Annual Scientific Symposium

The Call for Abstracts is closed

Please review the submission guidelines below before submitting your abstract via AwardForce. Note that submitting your abstract does not register you to attend the Symposium. If selected for an oral or poster presentation, registration for the Symposium is required.

General Information

• Eligibility: The presenting author must be a SOCS member and available to present the abstract at the Symposium. For abstracts submitted by medical students, residents, and research trainees, the presenting author’s attending, mentor, last author or principal investigator must also be a SOCS member. 
• Membership: This program is reserved for Skin of Color Society members and pending members with a complete membership application. Non-members should submit a complete membership application by Thursday, October 2 to meet eligibility requirements. Apply for membership here.
• Submission Deadline: Monday, October 6, by 12:00 PM CT.
  • After this date/time, the submission site will close automatically and can no longer accept submissions.
    There will be no exceptions to this policy.
• Notification: Acceptance and rejection notices will be sent to the submitter in November 2025.
• Registration: All accepted presenters must register for the 22nd Annual Skin of Color Society Scientific Symposium to be included in the program.

Presenting Author Responsibilities 

The first author listed for each abstract will serve as the presenting author and primary contact for all correspondence regarding the abstract.

Responsibilities:

• Ensure all authors have read the abstract and agreed to be co-authors.
• Obtain disclosure information from all authors.
• Submit the abstract application via AwardForce.
• Forward all correspondence to all authors.
• If selected, register for the Scientific Symposium.

Submission Guidelines

The Skin of Color Society encourages the submission of original studies or observations of interest to dermatologists, particularly those focused on skin of color.

Presentation Types:

• Oral Abstract Presentations: Exclusively available to members in the Resident, Research Trainee, and Medical Student categories.
• Poster Presentations: Available to members eligible for oral presentations and those in the Fellow, International Fellow, and Associate member categories.

Abstract Requirements:

• Abstracts must address scientific or clinical questions, detail clinical observations, or contain primary scientific data.
• Incomplete abstracts or those lacking data will not be considered.
• Case studies or reports will not be accepted. 

Ineligible Data:

• Data published by the abstract submission deadline.
• Data presented at the AAD Annual Meeting in the same calendar year.
• Encore presentations, including those previously presented at SOCS as a poster or oral presentation.
• Data submitted and/or sponsored by industry

Clinical Trials:

• Interim analysis must align with the original protocol and be statistically valid.

• Follow-up data must present significant new information.

Compliance:

• All research involving human and animal subjects must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association.

Additional Information:

• No revisions are allowed after the submission deadline.

Submission Requirements

All submissions must include:

• Abstract: A clear, concise, and structured abstract of no more than 250 words in English, adhering to sections for Introduction/Background, Methods, Results, Discussion, Limitations, and Conclusions.
• Title: A title in Title Case.
• Author Information: Full names of all authors and their institutional affiliations.
• Membership:
  • The presenting author must be a SOCS member.
  • The presenting author’s attending, mentor, last author or principal investigator (where applicable) must be a SOCS member. 
• References: Up to five references or citations, formatted according to any major academic citation style.
• Conflict of Interest: Disclosure of conflicts of interest for all authors

Abstract Withdrawal

• Withdrawal Requests: Written requests for withdrawal must be submitted by January 22, 2026.

Policy Compliance

• SOCS reserves the right to withdraw abstracts that violate its policies, including those involving previous publication, scientific unsoundness, or inaccuracies.

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