Abstract Submission

I. Submission Eligibility

1. If you are a regular member, supporting member, or honorary member of the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists, or an occupational therapist of a WFOT member(only if you have obtained an occupational therapist license outside Japan), you are eligible to submit an abstract. If you are a member of the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists but have not paid the annual membership fee for FY2024, you are not eligible to register your abstract. (This does not apply to honorary members and supporting members.) If you have not paid the membership fee, please be sure to pay it at least two weeks before your submission.
2. If you have obtained an occupational therapist license in Japan but are not a member of the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists, or if you are a student enrolled in an occupational therapy training course, you are not eligible to submit an abstract. In addition, you also cannot register as a co-presenter.
3. If you are not an occupational therapist but wish to participate as a lead presenter, you are required to obtain approval from the President of the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists. Before submitting an abstract, please request the application form (Application Form for Registration of General Abstract by Other Professions) to the Secretariat of the 59th Congress & Expo at ot59@intergroup.co.jp.
   NB. If you wish to register as a co-presenter, you are not required to submit the application form.
4. Lead presenters are required to pre-register (for full participation) within the designated period. Pre-registration is scheduled to begin in May 2025.

II. Submission Period

Please adhere to the deadline. There may be a large amount of traffic just before the deadline, making it difficult to register. To ensure a smooth abstract registration process, please prepare the title and main text in advance using Word or similar software, then copy and paste them at the time of your registration.

• Online registration

III. Submission Details and Presentation Types

1. Submission Details

Each presenter may submit only one abstract. Please select either an oral presentation or a poster presentation.

<Abstract Presentation (Oral/Poster)>

The Congress & Expo places the highest priority on abstract presentations (oral and poster). Each abstract needs to be complete and independent. The Congress & Expo will not consider connections such as "Part 1" and "Part 2."

2. Presentation Types

1) Oral Presentation

All oral presentations need to be given using a computer (Microsoft Power Point for Windows). The presentation time is 7 minutes, followed by 3 minutes for questions and answers. Please bring your presentation files on a USB memory stick. (Please bring backup files in case of any problems).
*If your abstract is selected, you will be asked to submit your data for on-demand distribution by mid-September prior to the event. More information will be posted on the website of the Congress & Expo around June, so please check it out.
Even if you have registered your abstract for an oral (or poster) presentation, it may be changed to a poster (or oral) registration, due to venue restrictions.

<Special Session>

Outstanding abstracts will be selected from among all those submitted and will form a special session. The abstract presentation time is 10 minutes, followed by 5 minutes for questions and answers.

2) Poster Presentation

Please create a poster using the template to be posted on the website of the Congress & Expo.
The main text of the poster (including diagrams and photographs, 1,350 mm length, 850 mm width) and the abstract title, affiliation and name (200 mm length, 650 mm width) will be prepared by the relevant presenter.
Details of the poster format and how to display will be posted on the website of the Congress & Expo.
Even if you have registered your abstract for an oral (or poster) presentation, it may be changed to a poster (or oral) registration, due to venue restrictions.
*If your abstract is selected, you will be asked to submit your data for on-demand distribution around September prior to the event. More information will be posted on the website of the Congress & Expo around June, so please check it out.

IV. Secondary Use Rights of Abstracts and Papers

The secondary use rights and licensing rights for the abstracts belong to the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists.

V. Ethical Issues related to Abstract Content

1. Consent of the Research Subjects

Please comply with the Ethical Guidelines for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) and other related guidelines, and include ethical considerations in the main text. In particular, it is essential to include a statement regarding the subjects' consent.

2. Utmost Ethical Consideration

Please pay the utmost attention to the dignity of individuals concerned during the processes of planning, conducting, analyzing your research, and preparing your abstract. If your university or hospital has an ethics committee, please have it review your research and indicate this in your text. However, please do not include specific committee names, etc.

3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest (COI)

If you have received or plan to receive money or other financial assistance from a company or a profit-earning organization in relation to a conflict of interest, you are required to declare it. Please declare any conflicts of interest on the registration screen and state whether or not there are any conflicts of interest at the time of your presentation.

4. Consideration of Copyright

When quoting from copyrighted works by other people, please be sure to clearly state the source (author's name/the work's full name and year of publication) in the main text to avoid infringing on copyright.

5. Cooperation with Requests from the Chairperson of the Congress & Expo

The Chairperson of the Congress & Expo may request that you submit documentation or provide an explanation attesting to the ethical considerations regarding your abstract. In that case, we would appreciate your cooperation.

VI. How to Submit

1. Submission Procedure

Please follow these instructions to complete suser registration and abstract registration.
*For abstract registration in English, please start with the English page of the website.

Recommended browsers:

Depending on the combination of your computer and browser, the abstract registration may not proceed smoothly. Please note in advance that the operation of browsers other than those recommended below is not guaranteed.
For Windows, we recommend Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox, and for MacOS, we recommend Safari. We also recommend using the latest version of each browser.
*We do not guarantee that the registration system will work on mobile devices such as smartphones and iPads. So please do not use them.

2. Registration Procedure

For abstract registration, please be sure to read the abstract submission guidelines released on the registration site.

1. Please follow the on-screen instructions for each step of the entry process. Please note that if you do not complete the entire process, including the final step, correctly or close your browser before the registration is completed, your abstract will not be registered.
2. If there is an error in your entry, an error message will appear and you will not be able to proceed to the next step. In that case, please make corrections according to the error message.
3. If you register while checking the help message for each step, you can register your abstract smoothly.
4. After entering the abstract information, be sure to create a PDF on the page "STEP 5: Confirm Registration Details and Create PDF" for confirmation, then proceed to the page "STEP 6: Confirm PDF and Complete Submission," and click the button "I have confirmed the created abstract PDF. I complete the abstract registration process." Your abstract submission will not be complete until you click this button.

3. Technical Inquiries regarding Registration

Please direct all technical inquiries regarding abstract registration and the registration system to the following email address:

jotc-office2025@mas-sys.com

4. Notes on Abstract Registration

Please note that there may be a sudden increase in traffic just before the deadline, possibly preventing you from completing the registration process. Please register well in advance. When registering, please follow the instructions on the abstract registration screen and make correct entries.

5. User Registration

To submit your abstract, please first complete user registration on the abstract registration home page. You will receive your User ID and Password, required for abstract registration, through your registered email address.

<User Registration Items (Required)>

*1.	Lead presenter's name
*2.	Enter the lead presenter's name again.
*3.	Login password
*4.	Contact details for notification etc.
*5.	Postal code
*6.	Address
*7.	Telephone number
*8.	Email address (for receipt confirmation and selection result notification) Free email addresses and mobile phone email addresses are not acceptable.
*9.	Lead presenter's affiliation

[Note 1]

• If you enter an incorrect email address, you will not be able to receive notification of the completion of user registration. If a notification that your user registration is complete does not reach you, please check if the email address you have registered is correct, and try user registration once again.
• If you use a spam filter for a free email service, please check if the email has been sent to your spam folder. Mobile phone email addresses cannot be used.
• We do not recommend registering with a free email address such as the ones listed below, as you may not be able to receive emails regarding the completion of your user registration, the receipt of your abstract, and the results of the abstract selection. The secretariat office of the Congress & Expo will not be held responsible for any problems that may arise from the use of free email addresses.
  *Free email is an email account provided by a free email service that allows you to obtain an email account free of charge by simply entering the required information such as an email address and a password. Examples include:
  xx@yahoo.co.jp
  xx@gmail.com
  xx@outlook.jp
  xx@hotmail.co.jp
  xx@live.jp

[Note 2]

The User ID and Password listed in the user registration completion notice will be required to register your abstract, confirm/modify/delete the abstract, and check the processing status. Please keep them safe.

6. Preparation before Abstract Registration

1) Confirmation of Submission Eligibility and Submission Details

Please refer to "I. Submission Eligibility" and "III. Submission Details and Presentation Types."

2) Selection of a Presentation Type

Please select either of the following presentation types. However, please note that the final presentation type will be determined by the Congress & Expo.

• Oral presentation
• Poster presentation

7. Abstract Registration

1) Preparation of the Information to Be Entered in the Required Fields

For abstract registration, the following information is required. Please prepare in advance.

*1.	Lead presenter and co-presenters' names
*2.	Enter the lead presenter and co-presenters' names again.
*3.	Lead presenter and co-presenters' affiliations and departments
*4.	Lead presenter and co-presenters' professions
*5.	Lead and co-presenters' membership numbers

2) Entry

Enter your User ID and Password on the abstract registration home page to log in.

<Information about the Presenters, Their Affiliations, etc.>

[Note 1]

If the lead presenter and co-presenters are occupational therapists, please select "OT" as the profession and be sure to enter their membership numbers in the "Membership Number" field. If the membership numbers are not registered in the membership information system of the Japanese Association of Occupational Therapists, or if the membership fees of the presenters are unpaid, an error will occur and you will not be able to proceed to the next step.

<Selection of Abstract Category>

For abstract registration, please select one of the following categories that is most relevant to your abstract details.

A	Cerebrovascular disease, etc.	J	Geriatrics
B	Cardiovascular diseases	K	Cognitive impairment (including higher brain dysfunction)
C	Respiratory diseases	L	Assistive devices
D	Musculoskeletal diseases	M	MTDLP
E	Neurological intractable diseases	N	Region
F	Cancer	O	Theory
G	Internal illness	P	Basic research
H	Mental disorders	Q	Management and operation
I	Developmental disorders	R	Education

<Abstract Information>>

*1.	Abstract title
*2.	Main text
*3.	Keyword 1
*4.	Keyword 2
*5.	Keyword 3

<Notes on Entry>

• The names of up to five presenters, or the lead presenter and four co-presenters, can be entered.
• Each lead presenter may submit only one abstract. Each co-presenter may be registered for two or more abstracts.
• Please count the characters of the title, subtitle, and main text in advance using Word or similar software, and copy and paste them into the registration fields.
  In the registration system, a full-width character is counted as two characters and a half-width alphanumeric character is counted as one character. The number of characters to be entered is specified in half-width units.
  The total number of characters for the title and subtitle is limited to 120 (half-width characters).
  The number of characters for the main text of the abstract is limited to 3,000 (half-width characters).
  Spaces and tags used for character modification and special character entry are included in the character count.
• No diagrams can be used.
• Please do not include the abstract title, the lead presenter and co-presenters' names and affiliations, etc. in the main text, since the information provided at the time of the abstract registration will be automatically printed in the designated positions.
• In the main text, the following five types of text modifications are available. If using them, please enclose the string in the relevant tag. Please enter tags correctly with half-width characters, including “<” (less-than symbol) and “>” (greater-than symbol). You can automatically enter tags by selecting the relevant string (specifying a range) and clicking the character modification button. Please note that any other tags will result in an error.

• Line breaks entered in entry fields for the main text of the abstract will be maintained even after typesetting. Line breaks entered using the tag <BR /> will not be maintained.
• In the main text, please put subheadings, such as the introduction, objectives, methods, results, and discussion, between [ ].
• The PDF generated on the entry screen will be your manuscript. Some characters may cause problems at the time of PDF generation. Be sure to check the contents of the PDF.
• Please follow the punctuation rules of the journal Asian Journal of Occupational Therapy.
• Special characters, such as enclosures, Roman numerals, unit symbols, and ellipsis symbols, may cause characters to appear garbled or missing. Please do not use these characters but instead use half-width alphanumeric characters. Please check the following website for details.
  https://www.mas-sys.com/jotc-doc/ja/note-chara.html
  *Once your abstract registration is complete, you will receive a receipt email. If you do not receive a receipt email within an hour, please contact us below:
  jotc-office2025@mas-sys.com

3) Confirmation, Modification, or Deletion of the Registered Contents and the Main Text

During the submission period (from noon on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 to noon on Friday, February 28, 2025), you can confirm, modify, or delete what you have registered. For modification, please log in to your user page and click the button "Confirm/Modify/Delete Abstract." You are allowed up to 5 accesses for modification, each for a maximum of 30 minutes. Please access the page after checking the modified parts carefully.
After making a modification entry, be sure to generate a PDF on the page "STEP 5: Confirm Registration Details and Create PDF" for confirmation, then proceed to the page "STEP 6: Confirm PDF and Complete Submission," and click the button "I have confirmed the created abstract PDF. I complete the abstract registration process." Your abstract submission will not be complete until you click this button. Once the modification has been reflected, the system will send you an email notifying you that the modification has been completed. Please confirm for yourself that the modification has been reflected correctly.

[Note]

The secretariat office of the Congress & Expo will not be held responsible for any problems with the abstract registration caused by problems with the registrant's computer environment or communication conditions. Also note that in order to ensure fairness, no special consideration will be given. In addition, what has been registered cannot be modified or deleted after the submission period has ended.
Even if there is a chance your affiliation and/or your surname may be changed at the time of presentation, please use your current affiliation and surname when registering. You can show your new affiliation and surname on your presentation slides (or poster).

4) Checking the Processing Status

To check the status of your abstract registration and processing, please log in to your user page and click the button "Check Processing Status." This will allow you to check the status of the various processes, such as the abstract registration status, selection result, presentation date and time, and presentation section.

VII Abstract Screening Criteria

Abstracts will be screened based on the following criteria: Once selected, the abstract cannot be withdrawn.

1. Research Quality

• 1) Introduction: Are there statements on the background of the research (results and challenges of previous research) and the importance and necessity of the research?
• 2) Objective: Are there statements on specific objectives and what to reveal through the research?
• 3) Method (approach): Are there statements on specific research subjects and methods? Do the methods fit the research objectives? Are there statements on procedures for ensuring ethics?
• 4) Result (significance of practice): Is data presented? (Presenting data is essential even in qualitative research.) Are the results of statistical processing (such as risk ratios) presented correctly?
• 5) Discussion (conclusion): Are there logical descriptions of the obtained results? Are there statements on the research's importance and problems, and its contribution to society? Are the discussion details consistent with the introduction and objectives?

2. Professional Value

• 6) Will the research contribute to the development of occupational therapy? Is the research relevant to occupational therapy? Is the research helpful for strengthening occupational therapy theory or raising the level of practice?
• 7) Is the research novel or innovative? Does the research feature any unique ideas or original perspectives that can advance occupational therapy?

3. Abstract Description Quality

• 8) Does the abstract consist of the items specified in “Research Quality”? Does the abstract logically describe the Introduction, Objective, Method (approach), Result (significance of practice), and Discussion (conclusion)?
• 9) Is the abstract written in an easy-to-read manner? Is there consistency in grammar and style? Are the main points clearly stated in concise text so that others can understand the details of the research?

4. Ethics Procedures

• 10) In research involving human subjects (including basic research), is personal information protected and are ethical considerations shown? Has the research been approved by the relevant institution? Has the research been conducted with personal information protected and informed consent obtained from the subjects?

5. Scoring Method

Three judges will score the abstracts, using the scoring sheet in an abstract scoring system (web). Scoring will be done on a four-point scale (4 points to 1 point), and the average score of “1)” to “9)” is calculated. For 10), “No problem”, “Problem,” or “n/a (not applicable)” will be selected.

6. Comments from the Judges

As a result of the screening, abstracts might be rejected if their average scores are less than 2 points. For such abstracts, the judges will provide educational comments that will be useful in encouraging future improvement in conducting research and preparing an abstract. The judges' comments will be communicated anonymously to the author.

7. Pass/Fail Determination

As a general rule, any presentation with an average score of less than two points given by two or more of the three judges will be rejected. The final pass/fail determination will be made through consultation between the Chairperson and the Planning Committee of the Congress & Expo.

VIII Notification of the Abstract Selection

Notification of the abstract selection result is scheduled for early May.

The selection result, along with your presentation date and time, will be communicated to you via "Check Processing Status" on your user page. We look forward to receiving many abstracts.