WCCBT 2023

When making your submission, be mindful of the deadlines and timescales involved in the Call for Papers.

Before making your submission, read the descriptions, and related examples, below of the different submission formats. Click open for the submission you wish to make and ensure you complete all relevant sections.

Each submission can be submitted only once, more specifically, the same content cannot be submitted in different formats or across different streams.

For all types of submission: in the abstract please identify which stream you consider the submission to be most suitable for, using the relevant drop-down menu.

Please note that the Scientific Committee reserves the right to schedule successful submissions in streams other than that proposed in the submission, and at any point throughout the three-day Congresses. All presentations must be made in person and all presenters must register for the Congress. Submitting your material through the portal will be taken as acceptance of these conditions.

The Congress server will automatically acknowledge submissions made through the portal. If you do not receive a copy and acknowledgment of your submission, can you first check your email junk/spam folder to make sure it has not been diverted to this, prior to contacting the Scientific Secretariat.

You will be informed of the outcome of your submission in time to register for the Congress at the “Earlybird Rate”. Only by formal invitation from the Scientific Committee. Only by formal invitation from the Scientific Committee. About the format
To ensure we receive adequate information, all submitted Symposia should have a symposium abstract of up to a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). Symposia include multiple presentations, typically 4 or 5, focusing on a specific clinical or research area. Some talks can be very data-focused, centered on new studies and trials and their outcomes. Others are more applied, looking at service or skills-related subjects. Speakers may range from presenters at an early stage in their careers presenting their own work to leaders in the world of CBT. The overall aim of a symposium is to provide a coherent and complementary set of talks that, via the depth or the breadth of what is covered, add up to more than the sum of the individual presentations. Typically, there is time for questions from the audience either after each talk or at the end of the session. Symposia sometimes also include a discussant at the end to draw together the main themes covered.
Generally, symposia will consist of a Convenor and Chair (which will normally be the same person but do not have to be), individual presenters, and potentially a Discussant (optional). They will be scheduled for either 60- or 90-minute sessions. There should be a maximum of 5 speakers per symposium (including the discussant). Submission instructions
A general description of the overall symposium, including the names and institutions of at least 3 presenters should be provided. You can also give a short summary of each speaker’s topic within this word limit. The more specific details you can provide about what will be presented, the easier it is for the submission to be rated; submissions that lack coherence or are vague are difficult to rate very positively and thus at higher risk of rejection.
However, at this stage, we do not require individual abstracts for each speaker. These will be requested if the submission is accepted, and are what will appear in the Congress program – the overall symposium abstract is only used for rating purposes. If the symposium includes published studies or studies for which there is information publicly available such as a pre-registration or protocol it can be very helpful to include links to these in the abstract to help demonstrate the quality of the submission.

The name and contact details of the symposium convenor/organizer must be provided. This individual accepts responsibility for ensuring that all speakers provide individual abstracts when requested. They must also ensure that speakers register to attend the Congress and when required communicate practical information to the scientific committee as well as individual speakers in the symposium.
Please click here for an example of a clinical symposium abstract.
Please click here for an example of a research symposium abstract.
Please note that for space and production reasons only the author presenting in the symposium will appear in the Congress program. However, full authorship will appear in the electronic Book of Abstracts; up to a maximum of 7 authors.

Please note that if a symposium is rejected, the individual speakers will be invited to submit their individual presentations for consideration as posters. Hence, presenters need not worry that their chance of presenting at the Congress rests only on a symposium being accepted. About the format
In-Congress Half Day Workshops will run for 3 hours, including a 20-30-minute coffee break, within the main Congress program. They are therefore longer than a skills class and can focus in more depth on a specific clinical or research skill, or cover a broader topic area. Workshops can have upto 2 presenters.

A separate registration fee is charged to delegates attending the In-Congress Half Day Workshop. The workshop leader(s) will receive 50% of the revenue from the workshop registration fees up to a maximum amount of USD$425 (equivalent) Workshop leaders must register for the Congress. If a workshop fails to reach a minimum number of 15 registrations it will be canceled by the organizers. Submission instructions
The abstract should be a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). It should include background for the topic covered and the overall objectives of the workshop.
Contributors will be asked to provide a structured abstract split into the following sections:
1. Who the workshop is aimed at (upto 200 characters including spaces)
2. Scientific background (upto 1500 characters including spaces)
3. Key learning objectives (upto 800 characters including spaces)
4. Teaching methods (upto 300 characters including spaces)
5. Brief description of workshop leader(s) (upto 700 characters including spaces)
6. 2-3 key references, please also include hyperlinks where possible (upto 500 characters including spaces)

Please click here for an example of an In-Congress Half Day Workshop abstract. About the format
Skills classes are short skills-based sessions that address a targeted problem and/or a specific technique. They are designed to be delivered to large groups in a short length of time and should have a narrow focus on the acquisition of one key clinical or research skill. Delegates should come away from a skills class with the feeling that they have learned a specific concrete skill or procedure that they can directly apply in their clinical practice or research activities.
Skills classes will run during the main Congress program for 90 minutes with no coffee break. Delegates can choose to attend the skills classes at no extra cost. No fee is payable to the skills class presenters. Skills Classes can have upto 2 presenters. The skills classes will be delivered live and in person and the skills class leader(s) are required to register for the Congress. Submission instructions
The abstract should be a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). It should include background for the topic covered and the overall objectives of the workshop.

Contributors will be asked to provide a structured abstract split into the following sections:
1. Who the workshop is aimed at (upto 200 characters including spaces)
2. Scientific background (upto 1500 characters including spaces)
3. Key learning objectives (upto 800 characters including spaces)
4. Teaching methods (upto 300 characters including spaces)
5. Brief description of workshop leader(s) (upto 700 characters including spaces)
6. 2-3 key references, please also include hyperlinks where possible (upto 500 characters including spaces)

Please click here for an example of a Skills Class abstract. About the format
A Panel Debate involves experts providing a brief statement of their position on a specific clinical or theoretical issue or topic, and then debating differences in opinion, controversial issues, etc. with other experts. At its best, a panel debate provides the opportunity to stimulate lively discussion that will go beyond the room and continue amongst delegates not only at the Congress but long afterward.
This requires an active Chair who may act as an optional discussant, introduces the topic, organizes position statements, handles the debate amongst the experts, fields questions from the audience, and is responsible for time management of the session.
Panel debates can contain a maximum of 3-4 people (maximum 4) to include an optional discussant (if providing a summary). Please note that each presenter should present a verbal statement (no use of PowerPoint/visual aids etc.) of position for approximately 10 minutes, which typically will not require the presentation of data.
Panel debates will be scheduled for either 60- or 90-minute sessions. The panel debates will be delivered live and in person and all panel members and discussant are required to register for the Congress . Submission instructions
The abstract should be a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). It should include background for the topic covered and the principal questions to be addressed, and include the names and institutions of at least 3 speakers.

Please click here for an example of a panel debate abstract. About the format
A Clinical Roundtable involves a clinical case discussion by experts illustrating contrasting viewpoints and analysis of the clinical problem under discussion. Presenters should present an anonymized case, focusing on specific topics. One person is required to present the case and up to 3 people can comment on the case.
This provides a particularly valuable opportunity to compare and contrast how different kinds of CBT might approach the same problem.
Clinical roundtables will be scheduled for either 60- or 90-minute sessions. In a typical clinical roundtable, a clinical case might be presented for approximately 15 minutes and each expert would subsequently provide their opinions between 5-10 minutes. The remaining time would then be for debate and taking questions from the audience. However, the structure is flexible and alternative proposals will be considered, as long as the overall time constraint is strictly managed.
A clinical roundtable requires a Chair, who may act as an optional discussant, to introduce the topic, handle comments from the other participants, and field questions from the audience. Submission instructions
The abstract should be a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). It should include background for the case/topic covered and the principal questions to be addressed, and include the names and institutions of at least 3 speakers.
The clinical roundtables will be delivered live and in person, and all panel members are required to register for the Congress.

Please click here for an example of a Clinical Roundtable. About the format
An ‘Open Paper’ is a presentation on a clinical and/or research topic with a typical time allocation of 15 minutes. Open Papers that are accepted will be grouped together by the Scientific Committee to form Open Paper symposia for 60 or 90 minutes. An Open Paper may therefore be a suitable format for someone who wishes to give a talk in a symposium, but that is not part of a submitted symposium and does not wish to convene a whole symposium themselves. Open Papers can be submitted by anyone at any stage of their clinical or research career. Open Papers are a very popular format with limited space and can therefore be very competitive. However, submissions that cannot be accepted as Open Papers due to limited capacity will automatically be considered for potential acceptance as posters. Submission instructions
Open Papers require an abstract up to a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words). We strongly suggest a structured abstract using the following sections (although we realize this is not always appropriate):
1. Introduction
2. Method
3. Results
4. Discussion

If the Open Paper includes a study for which there is information publicly available such as a published paper, pre-registration, or protocol it can be very helpful to include one key reference and a link in the abstract to help demonstrate the quality of the submission and to help Congress delegates find further information.Please note that for space and production reasons only the author presenting the Open Paper will appear in the Congress program. However, full authorship will appear in the electronic Book of Abstracts up to a maximum of 7 authors.

Please click here for an example of an open paper abstract.

Additionally, please note that an Open Paper presenter will be limited to only presenting one Open Paper in the program which must be done in person (they can of course present other material in an accepted symposium as well as other formats, e.g. Posters.) About the format
Posters are visual presentations of research studies or clinical cases and will be displayed during themed poster sessions scheduled throughout the Congress. The presenter is encouraged to stand by their poster and be available for discussion during the refreshment breaks while their poster is on display. Poster displays are arranged and scheduled so that they can be attended by everyone at the Congress, and thus they provide an opportunity to present research or a clinical case to the widest possible audience. Further, they are the presentation format that provides the greatest opportunity for in-depth discussion; interested delegates, often including experts in the area, will often seek out the posters falling in their area of interest precisely because they offer the chance to meet the presenter and discuss the work in detail. The visual presentation format of the posters also offers many opportunities for innovation, for example via the inclusion of QR codes or links to additional information, videos, or more, and wide dissemination via sharing on e.g. social media. Posters are therefore popular with presenters across the whole range of experience including students and early-career researchers or clinicians. In addition to completed research studies or clinical cases, we will also consider posters reporting on studies currently in progress or study protocols. Submission instructions
Posters require an abstract up to a maximum of 4000 characters including spaces (approximately 500 words).
For Research Posters we strongly suggest a structured abstract using the following sections (although we realize this is not always appropriate):
1. Introduction
2. Method
3. Results
4. Discussion
For Case Report Posters all identifying individual details must be removed or altered so as to maintain anonymity. We suggest the following sections:
1. Presenting Problem
2. Case Conceptualization and Intervention
3. Outcome
4. Review and Evaluation

If the Poster includes a study for which there is information publicly available such as a published paper, pre-registration, or protocol it can be very helpful to include one key reference and a link in the abstract to help demonstrate the quality of the submission and to help the Congress delegates find further information.

Please click here for examples of poster abstracts.

Technical information on how to prepare your poster will be provided with notification of acceptance.

Please note that for space and production reasons only the first three authors will appear in the Congress program. However, full authorship will appear in the Book of Abstracts up to a maximum of 7 authors. If there are more than 7 authors then please acknowledge this within your poster.

All posters must be presented in person and the presenter must register for the Congress.

If accepted, you are allowed to present your published paper or a paper under review as a poster at WCCBT 2023. If you wish to do so, we strongly recommend that you first write to the journal to find out if it is acceptable to do so, as it is wholly your responsibility to obtain any necessary agreement to present your work. About the format
Technical demonstrations are 20-30-minute short demonstrations that present specific technology or equipment and its application to CBT. They can include the presentation of both hardware and software, as well as research and clinical data.

Technical demonstrations will run during the main Congress program and can be submitted under any of the main Congress streams. They are intended for the demonstration of technology associated with research program or papers, and not for the advertising or promotion of commercial products. If you are a commercial organization wishing to promote your product, please contact the Congress Secreteriat separately about arranging a stand in the exhibition area of the conference and/or Sponsored lunchtime presentations. Submission instructions
Technical demonstrations require a structured abstract separated into the following sections:


Please click here for an example of a Technical demonstration abstract. All presenters of accepted submissions, including In-Congresss Half-Day Workshops, must register for the Congress in advance, in order to present their work at the Congress and have their presentation included in the Final Program and Book of Abstracts.