Regulations

1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1.1. ISC 2021 will take place at Rīga Stradiņš University on 22 to 23 March 2021.

1.2. Applications for participation at the ISC shall be announced by the ISC Organising Committee.

1.3. The decision on amendments to the ISC Regulations shall be taken by RSU SU Board.

1.4. The ISC Regulations shall be published on the website of RSU SU sp.rsu.lv and on the conference website isc.rsu.lv.

1.5. Acceptance and supervision of conference abstracts shall be provided by RSU SU and the ISC Organising Committee. The evaluation of the abstracts shall be ensured by an independent panel of experts.

1.6. The working language of the conference shall be English.

1.7. The conference will feature the following sections of Health Sciences: Internal Medicine I (Cardiology, Pulmonology); Internal Medicine II (Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology); Surgery I (Cardiac-, Thoracic-, Vascular Surgery); Surgery II (General-, Visceral-, Endocrine-, Paediatric Surgery, Urology); Oncology & Haematology; Basic & Preclinical Science (Morphology, Pathology, Genetics); Dentistry, Maxillofacial Surgery & Otorhinolaryngology, Otorhinolaryngologic Surgery, Ophthalmology; Gynaecology, Gynaecological Surgery, Obstetrics, Perinatology; Paediatrics; Public & Global Health, Occupational Medicine, Nutrition, Rehabilitation; Traumatology, Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine, Radiology, Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery; Emergency Medicine, Anaesthesiology, Reanimatology; Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Physiology; Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, Dermatology, Immunology, Allergology; Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychotherapy; Psychology;

1.8.Case Reports, Small Case Series: Internal Medicine; Surgery; Paediatrics.

1.9. The conference will feature the following sections of Social Sciences: Law; Economics; Political Science, International Relations; Communication.

1.10. In the event that less than seven abstracts are approved for the participation in the ISC within one section, the ISC Organising Committee shall have the right to merge the sections or to transfer the submitted abstracts to another section.

1.11. In the event that more than fifteen abstracts are approved for the participation in the ISC within one section, the ISC Organising Committee shall have the right to subdivide the sections or to transfer the abstracts submitted to another section.

2. PARTICIPATION IN THE CONFERENCE

2.1. The conference shall have the following possibilities for participation:

2.1.1. Active Participant – shall present his/her research work in the following format:

2.1.1.1. Oral presentation – the participant shall present his/her research work in the format of a PowerPoint (ppt, pptx) presentation. The presentation shall be designed and submitted in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee, which is published on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv in the section Presentation requirements.

2.1.1.2. Poster presentation – the participant shall present a poster or spreadsheet. The poster presentation shall be designed within the specified time and in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee, which is published on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv in the section Presentation Requirements.

2.1.2. Passive Participant or Attendee – is free to attend any section and ask questions of his/her interest in the discussion part.

2.2. All the participants of the conference shall have the opportunity to apply for workshops, tours and other activities of the social programme in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee.

2.3. Information on the amount of the participation fee shall be published on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv in the section Fees.

2.4. Participation fee for RSU students:

1.3.2. Active participation shall not be charged.

2.3.2. Passive participation shall not be charged, if it is registered on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv not later than 5 working days prior to the ISC. After the expiry of the prescribed time limit, the participation fee shall be charged for passive participation in the amount set by the ISC Organising Committee.

2.4. Participation fee for students of other higher education institutions:

2.4.1. Active and passive participation shall be subject to fees in the amount set by the ISC Organising Committee.

2.4.2. The fee for active participation must be paid within 5 working days of the notification of the results by the Abstract Evaluation Commission. If no payment is made within 5 working days, the participation in the conference shall be revoked. The participation fee shall cover the necessary costs of organising the conference. In the event of an online conference, the fee for providing the necessary software for the conference shall be covered.

2.5. Confirmation of passive participation in the conference shall be received within 3 working days after the application is registered on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv.

2.6. Payment for passive participation may also be made on the day of the conference according to the procedure and in the amount set by the ISC Organising Committee.

2.7. When registering a payment, the date of the transfer of the participation fee shall be determined by the payment order

2.8. The participation fee shall be refunded only if the conference is cancelled.

3. RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

3.1. Students of any accredited higher education institution may participate in the conference with their research: students of first and second level professional programmes, Bachelor’s programmes and Master’s study programmes, including students on academic leave.

3.2. Students of the study programme “Residency in Medicine” and students of doctoral study programmes cannot participate in the conference with their research.

3.3. Students whose studies are financed both from the state budget and their own funds may take part in the conference.

4. APPLICATION AND ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

4.1. Abstracts must be submitted within the specified time and in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee, published on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv.

4.2. The Organising Committee may decide to extend the deadline for submitting abstracts by posting information on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv.

4.3. One student may submit abstracts of several research papers in all sections, except for the Case Report section (for the Case Report section one student may submit an abstract of only one case description).

4.4. Abstracts based on literature reviews, including meta-analyses, shall not be accepted at the conference.

4.5. When submitting an abstract for research work, the student shall indicate only one section in which he/she wants to present the respective research.

4.6. Following the evaluation of the independent panel of experts, the ISC Organising Committee shall have the right to transfer the abstract to another section, upon notification to the first author as indicated by submitting the abstract.

4.7. After submitting the abstracts, it is possible to make changes to the abstracts and to change the sequence of the authors of the research until the deadline for submitting the abstracts.

4.8. The ISC organising team shall not be responsible for any grammatical or other errors in the abstracts.

4.9. The evaluation of applicants and the decision on approval of the abstracts for the conference shall be carried out by the Panel of Experts.

4.10. The applicant shall submit the abstract electronically by the date specified by the ISC Organising Committee on the platform indicated on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv.

4.11. When applying electronically to participate in the conference on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv, the applicant shall:

4.11.1. Complete the conference application.

4.11.2. Submit the abstract in the specified format and in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee.

4.12. If the submitted abstract does not comply with the specified format and requirements, it will not be accepted.

4.13. Upon application, the applicant agrees to the transfer of personal data to the third party concerned, insofar as it is necessary for the administration of the process in compliance with the RSU SP privātuma politikai (Privacy Policy of RSU SU).

5. EVALUATION OF ABSTRACTS AND NOTIFICATION OF RESULTS

5.1. The criterion for the evaluation of applications shall be the compliance of the applicants and the submitted documents and the submitted abstracts with the requirements specified in the Regulations.

5.2. The abstracts submitted in the previous year’s conference and presented in other conferences, shall not be accepted.

5.3. The abstracts shall be evaluated by the Panel of Experts, consisting of at least three members selected by the ISC Organising Committee: two to three experts of the field, one of whom may also be a representative of the statistical laboratory.

5.4. The Panel of Experts shall send its decision on the evaluation of abstracts to the ISC Organising Committee within two weeks of the deadline for the submission of abstracts.

5.5. The results of the evaluation will be notified by the ISC Organising Committee within three weeks after the deadline for submitting the abstracts by sending an e-mail of approval or or rejection to the first named author.

6. PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH AT THE CONFERENCE

6.1. The research shall be presented by its first named author.

6.2. The research may be presented by the co-author, giving at least 10 working day notice to the ISC Organising Committee.

6.3. The PowerPoint presentation of the oral presentation and the poster presentation shall be submitted at the time specified by the ISC Organising Committee. The presentation or any corrections shall not be accepted after the specified deadline.

6.4. Oral presentation shall last not more than seven minutes, followed by a three-minute discussion.

6.5. Presentation of the Case Report / Small Case Series shall last not more than five minutes followed by a three-minute discussion.

6.6. Poster presentation shall last not more than three minutes followed by a two-minute discussion.

6.7. Co-authors of the research may also participate in the discussion and answer questions.

7. RESEARCH ASSESSMENT AT THE CONFERENCE

7.1. Oral and poster presentations shall be assessed by the Panel composed of at least three local
and/or foreign experts of the field.

7.2. Evaluation criteria for the work presented (each section will be assessed on the scale from 0 to 5 points):

7.2.1. Topicality of the chosen subject matter;

7.2.2. Relevance of the content of the work to the topic;

7.2.3. Clearly defined aim of the research work;

7.2.4. Methods described correspond to the aim of the research;

7.2.5. Relevance of the results obtained to the aim of the research;

7.2.6. Relevance of conclusions and proposals to the aim of the research;

7.2.7. Sophisticated and constructive speech.

7.3. The presentation of the work shall be followed by a discussion part in which the Panel of Experts shall ask at least one question.

7.4. By answering the questions put by the Panel of Experts, all the authors present may participate in the discussion and answer them.

8. CASE REPORT FINAL

8.1. Three to five top-ranked research work from each Case Report section shall be nominated for a Case Report Final, which is decided by the Panel of Experts.

8.2. The results of the nomination for the Final shall be published on the ISC website isc.rsu.lv and announced on social networks not later than at 18.00 of the first day of the conference.

8.3. Presentation time limit shall be eight minutes (five minutes for presentation and three minutes for discussion).

8.4. As part of the discussion, the Panel of Experts shall ask at least one question.

8.5. In the Case Report Final, the presentations shall be assessed by the Panel of at least three experts from different fields.

8.6. The results of the Case Report Final shall be announced at the ISC closing event.

8.7. The ISC Organising Committee may make changes to the venue, time and/or presentation format of the Case Report Final by informing the Final participants in advance.

9. GRAND PRIX FINAL

9.1. First-prize winners of oral presentations from each Health Sciences section, except Case Report section, shall be nominated for the participation in the Grand Prix Final. The first author or one of the co-authors shall repeat the presentation.

9.2. The results of the nomination for the Final shall be published on the website isc.rsu.lv and announced on social networks not later than by 12.00 of the second day of the conference.

9.3. Presentation time limit shall be eight minutes (five minutes for presentation and three minutes for discussion).

9.4. As part of the discussion, the Panel of Experts shall ask at least one question.

9.5. Grand Prix Final presentations shall be evaluated by the Panel composed of at least three experts from different fields, one of whom may be a representative of the statistical laboratory.

9.6. The results of the Grand Prix Final shall be announced at the ISC closing event.

9.7. The ISC Organising Committee may make changes to the venue, time and/or presentation format of the Grand Prix Final by informing the Final participants in advance.

10. MASTERSHOP WORKSHOPS

10.1. During the conference, participation in Mastershop workshops will be offered, where it will be possible to improve practical and theoretical knowledge of various thematic areas.

10.2. Certificates attesting to the participation in the Mastershop workshops shall be issued to the participants.

10.3. One participant may take part in each Mastershop workshop only once, and regardless of the status of the participant, the participation fee for the participation in the Mastershop workshop should be paid in the amount set by the ISC Organising Committee, which will be announced at the same time as the application to Mastershops.

10.4. Participation fee for the participation in the Masterhop workshop should be paid within 5 working days (mandatory 24 hours before the Mastershop takes place) after receiving the e-mail of approval for registration for the particular workshop.

10.5. If the participation fee is not paid within the time specified by the ISC Committee, the participant shall receive information that his/her application for the Mastershop has been revoked.

10.6. When registering the payment, the date of the transfer of the participation fee shall be determined by the payment order.

10.7. The participation fee shall be refunded only in cases when the conference Mastershop is cancelled.

11. NOTIFICATION OF THE RESULTS

11.1. The results of oral presentations of all sections, poster presentations, the results of the Case Report and Grand Prix Finals shall be announced at the closing ceremony at the specified time and in accordance with the procedure set by the ISC Organising Committee.

11.2. The winners shall receive certificates and awards as determined by the ISC Organising Committee. The ISC Organising Committee shall not assume any responsibility for lost awards.

11.3. Association, company and other awards may be presented at the closing ceremony.

11.4. Certificates and awards not taken within 20 working days of the closing ceremony shall not be retained. It is possible to agree on taking certificates and awards by writing to the e-mail info.isc@rsu.lv.

11.5. After the closing ceremony, all winners shall be published on the conference website isc.rsu.lv not later than within 5 working days after the conclusion of the conference.