• One member is allowed to present a maximum of only one paper and/or one poster and/or one table clinic in a conference for being judged in a competitive category. In case of multiple entries, only the first one will be considered to be for inclusion in the competitive section.

• Papers shall be accepted in only three categories: Research, Clinical and Clinical Innovations. Review papers shall NOT be accepted.

• Posters shall be accepted in only three categories: Research, Clinical, and Clinical Innovation.

• Table Clinic shall be accepted in only two categories: Research & Clinical.

• All papers and posters should be prepared and presented as per the guidelines given.

• The complete presentation (including photos, tables and charts etc., if any) shall be submitted to the Indian Orthodontic Society Head Office 60 days before the presentation without any identification of the presenter / author / source and along with the completed application form.

• The paper/ presentation shall be self-certified in the application form.

• The Indian Orthodontic Society Head Office shall hand over the manuscripts of the accepted papers to the Editor, Journal of Indian Orthodontic Society and Editor, IJCO of IOS for possible publication.

• The papers submitted shall be screened and only 30 papers will be selected for presentation in each category.

• Screening shall be done by a Peer Review Committee appointed by the Executive Committee with the help of Conference Scientific Committee for screening the papers and their decision shall be final.

• Paper presentations should not be code numbered. Their names and titles of presentation should appear in the scientific schedule of the conference

• Each presenter (paper/poster/table clinic) shall have a code number

• In the Free-paper presentations that vie for awards, (paper/poster/table clinic), only name of the presenter (e.g. Dr. XxxxYyyyy) shall be allowed to be displayed on just the Title Slide. The presenter/first author‘s qualifications, degrees, names of co - authors, institution, place, etc., as a form of possible identification shall not be allowed to be displayed. If any presentation does so, it will be automatically disqualified for being considered for an award.

• In each category, awards shall be given for the first three places in the paper, poster and table clinic sections, provided there be sufficient number of entries. If the number of entries is only 10-15, only two awards will be presented. If the number of entries is less than ten, only one award will be presented. Totally, not more than 3 awards shall be given for each of the three sections (paper, poster and table clinic). Multiple „shared‟ awards for each of the 1 st , 2 nd and/or 3 rd prize shall not be given. If there is „tie‟ for any category, the Scientific Convener’s decision will be final should the judges not wish to restrict the award to any a single recipient.

• Cash awards and fellowships shall be granted only where a sponsor is available

• For paper presentations, a time of 12 minutes for presentation plus 3 minutes for discussion shall be allowed

• All posters should be presented digitally. The name of the first author has to be at the lower right corner with a font size of not more than 48.

• Posters can be either poster board format or E format as pre-decided jointly by EC

• All efforts shall be made by the Scientific Committee Convener to collect the complete manuscript from all speakers / presenters before presentation and to obtain his / her consent to publish the same in the Journal of Indian Orthodontic Society. Orations as well as Guest Lectures by invited speakers who lecture for 45 minutes or more will be exempt from this pre-condition

• Space shall be allotted for presentation of the posters / table clinics which secured the first two places in each category in the just / previously concluded Indian Orthodontic Society Post Graduate Students‟ Convention

• Non-competitive paper presentation section may be included (if there are papers in the said category) at the discretion of the Organizing Scientific Committee

Research Category: These should be scientific studies which fulfill the following criteria (Example: JIOS 2009;43:3-17):

• Should be undertaken with a proper research protocol

• Should have a Study Hypothesis

• Should establish a need for this study because of lacunae in existing knowledge, citing relevant research

• Should have a clear Materials and Methods category: Proper sample selection and sampling technique should follow a clearly laid-out method

• Statistical analysis for the data including inter and intra-examiner-variability, where applicable

• Ethical Committee clearance where required

• Follow a pattern of Results, Discussion, and Conclusion as in a published research paper

• Should give guidelines for future research in the field

• Papers which present a clinical innovation should NOT be sent for the Research category

Clinical Category: The following types of papers may be included in this category: Case reports (Example: JIOS 2010; 44: 76-82) in the following categories:

• Diagnosis and Etiology

• Treatment Objectives

• Treatment Plan

• Treatment Progress

• Long-term Results

• Discussion

In these presentations, pre-treatment and post-treatment records (intra-oral and extra-oral photographs, models, cephalograms, OPG, and IOPAs) should be shown. For showing treatment progress, a set of mid-treatment photographs should be shown. Cephalometric superimposition should be shown, where appropriate.

• Presentation of multiple cases (Example JCO 2006; XL: 485-492)

Clinical Innovations: (Examples: JCO 2006; XL: 150-151, JCO 2006; XL: 161-170, JCO 2006; XL: 171- 174).

• These papers should be on modifications / new approaches to existing treatment methods/ appliances

• New techniques/ appliances which have been developed by the authors

Research Category: These should be scientific studies which fulfils the following criteria (Example AJO-DO 2006;129:520- 527):

• Should be undertaken with a proper research protocol

• Should have a Study Hypothesis

• Should establish a need for this study because of lacunae in existing knowledge, citing relevant research

• Should have a clear Materials and Methods category:

• Proper sample selection and sampling technique

• Should follow a clearly laid-out method

• Statistical analysis for the data including inter and intra-examiner-variability, where applicable

• Ethical committee clearance, where required

• Follow a pattern of Results, Discussion, and Conclusion as in a published research paper

• Follow a pattern of Results, Discussion, and Conclusion as in a published research paper

Clinical Category: The following types of papers may be included in this category:

• Case reports (Example AJO-DO 2006;129:436-443) in the following categories:

• Diagnosis and Etiology

• Treatment Objectives

• Treatment Plan

• Treatment Progress

• Long-term results

• Discussion In these presentations, pre-treatment and post-treatment records (intra-oral and extra-oral photographs, models, cephalograms, OPG, and IOPAs) should be shown. For showing treatment progress, a set of mid-treatment photographs should be shown. Cephalometric superimposition should be shown, where appropriate.

• Presentation of multiple cases (Example JCO 2006;XL:485-492)

General Category: This category is intended to cover the following types:

• Critical appraisal of a concept.

• Analytical evaluation of a treatment philosophy / technique

• Analytical evaluation of the evolution of a treatment philosophy / technique - how it evolved, the thinking process that went into the development of that philosophy / technique, how that technique works (the biomechanical aspects) etc

• Analytical evaluation of the Controversies in Orthodontics Example: AJO-DO 1998; 113:11-13 (Donald Woodside: Do Functional Appliances have an Orthopedic Effect?)