Program, and the entire author group will not be permitted to submit an abstract to NASS for two (2) years. To withdraw an abstract, the presenter must notify the NASS office in writing prior to the end of the abstract review. Once an abstract has been accepted for the program it may no longer be withdrawn.

  • Prior to submitting your abstract(s), please ensure you and/or one of your team of authors has secured proper funding sources in order to present at the meeting. Presenting authors of all accepted abstracts must register for the meeting and are responsible for their own travel expenses as well as the meeting registration fee.

  • NASS reserves the right to withdraw an abstract at any time.

  • All presenters must adhere to the AMA Code of Medical Ethics, Opinion 8.061, “Gifts to Physicians from Industry.” More information may be found at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/5689.html.

  • Medical device companies are prohibited from submitting abstracts on behalf of the author(s). Violations subverting the educational content of the meeting and threatening NASS’ ACCME accreditation will be subject to disciplinary action.

  • Presenters may not use their abstract to market products or services. Use generic names wherever possible. Use product-based names only when necessary.