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General guidelines

General Abstract Guidelines

Fulfilling the highest ethical standards is essential for abstracts to be considered for review. Further information can be found below, please take the time to review these guidelines carefully before submitting a study.

Original studies:
These should represent original research not yet published or presented elsewhere.

Case reports:
These reports should describe new or rare disease conditions or new diagnostic or therapeutic modalities related to emergency and critical care. Case reports describing innovative techniques or approaches to managing clinical conditions and complications are encouraged. The report will usually be of one or more clinical cases. If accepted, case reports will be presented as posters and will not be published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care.

Deadlines:
Opening abstract submission: 2nd December 2024
Deadline abstract submission: 2nd of February 2025, 23:59 hrs. GMT +1
Confirmation of acceptance/rejection: 12th of March 2025
Registration presenting author: Before the 15th of April 2025 (early bird deadline)

Awards:
Best oral presentations and posters will be awarded. During the submission process please indicate whether or not you wish to participate in the competition.

Authors: 
Authors whose abstracts are accepted will have to register for the congress before the 15th of April 2025. Otherwise, the abstract will not be published in the proceedings.

Requirements for reviewing

Research communications are automatically rejected without further scrutiny if they:

- Are not submitted on-line
- Are received after the closing date
- Exceed 350 words in length (excluding title and author details)
- Are not written in scientific American English grammar
- Are too preliminary in nature or are deemed to be of low scientific quality
- Contain tables, graphs or figures
- Are not relevant to the emergency and critical care field

All abstracts submitted should adhere to high ethical standards and it is the responsibility of the authors to ensure studies are performed in accordance with international, national and institutional laws and regulations.

Submission of proof of official, authorised, ethical approval is mandatory for the following:

  • Any study performed on laboratory animals;
  • Any cross-sectional or prospective study performed on client-owned animals involving invasive procedures (e.g., samples obtained by any procedure similarly or more invasive than needle insertion); 
  • Any cross-sectional or prospective study performed on client-owned animals involving procedures not performed for the direct benefit of the patient(s), even if non-invasive (e.g., POCUS);
  • Any cross-sectional or prospective study performed on client-owned animals involving the use of surplus material from samples obtained for diagnostic purposes;
  • Any study involving procedures not part of standard veterinary care. 

Proof of ethical approval should be provided as a copy of a formal, dated, and signed approval letter from your local ethics committee. The study methodology needs to be evaluated and approved by the local ethics committee; letters stating that an ethical review is not legally necessary based on national laws will not be accepted as proof of ethical approval. The authors are responsible for providing evidence that the research protocol receiving ethical approval includes the methodologies used in the research study submitted. If the ethical approval and the supportive documentation are not in English, a translation should also be submitted. Additional information might be requested by the Scientific Committee before the abstract is considered for review. Please submit any relevant documentation to abstracts@evecc.org.

The EVECC Scientific Committee would still strongly recommend seeking ethical review also for retrospective studies that use surplus material, or for any other prospective or retrospective study that might raise ethical issues. 

Examples of areas where ethical issues could arise include but are not limited to:

  • Recruitment of patients
  • Data collection and protection; questionnaires
  • Ownership of data or clinical material
  • Any potential to cause harm or distress to an animal or owner participating in a research study
  • Breaching confidentiality of the owner of an animal during the conduct of the research or its publication
  • Need for informed consent
  • Study designs where decision-making is determined by the study design (e.g., randomisation) rather than the attending veterinary surgeon

If you are planning a research study, please consider that, more likely than not, proof of ethical review will be required. Going through the process of ethical scrutiny provides assurance to the participants and to the publishers of research that ethical issues have been carefully assessed and that the design and conduct of the research meet agreed standards. Ethical review can only be effectively carried out prior to the research being conducted. Ethical approval does not substitute owners’ consent for client-owned animals, which is required for procedures, treatments, and use of patient samples or data.

EVECC reserves the right to reject any abstracts not meeting the above criteria, where the Scientific Committee deems an ethical review essential but adequate proof of ethical review is not provided, or where justification for exemption is considered inadequate. 

For accepted abstracts to be published in the Journal of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care (JVECC), in addition to the above criteria, authors should also adhere to the journal’s ethical guidelines: (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14764431/homepage/forauthors.html).  

If you should have any questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with the scientific committee.

Kind regards on behalf of the Scientific Committee,



Giacomo Stanzani
Chair of the Scientific Committee

For questions to the Scientific Committee: SC@eveccs.org
For questions regarding abstracts: abstracts@evecc-congress.org

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