Use your pharmacist.com username and password to access the APhA2025 online abstract submission form. Use an email address that you check often and will have access to until at least March 24, 2025. The system will not send emails to alternate email addresses, and you may otherwise miss valuable information and access to your abstracts.

If you need to create an APhA account:

Go to www.pharmacist.com, click on Login, then Register. You do not have to be a member to create an account. Enter the email that you will use for notifications for APhA2025.

You may update your abstract anytime until October 2, 2024, at 11:59pm ET. Upon submission, the submitter will receive a confirmation email with the details of the submission.

Contributed research paper

Abstracts must present the findings of original scientific research using quantitative or qualitative analysis that is relevant to practicing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. Acceptable research areas include, but are not limited to:

• basic sciences
• clinical sciences
• economic, social, and administrative sciences (ESAS)
• clinical/practical implementation and practice management
• educational research

Data collection must be completed by 11:59PM ET on the abstract submission date of Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and must be accompanied by appropriate implication/conclusions. Projects that do not have completed results and conclusions at the time of submission should be submitted as a report in progress (see below).

Innovative practice report

Abstracts must describe a new idea or strategy for the delivery of patient care—including those that are new to the practitioner’s region, system, or practice setting—or a creative application of existing techniques or services.

Projects must be completed by 11:59PM ET on the abstract submission date of Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and must be accompanied by appropriate implications/conclusions. Projects that do not have completed results and conclusions at the time of the submission should be considered as a report in progress (see below).

Reports on projects in progress

Submissions may be a contributed research paper or innovative practice report that is in progress but not yet complete, summarizing the research or project and the plan for completion.

Investigators must be in the process of collecting data or implementing an innovative practice. (Due to the residency timeline, current pharmacy residents do not have to be in the process of collecting data when they submit their abstracts.)

Data collection/projects must be initiated by the abstract submission date of Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and must be completed by March 1, 2025, so that results, implications, and conclusions are presented at APhA2025.

Encore presentations

Abstracts must meet the submission and evaluation criteria for original papers submitted to APhA2025, with the exception that the paper has been previously presented at a local, state, or national meeting within 12 months of the submission deadline. Abstracts must include the original citation.

Select the research area that best describes the domain of pharmacy research represented in your abstract. Your selection will determine the composition of the review team assigned to evaluate your abstract. 

APhA–APPM: Practice-Based Pharmacy

This research area includes projects involving pharmacists practicing in a variety of patient care settings such as health-system inpatient, community pharmacy, ambulatory clinic, integrated care setting, long-term care, managed care, and physician office practice. Research projects that address the development and implementation of pharma-cist-provided patient care services may be included in this area.

APhA–APRS: Basic Sciences

The basic sciences research area includes wide-ranging basic science research projects from academia, government, and industry. Research topics may include chemical structure/biological activity and chemical structure/physicochemical property relationships; concepts in pharmaceutical technology, biotechnology, and drug delivery; and the basic chemistry on which these areas are founded.

APhA–APRS: Clinical Sciences

Research in clinical sciences includes unique multidisciplinary interactions between clin-ical scientists and practitioners committed to expanding knowledge of the safe and effective use of medications. Research projects addressing the development and evaluation of drugs and biologics in health care settings and controlled research environments may be included in this area.

APhA–APRS: Economic, Social, and Administrative Sciences (ESAS)

The ESAS research area is intended for projects in health services research, policy, and administration with application to medications and patient care. ESAS is multidisciplinary, including the fields of public health, epidemiology, economics, health services research, outcomes research, biostatistics, medical sociology, law, health care administration and management, operations research, pharmaceutical marketing, marketing research, technology assessment and applications, and public and private reimbursement programs. The audience includes scientists, educators, practitioners, government managers, and other health care system representatives.

Select a topic from the list on the online abstract submission site. This list is meant to be as inclusive as possible; however, if your abstract does not fit into one of the topics listed, please use the emerging/other topic designation. The purpose of selecting a topic area is to appropriately group the abstracts both for publication in JAPhA and for the poster presentations.

Authors

Collect all authors’ information (names, email addresses, etc.) before you begin the submission process.

Enter all of your authors (up to 10), choosing their role(s) from the dropdown list: 

• Primary/First Author (see below)
• Presenting Author (this is the author who will give the poster presentation, if accepted)
• Primary/First Author AND Presenting Author
• Co-author (this author contributed to the work and will be included in the published abstract)
• Preceptor/Advisor*

If you are a Pharmacy Resident or Student Pharmacist, you must include your preceptor/advisor’s name and contact information. They will be copied on all correspondence.

Primary/First Author

Select the category that best describes the primary (first) author’s status at the time the research was conducted. (Please see Poster Awards for eligibility requirements). 

Select one of the categories described below:

Writing An Abstract

An abstract is a clear, concise summary of a project that offers a conclusion based on results. 

• Pharmacy residents and students should work with their residency director or faculty advisor, respectively, to ensure the best possible abstract submission.
• Do NOT include any identifying information such as authors’ names, affiliations, and/or site names anywhere in the abstract. This information will be obtained elsewhere in the online abstract submission process.
• Be as specific, descriptive, and thorough as possible about project/study design, methods, data collection and analysis, results, and conclusion/implications.
• Use complete sentences.
• Include background information to justify why this program was created.
• Define time periods; include dates, where applicable.
• Describe patient population(s) in detail.
• Spell out acronyms in full at first mention and abbreviate thereafter.
• Use standard abbreviations for units of measure.
• Avoid trademark symbols, subscripts, and superscripts.
• Avoid the use of jargon.
• Proofread for spelling, grammatical, and typographical errors.

Abstracts are limited to 600 words and must include the following sections in sequence:

• Title (use uppercase and lowercase letters as appropriate; do not use all capital letters); use a short, specific presentation title (containing no abbreviations) that indicates the nature of the research or innovative project.
• Objective(s)/Background (the study’s objective should be the first sentence of the abstract)
• Methods (e.g., design, setting, patients/participants, data collection, analysis plan, and/or other appropriate qualitative methods)
• Results (or preliminary results for reports on projects in progress)
• Conclusions/Implications

Supporting tables or figures may be submitted for all types of submissions.

• The use of tables and figures is optional.
• Do NOT reference or call out the tables and figures in your abstract.
• Tables and figures should be self-explanatory and serve to supplement the material in the abstract.
• Label submitted tables and figures. A brief explanatory legend for a table or figure is optional.

Tips for success

• Allow adequate time before the submission deadline to submit your abstract to address/resolve any technology issues that might arise.
• Be certain that your abstract is complete, accurate, and proofread before finalizing it. Once the abstract is saved as final, it is NOT possible to add authors or edit or change the submission. If accepted, the abstract will be published exactly as it was submitted.

Abstracts submitted by Wednesday, October 2, 2024 ,will be reviewed by a team of APhA volunteer reviewers. All abstracts are subjected to a double-blind peer review. 

Criteria for evaluating submitted abstracts

Abstracts submitted to the APhA Contributed Papers Program will be evaluated according to the following criteria.

If you are a Student Pharmacist or Pharmacy Resident, work with your preceptor or faculty advisor to ensure that your abstract submission meets all criteria outlined.

• Relevance – rationale is clearly defined; makes important contribution to pharmacy practice or theoretical basis of pharmaceutical sciences because it is original/innovative or of vital importance to the profession.
• Originality – new, innovative approaches to move the pharmacy profession forward.
• Clear statement of question(s) to be answered or objective(s) to be met.
• Study/project design – project design clearly stated, appropriate to achieve objectives, and variables controlled. Setting and patient population described.
• Methods and data collection process/analysis clearly described. Source(s) of data, how it is being collected and measured. Data analysis is clearly specified and evaluation procedures target project outcomes and support project objectives. Compare different strategies.
• Results – findings are reported for each study objective or research question. Include data in your results section. (Projects in Progress must report any initial findings or trends/preliminary results. Preliminary results are not required for Pharmacy Resident category.)
• Conclusions are appropriately stated, based on results. (Projects in Progress will not include Conclusions on the abstract; however, conclusions should be included in the final poster presentation.)
• Implications of findings for pharmacy practice, policy theory, or further research are discussed and should focus on tangible or significant results. Describe how innovation is adaptable to other practice sites/settings. (Projects in Progress will describe potential implications.)

Determination of abstract status

• Abstracts that receive a score below the established threshold for acceptance will be rejected.
• Pharmacy Resident and Student Pharmacist abstracts that score low but meet the threshold for acceptance may be provided an opportunity for a one-time revision. Revised abstracts will undergo a second review to determine final status. Revision is not a guarantee of acceptance.

In late November 2024, APhA will notify the Primary/First Author about the status of their abstract submission. Emails will only be sent to the email address of the submitter’s pharmacist.com account.

If you have not received notification by December 5, 2024, contact APhA.

Poster presentation

Accepted abstracts will be scheduled for presentation in the 2-hour Meet the Researchers poster session on Saturday, March 22, 2025. Poster presentations provide authors with the opportunity to display and informally discuss their work with colleagues. Presenting authors are expected to register and attend APhA2025 in Nashville.

APhA2025 attendees will be encouraged to meet the authors of poster presentations and review this important research. APhA will offer CPE credit. In order to earn this credit, authors are required to present their poster at the Meet the Researchers session and must remain at their poster for the entire two hours.

Abstracts selected for posters will also be displayed during APhA2025 in a virtual poster gallery. Authors are encouraged to record up to five minutes of audio to accompany their virtual poster.

Podium presentation

Selected research abstracts will be considered for a podium presentation as part of the APhA2025 Day of Science. Prior to the meeting, authors will receive a confirmation letter indicating the date, time, and location of their presentation. Podium presentations are scheduled in 20-minute intervals, with 15 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for questions. Podium presenters are not required to display a physical poster. Podium presenters will be required to submit presentation slides by February 15, 2025.

Oral posters

Selected research abstracts will be considered for oral poster presentation during the APhA2025 Day of Science in addition to the physical poster. Prior to the meeting, authors will receive a confirmation email indicating the date, time, and location of their presentations, and details of the oral posters program.

Abstract publication

All accepted posters presented at APhA2025 will be e-published in the July/August 2025 edition of JAPhA at www.japha.org. Abstracts submitted as encore presentations are not published in their entirety; for these abstracts, only the title, authors, and original citation will be published in JAPhA.

Authors of accepted abstracts are encouraged to submit their work for consideration in an APhA periodical such as JAPhA or the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. If authors wish to pursue publication elsewhere, permission is not needed from APhA as no rights or interests of materials presented are maintained by the association unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., work funded by APhA).

APhA offers the following awards for posters presented at APhA2025. For more information on the awards program, please contact Ebenezer Martey, emartey@aphanet.org. 

APhA–APPM Presentation Merit Award

This award recognizes up to 6 professional practitioner or pharmacy resident presentations and two student pharmacist presentations on practice-related subjects. Recipients receive a special recognition ribbon and a certificate.

To be eligible for this award, the primary (first) author must:

• Be an APhA member at the time of submission
• Submit abstract as a Practitioner, Pharmacy Resident or Student Pharmacist

Reports on projects in progress are considered only for Pharmacy Residents.

APhA–APRS Postgraduate Best Paper Award

An award is given in each of the following categories:

• Basic sciences
• Clinical sciences
• Economic, social, and administrative sciences (ESAS)

To be eligible for this award, the primary (first) author must 

• Be an APhA member at the time of submission
• Submit abstract as a Postgraduate Student/Fellow/Postdoctoral Scholar or Pharmacy Resident
• Primary (first) author must have been a postgraduate student (master’s or doctoral degree candidate), pharmacy resident, fellow, or postdoctoral scholar when the research was conducted. If the research was conducted while pursuing a PharmD degree, the author is not eligible for this award.
• Submit abstract in the appropriate APhA–APRS research category

Questions on subject matter, submission categories, presentation options, the review process, or the online submission process should be directed to Ellyn Terry at eterry@aphanet.org.   

Questions related to Poster Awards should be directed to Ebenezer Martey, emartey@aphanet.org.