Contributed Papers, Posters and Panels Submission Information
Submissions are now closed. Notifications of acceptance were issued January 2014.
Submission Guidelines
The project should:
Submission deadline: December 15, 2013
Notification of acceptance: January 2014
FAQ for Contributors
Submitting Abstracts
- Submissions should be about agricultural information and education.
- Abstracts, posters and papers must be in English.
- Abstracts maximum length: 300 words.
- At least one author must be a USAIN member.
- At least one author must register for and attend the conference.
- An individual may be lead author and presenter on a maximum of three submissions - one paper, one poster, and one panel submission.
- Submissions must be properly blinded. Any information in the body of the abstract identifying individuals or institutions will be redacted by the Papers and Posters Committee Chair prior to review.
The project should:
- Report on original research or project, or
- Demonstrate a new application of an existing technology, method, or thought;
- Contribute to the knowledge of and in the field of agricultural information and education;
- Be of broad interest to the USAIN audience;
- Be of suitable length, scope and content for a panel, poster, or paper presentation;
- Add to the quality and diversity of the conference program.
Submission deadline: December 15, 2013
Notification of acceptance: January 2014
FAQ for Contributors
Submitting Abstracts
- Should I submit my proposal as a paper, poster, or panel session?
Papers should be on a topic of interest to a large proportion of conference attendees, in general, or they may relate to a particular Interest Group. Papers are presented as oral presentations (not read), and should be no more than 15 minutes in length, allowing for an additional 5 minute question period. If you submit an abstract to be considered as a paper, you may also elect to have it considered as a poster.
Posters are suitable for sharing preliminary research, works in progress, short project reports, or projects that are narrower in scope.
Panel sessions allow for a moderated panel of speakers to discuss a single topic that is of wide interest over a 30-minute period. Your proposal should emphasize how the topic applies to the USAIN audience and discuss the multiple perspectives, approaches, or experiences that a panel discussion will bring to the topic. - How do I submit my abstract?
Abstracts can be submitted online at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=usain2014 (new users of the EasyChair software program will need to sign up for a free account). To submit an abstract for consideration for part of the general conference programming, select the USAIN 2014 Contributed Papers, Posters and Panels track; to submit an abstract for an Interest Group program, select the track for the appropriate interest group.Proposals should be tagged with keywords (minimum of two, maximum of five). At least three additional author keywords are also required. You will need to paste your abstract text into the Abstract field and also attach a PDF or Word file of the body of your abstract. The abstract must be blinded, with no identifying personal, institutional or address information. - What are the requirements for Interest Group proposals?
Four USAIN Interest Groups are soliciting contributions for their programs; contributors are not required to be Interest Group members.
The Animal Health Interest Group is hosting a paper session on Information Stewardship: Supporting Animal Health, Human Health, and the Environment. The group seeks paper proposals related animal health, human health, environmental health and food safety, and the connections between these subjects. Papers are presented as oral presentations (not read), and should be no more than 15 minutes in length, allowing for an additional 5 minute question period.
The Technology Trends Interest Group welcomes lightning talk proposals on topics relevant to technological developments in librarianship. Examples include assessment of useful mobile apps relating to food, agriculture and nutrition, faculty and students’ use of mobile apps or social media in their academic pursuits; assessment tools and measures that have been used in repositories or open access collections; data management tools in use, their assessments or effectiveness, new tools used for library instruction or for outreach to patrons, user preferences for e-book collections, evaluation of the impact of e-book collection, technology useful to help faculty increase their impact, etc. Lightning talks should be no more than 8 minutes in length.
The AgNIC Interest Group calls for lightning talk proposals about either new AgNIC sites or topics, or major revisions/updates, or significant new digital materials put into a local repository for metadata harvest into the AgNIC central index at http://www.agnic.org/. Lightning talks should be no more than 8 minutes in length.
The International Agriculture Interest Group seeks enthusiastic presenters to participate in an Ignite session (http://igniteshow.com/browse/popular). Ignite presenters share something they're passionate about using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes; presentations can cover any past or present project, initiative or program related to international agriculture. - How should I format my abstract?
Abstracts should be written in English and be no more than 300 words in length. Use at least a 12-point font. Abstracts should not include figures, tables, or bibliographic references.
Abstracts should convey the objective of your project and its significance to the USAIN audience. Depending on the scope and status of your project, it is also appropriate to include your methods, results and conclusions. - How should I blind my abstract?
There should be no author names, institutional or company affiliations, or address information in the body of the abstract. Enter that information in the correct fields of the submission form only. The Contributed Papers, Posters and Panels Committee Chair reserves the right to edit abstracts for the purpose of eliminating any identifying information before sending the abstract to reviewers. Authors are urged to blind their abstracts themselves, because USAIN cannot guarantee the resulting quality if changes must be made after submission. - How will my abstract be evaluated?
Your proposal will be evaluated based on whether it is an original project or research, or demonstrates a new application of an existing technology, method, or thought; contributes to the knowledge of and in the field of agricultural information and education; is of broad interest to the USAIN audience; is appropriate for the format; and adds to the quality and diversity of the conference program. Abstracts submitted to interest group programs will be evaluated by the interest group’s conveners and/or their delegates. - How will I know if my abstract is accepted?
You will be notified by email of the Contributed Papers, Posters and Panels Committee’s decision in January 2014. - Are there scholarships or registration discounts available for presenters?
There are no discounts or scholarships for presenters of contributed papers or posters or for panelists. - Can I submit my proposal if it has been previously presented?
Can I submit it to more than one meeting at the same time?Yes, as long as the original research has been specifically adapted for the USAIN audience. Original research or projects presented at USAIN should include new data, perspective, or interpretation. - I am working on more than one project that is relevant to the USAIN audience. Can I submit proposals for all of them?
Yes, though in the interest of hearing from as many presenters as possible, an individual can only be lead author and presenter on one of each type of proposal: one paper, one poster, and one panel session. You may be a co-author on multiple proposals of any type. Interest Group track proposals are considered separately, and an individual can submit additional proposals to those tracks, as well. - Do presenters retain copyright to their work?
Yes. Authors retain copyright to their work and grant USAIN a non-exclusive license to use presented or submitted material in any form for educational purposes. - Are the presentation materials archived?
Yes. Electronic versions of contributed paper and poster presentation materials are expected to be deposited in the USAIN Conference Proceedings repository hosted by Cornell University. - Are there opportunities to publish papers presented at USAIN?
Yes. Presenters will be invited to submit their papers for post-conference publication in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Information (JAFI). Information about the journal, as well as instructions for authors, can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wafi20.