iSRS 2025 Reviewer Guidance

You have from December 5, 2024 to January 6, 2025, to complete your review of no more than 15 abstracts

Below are some important guidelines for abstract review.

1. Treat all submissions as confidential. Some are pending patent approval.

2. If you recognize a submission as from a colleague which may present a conflict of interest, please indicate this in the system.

3. Be familiar with our scoring criteria

  • Innovation: Are the concepts and results presented new or innovative for the field?

    • Novel approaches/strategies are preferred.

    • Data already accepted for publication elsewhere must not be submitted.

    • If the abstract builds on existing work (either from the same group or others), the differences from the current literature must be clearly highlighted.

    Topic: Is the topic presented of interest for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences?

    • The abstract must include an application within the field of radiopharmaceutical sciences and incorporate elements of basic chemistry.

    • Completely theoretical works that do not involve radiopharmaceuticals are discouraged unless they present exceptionally promising and innovative concepts.

    Science: Are the data and results provided robust, cohesive, and well justified?

    • The presented data should be comprehensive and clearly explained. 

    • The submission should include data/numbers.

    • For abstracts involving new compounds, the structure must be shown in a figure or thoroughly described.

    Writing: Is the text clear and free of major mistakes?

    • The abstract must follow SRS nomenclature guidelines.

    • English style and clarity of the submission should be thoroughly checked.

    • The abstract must adhere to the proper structure.

4. Be familiar with our scoring scale (and definitions)

5 Outstanding
4 Good
3 Fair
2 Poor
1 Unacceptable

Please note: We have included a confidential comments box (which only organizers can see). Here you may make any comments that you think are relevant, including how you think a particular abstract should be presented (oral or poster).

Tips for Consistent Scoring

There is no right or wrong approach, but below is some guidance that will help you score consistently:

  • Most reviewers read all abstracts first, before rating to get a “general feel” for the overall range.

  • Some rate the abstracts at two sittings independently; then compare scores.

  • Others rank order after scoring, then compare scores to see if they are consistent with the ranking.

  • Some reviewers review highly and poorly rated abstracts again to ensure fairness.

Some actual examples (to possibly help you develop a review plan that is useful for you and contributes to consistent scoring):

“I jot notes on each abstract and give each a quick mark. I then set aside the abstracts that I reacted to most strongly - both positively and negatively…in a day or two I re-read and re-mark each abstract in a more careful manner….I find that a bit of time for reflection helps me determine what engendered that strong positive or negative reaction on initial reading and whether that response was valid. These abstracts often have a more significant change in mark on second reading.”

Another approach:

  • I read through all the abstracts first.

  • Next, I graded them using the questions [criteria] following each abstract

  • Then I created an Excel summary of my evaluations, and rank ordered them to determine whether my grades reflected my assessment of the relative strength of each abstract.

  • Then I compared my grading with your evaluation scale definitions

  • I then translated my original ratings to reflect the goals of the defined rating system. I ensured the rank order was preserved.

Lastly, for your reference, each submitter was provided with these abstract submission specifics

  • The body of the abstract is limited to 500 words; this includes any words used in tables as part of the abstract body.

  • Abstract title and author/affiliation information do not count against he 500 word total.

  • Only one .JPG or .PNG image may be uploaded, though you may combine up to three images into one file. Images will be displayed electronically in color.

  • You are strongly encouraged to organize your abstract according to the standard subtitles: Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, and References.

  • You are also strongly encouraged to follow the nomenclature guidelines recently published by an international working group.

  • Use only one table in the body of your abstract or, possibly, two small tables.

  • Abstracts must include actual data and not simply be overviews.

  • If the abstract refers to a compound, the compound’s structure should be disclosed.

If you have any questions, please contact Bailey Threadgill Wohlberg - bthreadgill(a)srsweb.org.