Call for Abstracts

AMERSA seeks abstract submissions of recent substance use-related research and education innovations.

Abstracts for the 2026 AMERSA National Conference may be submitted to one of three categories:

1. Research – These abstracts report on original research and must include methods, data analyses, results, and conclusions. Broad disciplines are represented, including clinical research, implementation science, and education scholarship.
2. Curricula, Quality Improvement, and Program Innovations – These abstracts report on evaluations of education curricula, quality improvement, and/or innovative program initiatives and must include methods, data analyses, results, and conclusions.
3. Clinical Case Presentations – These abstracts describe an illustrative case that reinforces specific learning objectives for the treatment of substance use disorders, complications of substance use/substance use disorder, or impact of substance use on clinical care. Clinical Cases should be based on patients for whom at least one of the author(s) had provided direct care during the course of the patient’s treatment.

In alignment with the 2026 conference theme, Stronger Together: Transforming Challenge into Opportunity in Substance Use Care, the AMERSA 2026 Abstract Review Committee encourages workshop proposal submissions that highlight collaborative, evidence-informed approaches to sustaining and strengthening substance use care amid evolving clinical, community, and systems-level challenges.

Oral presentations are clustered into concurrent theme-based 60-90 minute sessions with each abstract presentation 10 minutes in duration followed by an additional 5 minute question/answer period. There will be an oral abstract session scheduled for each day of the conference.

Poster presentations are displayed during a 90-minute evening poster reception with the attendant author(s) available to discuss and present the poster. These will be scheduled Thursday evening, November 12th.

Presenters will be assigned a time to present. All presenters must be available to present during any of the conference days. We are unable to accommodate presenters' individual availability during scheduling. Please ensure that all listed co-presenters are aware of the scheduling requirements before submitting your proposal.

Abstract awards are presented to the 2 best abstracts (1 in the Research category and 1 in the Curricula, Quality Improvement, and Program Innovations category) as well as a runner-up award in each of these 2 categories. To receive an award, the presenting author must be able to present the abstract orally. These presenting authors will receive complimentary registration for the 2026 AMERSA conference.

Note that some abstracts may best be presented as a workshop submission, not abstract, in order to capitalize on time for detailed discussion or skills development. See the Call for Skill-Based Workshops.

Presenters must be author abstracts. You may not select someone to present on behalf of the abstract's authors.

PLEASE NOTE, ONLY COMPLETE ABSTRACTS WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR PRESENTATION. ABSTRACTS DESCRIBING PROJECTS WHICH ARE IN PROGRESS AND/OR LACK DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. To be considered complete, abstracts must describe a completed research project, including descriptions of methods, results and conclusions; a completed program and curricula evaluation abstract, including evaluation methods, findings and conclusions; or a clinical case, with specific learning objectives that are generalizable and supported by the case. Literature review abstracts will not be accepted but systematic / scoping review abstracts can be submitted for consideration. 

In order to encourage broad and timely dissemination of research results and innovative programs, abstracts presented elsewhere are acceptable for submission and presentation at the AMERSA Annual National Conference PROVIDED that:

1) A manuscript reporting the same or similar results has not been accepted for publication
2) The previous presentation occurred within the last 12 months of the abstract submission deadline, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, 11:59 PM PT.
3) The abstract was not previously presented at an AMERSA Conference.

AMERSA strongly encourages abstract submissions from underrepresented groups and from diverse professional disciplines.

Review Process:

The Abstract Review Committee is made up of volunteer AMERSA reviewers and includes representation from many professional disciplines. The Committee is blinded to authors and institutions. Each abstract review committee member will rank each abstract in the following four categories:

1. Importance to fields of substance use and education
2. Focus and clarity of presentation
3. Quality of methods
4. Innovation

Acceptance for presentation will be determined based on abstract review committee rankings and consideration of time and space for oral and poster presentation formats. Authors may indicate their own presentation format preference at the time of submission but may not be guaranteed.

All applicants will be notified of review decisions in early June. Please direct further questions to the Abstract Review Committee Chairs, Lucas Hill, PharmD at HillPharmD@Pitt.edu, Shoshana Aronowitz, PhD, MSN at visho@nursing.upenn.edu, and Rachel French, PhD, MSHP, RN at frenchra@nursing.upenn.edu. 

General Instructions

1. Abstracts must be submitted online.

2. Submitters should be prepared to enter the following information for up to two Presenting Authors (the author(s) who will be presenting at the conference): first name, last name, degree, job title, institutional affiliation, institutional address, email, mobile phone number

3. Submitters should be prepared to enter the following information for Co-Authors (the author(s) who will NOT be presenting at the conference):  first name, last name, degree. All author names will be printed in the published book of abstracts.

4. ABBREVIATIONS within the body should be kept to a minimum and must be defined upon first use in the abstract by placing the abbreviation in parentheses after the represented full word or phrase. Proprietary drug names and logos may NOT be used on posters or during oral presentations. Non-proprietary (generic) drug names must be used. Abstracts with proprietary drug names will not be considered.

5. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS – ALL Presenting Authors will receive an automatically generated email with a link to complete a Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form and to upload a Curriculum Vitae. Note that the abstract submission process cannot be completed until all of these documents have been submitted.

6. ‘PEOPLE FIRST’ language is required for the abstract submissions (e.g. person with alcohol use disorder instead of ‘alcoholic’). Examples of appropriate terminology are provided in the editorial in Substance Abuse, cited below, and accessible at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24911031/

Broyles, L.M., Binswanger, I.A., Jenkins, J.A., Finnell, D.S., Faseru, B., Cavaiola, A., Pugatch, M. & Gordon, A.J. (2014). Confronting inadvertent stigma and pejorative language in addiction scholarship: A recognition and response. Substance Abuse, 35(3), 217221.

7. ABSTRACT LENGTH (350 words) - The entire abstract, including any tables, should be a maximum of 350 words. It is your responsibility to verify compliance with the length requirement.

8. No names or titles should be included in the abstract text. Names will be automatically hidden during the abstract review process and will be automatically inserted and properly formatted upon publication in the Substance Use & Addiction Journal. 

Presenting authors will be informed of the unique ID numbers and passwords assigned to their abstract submission. Abstracts may be viewed and modified at any time between submission and the deadline, using the assigned ID# and password.

Abstract Submission Evaluation Criteria

Abstracts submitted for consideration for presentation at the AMERSA conference are anonymized and evaluated by a team of multidisciplinary reviewers via a 7-point rubric. The evaluation criteria evaluated on the rubric is briefly outlined below.

Scholarship Awards:
If your abstract is accepted, please be aware that all presenters will be responsible for paying the full cost of conference registration to attend and present. If financial assistance is required to attend, conference scholarship award applications must be submitted by the May 17 deadline. AMERSA is unable to consider requests for financial assistance received after this deadline. All presenters must register for the conference when registration opens in June. Registration spots will not automatically be reserved for presenters.