1. Abstract Submission

• All submissions must be made via the ICS website www.ics.org/2023/abstracts by 3 April 2023.
• The ICS Scientific Committee will decide on the presentation category for presentation abstracts;
  • Podium Presentation
  • E-Poster
• All accepted abstracts will be published on the ICS website exactly as submitted.
• Podium Presentations will be published in the ICS Journal, Continence.
  • View definitions of all presentation types at ICS Meetings
• Abstracts previously published or presented at an international meeting, comparable to the ICS, are rejected. If your abstract is accepted for ICS you will be asked to withdraw the same abstract from any other international meetings you may have also submitted to.

2. Anonymity for most objective review

• The abstract text must be anonymous. i.e. without any authors’ or institutions’ names. Do not include the name of the hospital, university or city.
• All abstract identification details, references, ethical approval, and disclosures will be taken separately as part of the online submission process and will be merged again with the abstract text after review.

3. Ethical approval

• A clear statement on ethical approval must be given, or stated as NONE.
• For studies in humans, ethical committee approval must be clearly identified and patients’ informed consent must be stated.
• For studies in animals, conformity with institutional/national guidelines for the care and use of animals must be declared, and when applicable the animal ethics committee be identified.

4. Disclosures and funding

• Any external funding of the study or grants must be declared or stated as NONE.

5. Abstract Formatting and Subtitles

• The format requested are "extended abstracts" which must be at least 400 words but not more than 1200 words.
• Do not use characters or symbols from any font set other than Arial.
• Images, figures, graphs and tables can be uploaded with a maximum total of 2 per abstract.
• Abstracts must use the sections given:
  • Hypothesis / aims of study
  • Study design, materials and methods
  • Results
  • Interpretation of results
  • Concluding message
• Missing sections will cause rejection.

6. Abstract Content

• Abstracts must be written in English.
• All abstracts must contain adequate data. Case reports or study proposals only will not be accepted.
• Strictly use ICS Terminology. Please note that the use of obsolete terminology may cause rejection. View current ICS Terminology reports.
• For studies comparing results between groups, sample size (power) calculations must be included.
• For RCTs any non-adherence to the CONSORT guidelines must be specified and justified.
• Studies must not be split into multiple abstracts. This could lead to each abstract being downgraded.
• Preliminary Data – people publishing a study in progress (not an interim analysis). Data submitted must be that presented at the meeting.
• Abstracts must specify either:
  • Pure and Applied Science / Translational
  • Clinical
• Abstracts must specify either:
  • Surgical
  • Not Surgical
• Abstracts must specify one Broad Category :

• Abstracts must specify three Keywords but no more than five:

7. Authors

• First Authors (presenters) can only be first authors on a maximum of three submitted abstracts.

8. Abstract References

• A maximum of 3 references must be listed separately, and referred to in the abstract text only with numbers in brackets.

9. Final Precautions

Abstract Title:

• Title only; NO author or institution details.

Abstract Text:

• Minimum 400 words; maximum 1200 words and maximum 2 figures/tables/images/graphs
• All subtitle sections filled adequately.
• ICS Terminology and guidelines adhered to.

Separately Submitted:

• Ethical approval / Funding, - NOT in text.
• Author and institution, - NOT in text.
• References, ONLY numbers in brackets in text.

IF YOU VIOLATE ANY ABSTRACT SUBMISSION RULE, YOUR ABSTRACT WILL BE REJECTED. The ICS Scientific Committee reserves the right to reject an abstract for other reasons not stated above.