Late-Breaking Science submission rules and guidelines

The Call for Late-Breaking Science is open to the following categories:

- LATE-BREAKING CLINICAL TRIAL - Reserved for first presentations of the primary endpoint(s) of a new clinical trial   
- REGISTRY - Reserved for presentations of data not previously presented from a new or existing registry
- CLINICAL TRIAL UPDATE - Reserved for presentations of new data or secondary analysis of a trial where the primary data have been presented previously
- BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL LATE-BREAKING SCIENCE - Reserved for late submissions of important findings in Basic and Translational Cardiovascular Science

The ESC currently does not allow abstract submissions exclusively from Institutions in the Russian Federation and/or Belarus. 
However collaborative research may be submitted and (if accepted) presented by co-authors from other countries.

PART 1 - SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submissions are only possible through the online submission services.
Submission deadline is Friday 24 January 2025, 12:00 noon CET. 

Draft Status

As long as you do not click on the submit button (Step 5 of the submission process), your application will be saved in Draft Status, you can re-access it to complete it at any time until the submission deadline.
Please note that applications that are in draft status after the deadline will not be considered for selection.
Changes and corrections - 
Once submitted, it will not be possible to make any corrections to the content or other information (such as presenter details, topic, etc.) In order to correct your submission, you must withdraw it and submit a new version prior to the deadline (see below for withdrawal procedure). Note that such a replacement of your submission is not possible after the submission deadline.

Withdrawal

If you want to withdraw a Late-Breaking Science already submitted, please notify us as quickly as possible at ehra-congressscientific@escardio.org stating the title and number to be withdrawn.
Note that withdrawal is still possible after the submission deadline.
Data previously submitted as an abstract to EHRA 2025 Congress.
If you have already submitted an abstract (during the call for abstracts) on this study, indicate the abstract number.
If your study is accepted for presentation in a late-breaking science session, you are required to withdraw your earlier abstract submission at the time of results announcement.

In order to submit your application, you must complete the following five steps:

Step 1 - General information

Type of submission

You must select one of the following types of submission under which your research can be best classified:
LATE-BREAKING CLINICAL TRIAL - Reserved for first presentations of the primary endpoint(s) of a new clinical trial   
REGISTRY - Reserved for presentations of data not previously presented from a new or existing registry
CLINICAL TRIAL UPDATE - Reserved for presentations of new data or secondary analysis of a trial where the primary data have been presented previously
BASIC AND TRANSLATIONAL LATE-BREAKING SCIENCE - Reserved for late submissions of important findings in Basic and Translational Cardiovascular Science

Study details

Topic - Select one topic from the list of topics shown to index your research.

Full Title of study - A maximum of 200 characters typed in lower-case letters, except for abbreviations and study names. Please be aware that your title might be truncated if you copy and paste it into the field.

Acronym - If the study to be presented is known through an acronym, please indicate the name of the study (e.g. "EMIT") in this field as well as the full name of the acronym (e.g. "European Mizaverol Trial").
This is a mandatory field for Late-Breaking Clinical Trial and Clinical Trial Update submissions.  

Short title for programme - Enter a short title for EHRA programme (Scientific programme/ESC 365….). Indicate the acronym followed by a short title for your trial. This title will be used as presentation title if accepted. 

Funding Acknowledgements - All sources of financial support (including governmental grants) for this research should be listed under this heading. All grant funding agency abbreviations should be spelt out. 

Trial Registration number - If available, indicate any reference to your trial registration (number, website link….).

Expected date of trial completion - Applies only for Late-Breaking Clinical Trial & Basic and Translational Late-Breaking Science submissions – Please enter the date at which you expect to have all results ready for communication.

Date primary analysis presented - Applies only for Clinical Trial Updates – Enter the date at which the trial was first presented.

On behalf of - If applicable, a name of a study group can be mentioned here. Do not list any author names in this field.

Study confidentiality and embargo requirements

Submitted Late-Breaking Science should not have been published in any journals and/or online publications nor presented at any congresses. This embargo applies until presentation at EHRA 2025.
Nevertheless, a simultaneous publication is authorised.
If you have already submitted or intend to submit your data/results for simultaneous publication, indicate the name of the journal/publication.

Publication information - Journal Publication information is required – specify whether the data have been submitted or will be submitted for simultaneous publication.
Although the data may be submitted to a journal for consideration, it may not be published before the date of the presentation at EHRA 2025. The embargo must remain in place until the scheduled start time of the presentation or publication of the Press release by ESC. If you do not indicate that a publication in relation to your research is already planned, then the ESC proposes to highlight accepted applications through the EP Europace Journal. Accepted applications will be shared with the journal’s editorial team in the strictest confidence, and they may contact you directly.

Step 2 - Author information and Author list

Your submission must list at least 1 author in order to be completed.

Author list -Enter each author and affiliation using the “Add a new author” module.
The presenter must be included in the author list and positioned as the First author.
You can enter up to 15 authors.
NB: The submitter certifies that he/she has permission from all persons he/she enters as co-authors to be listed.  

Institutions - This is a mandatory entry.
Select your institution when you create the presenter and the authors. Once you have entered your city, a list will automatically appear from which you can select your institution. If your institution is not on the list, you have the possibility of creating it. If your city is not on the list, please enter it, press enter then add your institution.

Presenter - Reconfirm the name of the presenter.

Principal investigator - Indicate the name of the principal investigator.

Step 3 - Study outline

In this part of the submission, you will be asked to provide some outline information depending on the type of submission selected information requested will vary

Multi-centre study

Purpose – You need to summarise the purpose of the study

Design – Study Design information

Sample Size - information (Number of Subjects, number of groups, number of persons per group, Population studied info and Intervention performed)

Outcome(s) (Primary endpoints & Secondary endpoints) – 2 sentences max per header

Step 4 - Research content 

All submissions must be exclusively in English with accurate grammar and spelling.
Submissions on animal studies: Study must follow the "Principles of laboratory animal care" (NIH Publication no. 85-23 revised 1985) and be in agreement with the national law, if applicable.
Please note that any medical research involving human subjects must conform to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association and must have been approved by an IRB.
Do not cut and paste symbols into your text.
Use the symbols provided when you click on the Ω button.

Recommended content structure

Background: In an initial paragraph, provide relevant information regarding the background and purpose of the study, preferably in no more than one or two sentences.

Methods: Briefly state the methods used. Especially for trials where results are not yet available, information on endpoints and statistical power are desirable.

Results: Summarise the results, if available, in sufficient detail to support the conclusions.

Conclusions: State the conclusions reached. It is not satisfactory to state “the results will be discussed.”
If results are not available at the time of submission, explain the main endpoints that you expect to be able to describe and the conclusions that can be drawn.

Results must be available at the time of presentation.
NB – Your submission will be used ONLY for review by the selection committee and not published as such by the ESC. If your work is accepted for presentation, it might be considered for a Press release. In that case, the ESC Press team will have access to the submission to write the Press Release which you will be asked to review prior to finalisation.

Other Information for content

The use of commercial drug names, brands and registered trademarks is strictly prohibited - Use generic drug and product names whenever possible.
Drugs should be referred to by the active substance or pharmacological designation.
For experimental and investigational substances, the chemical name should be given.
The names of a novel or unique device can be cited after an explanation of their specific characteristics but without reference to the company name.

Technical information for content

Size - The maximum abstract size is 50 lines of 75 characters (3750 characters). 
Use the save and refresh button at the bottom in order to display the overall size of the abstract in percentage (shown on the left side of the screen). The programme then converts the size in % to display to you when you register it as a draft.
The character limit does not include the title, the authors nor the image (if any). Only the abstract text and spaces are taken into account.

Picture(s) - In addition to your text, you can add up to 2 pictures.
Should you wish to insert a table in your submission, you need to upload it as a picture.
Your picture file(s) must meet the following criteria:
Format: JPEG
Size: less than 2 MB
Measures no larger than 1920 pixels(x) x 1080 pixels(y)

The title field for each picture is optional.

Submitters are responsible for the pictures uploaded – Please make sure that your picture(s) is(are) correctly uploaded and readable on the preview (this represents how the reviewers will see it). It is the responsibility of the submitter to ensure the quality of the attachment(s) is suitable - if not, picture(s) of insufficient quality may be deleted.

Step 5 - Late-Breaking Science submission preview

Please read through the preview carefully before submitting it, as you cannot change it once submitted.
You will be asked again to confirm that the research has not been published nor presented and that you have read and approved the submissions rules (see below for the details of the submission and presentation rules). 
Do not forget to click on the Submit button to validate your submission. You will receive an automatic e-mail confirmation. If you do not receive this confirmation for one or more of your submissions, please contact the Scientific Programme Department at ehra-congressscientific@escardio.org
 

PART 2 - SUBMISSION RULES

Submissions

There is no limit to the number of Late-Breaking Science applications an author may submit, but you should not submit the same research twice, even under a different topic. 
If you submit two applications with the same content, the submission service will automatically keep the most recent one and withdraw the other.
Note that duplicate drafts will not be deleted nor considered.

Embargo and Publication

All scientific presentations at an ESC event, including unpublished results presented in “Late Breaking Science” sessions; and other session types - whether scheduled for oral presentation, poster, or in other forms - are embargoed until the scheduled start time of the presentation or the publication of a press release by the ESC.

Lead authors are responsible for notifying all authors and other relevant stakeholders - including sponsors - about the Policy.

It is essential that you are fully aware of the ESC Media and Embargo Policy and comply with the terms when submitting your application – access terms here - https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/ESC-Media-and-Embargo-Policy

Policies

Submission of an application constitutes a commitment by the author(s) to present the work in-person in Vienna, if accepted. Failure to present, upload and register for the Congress by the set deadlines will lead to the withdrawal of the research from the scientific programme.

All expenses (registration, airfare, hotel…..) associated with the submission and presentation of the research are under the responsibility of the presenter. 

In case of exceptional circumstances or events, the ESC reserves the rights to modify presentation terms and conditions and will notify presenters accordingly.

Affirmation of originality and copyright transfer of statement

The submitter hereby affirms that the work submitted is original, except for extracts from copyrighted works fully authorised by the copyright holders and that all statements declared as facts are based on thorough examination and investigation for accurateness.
By submitting your work to the ESC, you consent to have the authors’ names, affiliation and biographical material being used in connection with the publication of your work.
Author(s) represents and warrants that he/she/they is/are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, and that the work is original and does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary, or personal right of any third party. Submitting/Presenting published or already presented work will jeopardize future acceptance.
Authors retain the right, after presentation during the Congress, to subsequently include the work in articles, books, or derivative works that he/she authors, or edits provided said use does not imply the endorsement of the ESC.
The submitter signs for all co-authors and accepts responsibility on the present rules for submission and presentation for transferring copyrights on behalf of all co-authors.
Your submission will be used ONLY for review by the selection committee and not published as such by the ESC. If your work is accepted for presentation, it might be considered for a Press release. In that case, the ESC Press team will have access to the submission to write the Press Release which you will be asked to review prior to finalisation.
The ESC reserves the right to provide its press releases a few days before public release to a selected list of Journalists who have previously agreed in writing to respect the ESC embargo policy.
The content belongs to the author(s). However if the study is accepted for presentation, the presenter agrees, on behalf of all co-authors, to transfer and assign to the ESC free of charge, on a non-exclusive basis, for twenty years the rights to edit, publish, reproduce, distribute copies and prepare derivative works such as press release and/or educational products, using all communication tools and means, now known or hereinafter developed, including any and all digital means and any and all supports or forms of media, now known or hereinafter developed, in particular all paper, analog, digital, numerical and electronic media, including Internet, Intranet and Extranet sites and social media. This includes use in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media.

Conflict of interest

The Congress Programme Committee requests all presenters to disclose their potential conflict(s) of interest at the time of acceptance of presentation (agreement form submission).

It is also the responsibility of the presenter to disclose any potential conflict(s) of interest from co-authors pertaining to the presentation on the presentation itself (as may be required).

This will allow the audience to take potential conflicts of interest into account when assessing the objectivity of the presentation.
A potential conflict of interest may arise from various relationships, past or present, such as employment, consultancy, investments and stock ownership, funding for research, family relationship, etc.
All potential conflicts of interest must be stated.
This pertains to relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other corporations whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the article. Such relationships include, but are not limited to, employment by an industrial concern, ownership of stock, membership on a standing advisory council or committee, being on the board of directors, or being publicly associated with the company or its products. Other areas of real or perceived conflict of interest could include receiving honoraria or consulting fees or receiving grants or funds from such corporations or individuals representing such corporations.

Data Privacy

By certifying that you have read these Submission rules, you also confirm having received the prior approval from the co-authors to provide their data to the ESC. 
The information collected in this CALL FOR LATE-BREAKING SCIENCE is subject to data processing to proceed with the elaboration of the EHRA 2025 scientific programme.
It is a statutory requirement to list the authors who have contributed to the research submitted. 
The recipients of the data are the ESC Staff who process the submissions and the ESC Committees and volunteers involved in the scientific programme. 
Data collected will be kept for 20 years. 
Transfer of personal data to the ESC Staff, contractors as well as other ESC related scientific organisations occurs for production, promotion and dissemination of the Congress Content. 
In accordance with the chapter 3 of the European Regulation 2016/679 with regards to data protection, you have the right to request from the ESC, access to and rectification or erasure of your personal data or restriction of processing concerning your data or to object to processing as well as the right to data portability. This is done thru withdrawal of the submission according to the terms and conditions of withdrawal.

For data privacy concerns, please contact (Kindly note that a proof of identity will be required during the process through a secured link) -
Data Privacy
European Society of Cardiology
Les Templiers
2035 Route des Colles
CS 80179 Biot
06903 SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS CEDEX, France 
Or by email to dataprivacy@escardio.org 

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, and for information, the ESC has appointed a Data Protection Officer that you can reach at dpo@escardio.org

Applicable law

All the rules pertaining to the present submission rules are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of France without regard to any conflicts of laws principles thereof that would require the application of the law of any other jurisdiction. Any disputes arising in relation hereto shall be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the French Tribunal Judiciaire located in Grasse, France.

The ESC reserves the right to make changes to the Late-Breaking Science submission rules based on the Covid-19 situation and convention centre restrictions/protocols/requirements; and/or in case of exceptional/Force Majeure events (defined as unforeseeable and irresistible events beyond the control of the ESC, such as natural disasters, war, civil unrest, coup d'Etat….). Any update or change will be posted on the ESC website.

If you have difficulties in submitting or if you need any further information, please contact us at ehra-congressscientific@escardio.org

PART 3 - INFORMATION ON SELECTION AND RESULTS - PRESENTATION RULES

Presenters cannot participate in more than one Late-Breaking Science Session.

Results

After the submission deadline, the system will be closed, and submissions will be sent to the Reviewing Committee. Changes or corrections will not be possible after the deadline.
The final selection will be made by the Selection Committee, that will determine the format, day and time of presentation. No rescheduling or changes will be possible.

Results announcement 

An email message will be sent to all submitters by mid-February 2025 with a report on the status of their submission (accepted or rejected).
If the Late-Breaking Science is accepted, notification and further instructions concerning the presentation format will be sent directly to the assigned presenter (indicated in the submission form).

If your submission is accepted in a Late-Breaking Science session, you are required to immediately withdraw any other type of submission of the same research.

Information for the presenter

The presenter will be asked to submit an agreement form online before the given deadline. 

We remind you that the Lead authors are responsible for notifying all authors and other relevant stakeholders - including sponsors - about the ESC Media and Embargo Policy.

If contacted by other organisations for interviews, articles, etc …, the presenter must ascertain adherence to the ESC Media and Embargo Policy before providing any information to third parties.