Rules and Regulations for Submission

Successful applications meet the following criteria:

Members of the AAFP Commission on Continuing Professional Development, Subcommittee on Assembly Scientific Program (the Subcommittee) make final decisions about eligibility. The AAFP reserves the right to deny any application that, in the opinion of the AAFP, is deemed promotional, commercial or unethical.

If there is more than one author, the first author listed should be the primary author; that is, the person who has done the majority of work. This is the author upon whom the classification of the submission should be based. International attendee classifications are open to anyone who conducted clinical or educational research relevant to family medicine outside the United States.

The classifications are as follows:

All material presented in the poster or paper must be current, relevant and free from ethical bias. Comparisons of efficacy, contraindications, modes of administration, etc., between competitive products shall be fully presented. Editorial conclusions should be avoided. If the poster or paper deals with a pharmaceutical product, medical device or any product that is sold on the open market, the content of the poster or paper must not be promotional and must use only generic names. All applications MUST be accompanied by a letter from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) indicating approval or exemption. Applications submitted without an IRB letter will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.

All submissions must include a Full Disclosure for Continuing Medical Education Activities page indicating relationships that they or their spouse/partner have with commercial entities producing health care goods or services. Applicants will be contacted if any such relationships are determined to be a potential conflict of interest. Invitation to the Assembly Research Competition is contingent upon receipt of all disclosure forms and resolutions of all existing conflicts of interest.

If financial support has been provided for the preparation of the paper, it must be indicated on the application form. The AAFP, as well as the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), requires all presenters to indicate whether or not financial support was provided. Failure to disclose financial support will result in the application being disqualified.

Company logos of the supporting company are prohibited on any part of the poster. Only generic names of drugs and other products may be used in the body of the poster. An asterisk may mark the first appearance of the generic name, with the trade name as a footnote at the bottom of the display not exceeding one-half inch in height. When a number of different products appear in the poster copy, exception to the rule may be granted at the discretion of the Subcommittee. All generic designations of competitive products shall be used with equal emphasis on height, weight, color and typeface of lettering. The senior exhibitor shall be fully responsible for the content, arrangement and presentation of all data in the poster. AAFP may prohibit or remove any poster or material that, in the opinion of AAFP, may detract from the general character of the poster presentations as a whole, or consists of products or services inconsistent with the purpose of the poster presentations, without liability for any refunds or other poster expenses incurred.