In the days before 24-hour news networks, breaking news meant blaring headlines on TV or radio. These “cut-ins” interrupted programming for only the most pressing events, such as a severe weather disaster or the assassination of President Kennedy. Breaking news was typically accompanied by alert crawls, lower thirds and even special graphic overlays to convey the urgency of the story.

SfN recognizes that the results of some high impact research may not be available by the general abstract submission deadline, and so we invite investigators to submit a late-breaking abstract for consideration. These abstracts are intended to recognize novel, critically important research developments that become available in the lead-up to International Congress.

In order to be considered for late-breaking, an abstract must report data that became available for public dissemination only after the general abstract submission deadline and must be able to inform the clinical/scientific community. Research that is not new and does not advance the field runs a risk of being reported in the media ahead of time and thus loses its appeal as a late-breaking result.

In addition to meeting all other criteria for an SfN abstract, late-breaking abstracts are also held to a higher standard of review than regular abstracts. Selection of late-breaking abstracts is rigorous and adheres to strict scientific and medical guidelines. The following topics are typically suited to the main e-poster sessions and will not be considered for the late-breaking program: single center trials, case reports, qualitative surveys, practice reviews, rating scale validation studies, small confirmatory studies.