The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Annual Conference 2015
Call for abstracts in Pharmacy Practice Research
Contributions in any area of pharmacy practice research are invited for presentation at the
Conference either as an Oral Communication or a Poster Presentation.
Submissions should relate to original, previously unpublished work contributing to the
understanding, development or evaluation of pharmacy practice. Submissions are considered under
the following categories:
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Practice Research
Quality Improvement and Evaluation.
Submissions will be adjudicated on the basis of clearly outlining the research or evaluation methods
used and conclusions that are supported by the findings. The judging criteria for abstracts are given
in Table 1. The Adjudicating Panel will make the final decision on the form of presentation.
Abstracts describing pharmacy practice developments without robust evaluation data could be
submitted under the separate call for “Practice Innovations” abstracts which has a later submission
deadline.
FORMAT OF ABSTRACT:
You must use the RPS Abstract Template provided to make your online submission.
Abstracts must be fully anonymous; this includes anonymising names of local
organisations, ethics committees, and references which are clearly referred to as being
written by the research team.
Please note that abstracts that do not conform to this format will not be accepted.
The abstract must contain:
 a title at the top of the abstract
 a list of focal points (three or four short sentences as bullets which describe the crux of
the abstract). There should be one sentence for the research question or objective, one
sentence for the main results and one for the main conclusion. If necessary, a further bullet
can be added
 a brief introduction including a statement of objectives or research question
 a description of the methods used
 a statement as to whether ethics committee approval was obtained or was not needed
 the results obtained – All submissions must contain some data or results Abstracts
with no data or only the promise of future data will be rejected
 the discussion
 no more than two references although references are not essential
2015 Abstract Guidelines
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no other information should appear in the body of abstract outside of the focal points
PREPARATION OF ABSTRACTS:
All abstracts must be prepared as follows:
 using Times New Roman 11-point type
 fit on a single side of the A4 template (including tables, focal points and references).
Abstracts which do not fit onto a single side will not be considered
 not exceed 600 words (including focal points but excluding references)
 tables and references should be typed in 9 point. Any table should be formatted using the
Word facility.
 figures should be black and white and capable of being reproduced clearly when reduced to
55mm wide. Figures should be supplied with a high resolution image file in a popular format
such as TIFF or JPEG.
 do not underline or use italics, except as required by usual convention.
 do not use lines within tables except at the top and bottom.
 References (maximum of two) should be cited in the text as superscript numbers. At the
end of the text, number and list the references in the order in which they occur with
surname(s) and initials, title of the article, abbreviated name of the journal, year, volume
number and first and last page numbers.
An example of an abstract in the approved style can be found on the website.
ONLINE ABSTRACT SUBMISSION:
To submit your abstract online go to www.rpharms.com/events and click on ‘Call for Papers’.
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Authors should specify whether or not they wish the abstract to be considered for a
possible Oral Communication presentation or poster presentation.
Abstracts will only be accepted if submitted online.
Any abstract received after the closing date will not be accepted.
Authors of work presented at the RPS conference must adhere to the ICMJE definition
of authorship www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html
That is, "Authorship credit should be based on
1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or
analysis and interpretation of data;
2) drafting the submitted abstract (and slides or poster for presentation) or
revising them critically for important intellectual content; and
3) final approval of the version to be submitted / presented. Authors should meet
conditions 1, 2, and 3."
The closing date for abstract submissions is: 9:00am Wednesday 8 April 2015
2015 Abstract Guidelines
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ABSTRACTS:
Each submission will be acknowledged to the Corresponding Author on receipt and assigned a
unique Abstract Number. This number must be quoted in any correspondence. Any enquiries
should be made to events@rpharms.com.
PROVISIONAL ACCEPTANCE:
Abstracts will be reviewed for provisional acceptance by the Adjudicating Panel for Pharmacy
Practice Research. On Tuesday 12 May 2015, corresponding authors will be advised of the
suggested changes with a revision deadline of Thursday 28 May 2015 for amendments and final
abstract submission.
FINAL NOTIFICATION:
The revised abstracts will go through a final check by the Adjudicating Panel for Pharmacy Practice
Research. On Monday 8 June 2015 corresponding authors will be advised of the outcome, date of
presentation and the format (poster/ oral presentation).
The Corresponding Author is responsible for notifying these details to other authors,
including the Presenting Author. Abstracts, once accepted for publication, can not be changed
(except as identified by the Adjudicating panel) or withdrawn.
ALL PRESENTERS MUST REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE:
Applicants should note that failure to attend the conference to present accepted work may lead to
the exclusion of subsequent abstract submissions to the conference for a minimum of one
subsequent year.
POSTER DISPLAY:
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Posters should be prepared in PORTRAIT format, A0 size. Oversize posters will not be
accepted for display
Posters should be self-explanatory as presenters need only be available at specific times to
answer questions. Lettering should be legible at 2m, (minimum height of characters 8mm,
minimum line thickness 0.7mm).
Posters will be displayed for the two days of the Conference. The Presenting Author must
be present during attended periods, which will be notified.
There will be a prize for the best poster in each category. Poster presenters will be notified
of the poster prize judging criteria when they are informed their submission has been
accepted as a poster.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS:
Full instructions will be provided following the acceptance of submissions for oral presentations.
Please note that selection of abstracts for poster or oral presentation is based upon creating
coherent themes for conference sessions and is not based solely on the quality of the research.
PUBLICATION:
2015 Abstract Guidelines
The published abstracts will appear in the final form accepted by the Adjudicating Panel and for
which the author has full responsibility. Abstracts will be published in the International Journal of
Pharmacy Practice. Abstracts will also be available on the web at www.rpharms.com/events
Table 1: Abstract Judging Criteria
Criteria
1
2
3
Is the work relevant
to pharmacy
practice?
Is the work novel?
Not to a significant
degree
Not relevant to a
significant degree
Partly
Similar work
conducted in the
past
Work conducted in
past but in different
setting or population
and/or using different
methods
Research question/aim
and objectives stated
but not entirely clear
Is the research
question/aim and
objectives clearly
stated?
Is the design
appropriate?
Research
question/aim and
objectives not stated
5
Is the method clearly
described?
Method not clearly
described
6
Does the work
include data or
findings on which the
discussion is based?
Are the results fully
and clearly
presented?
Does the discussion
reflect the findings
and limitations
Are the important
implications for
practice clearly
stated?
Not to a significant
degree
4
7
8
9
Design not
appropriate
Partly relevant
Design seems
appropriate, although
other methods may
have been better
Method partly
described, but not
entirely clear
Partly included
Fully or
largely
Fully or largely
relevant
Works appears
novel and original
Research
question/aim and
objectives clearly
stated
Design entirely
appropriate to the
research question
Method clearly and
unequivocally
described
Fully or largely
included
Major omissions and
lack of clarity
Some omissions or
lack of clarity
Fully and clearly
presented
Not to a significant
degree
Partly reflect
Fully or largely
reflect
Importance and
findings of the study
not discussed to a
significant degree
Findings mentioned
but importance not
discussed within a
wider perspective
Important findings
discussed and their
clear implications for
practice outlined
2015 Abstract Guidelines