Sessioning Process

Abstracts submitted for presentation at the SfN annual meeting are reviewed by the Program Committee in July.  

Presenting authors will receive email notifications with their abstract's session assignment in August. Abstracts are assigned, divided, and sessioned as follows:

• Assigned: Abstracts in a given group of topics are assigned to a committee member.
• Divided: Within each topic, abstracts are divided according to the author's theme and topic and any linking group requests. The committee assigns abstracts to sessions so the scientific program is as strong as possible. The primary goal is session coherence.
• Sessioned: Committee members group abstracts into sessions. Sessioning assignments are final, and changes are not possible. The final criterion is always an abstract's relevance to a session.

To improve program coherence, the abstract submission system allows submitters to create and join linking groups. Linking groups will help the Program Committee to form sessions with thematically-related abstracts aimed at creating positive networking experiences for presenters. To link your abstract with another abstract or a group of abstracts, use the "Linking Groups" function in the abstract submission system to create or join a group.

• Connect with colleagues. Use the Neuroscience 2023 hashtag #SfN23 on social media to connect with others in your research area and form groups. 
• Use the Special Linking Group Report. This report is available only within the abstract submission site and lists all linking groups that have been created by abstract submitters. Review this report to see if there are any groups related to your research that you may be interested in joining. The report is available within the Linking Group step of abstract submission.
• Propose your own poster session. Use linking groups to indicate to the Program Committee that you wish to be sessioned with your colleagues in the same poster or nanosymposium session. No more than 14 abstracts should be included in a nanosymposium linking group and no more than 20 abstracts should be included in a poster session linking group.
• Grouping requests are not guaranteed. The Program Committee will consider your abstract grouping request during the session building process. However, this request is not guaranteed. The committee reserves the right to move abstracts in proposed groups to different sessions, re-order the abstracts within each session, and add other appropriate abstracts to any session.
• Keep groups consistent. All abstracts in a group must select the same theme and topic and presentation preference for group consideration. If these fields are marked differently, the abstract will likely be sessioned apart from the group.