Call for Abstracts

The ESPEN Organising Committee is pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for consideration for the 49^th ESPEN Congress.

Abstracts are welcome across a broad spectrum of subjects in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. When submitting, authors must choose the most appropriate topic category for their abstract on the submission form. The available topic areas are:

Important Dates & Deadlines

Submission start: Friday, 8 January 2027

Submission deadline: Thursday, 8 April 2027, 23:59 CEST

Late-breaking submission start: Wednesday, 6 May 2027 (EUR 100). Posters only.

Notifications to regular submitters: Mid-May 2027

Late-breaking submission deadline: Saturday, 5 June 2027

Registration deadline for presenters: Saturday, 5 June 2027

Notifications to LB submitters: End-June 2027

Technical Information
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General
Abstracts can only be submitted online via the abstract submission form, available January 2027. Abstracts will be published as submitted in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, each assigned a DOI. They will also appear on the Congress website one month prior.

Topics

Abstracts are welcome across a broad spectrum of subjects in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. When submitting, authors must choose the most appropriate topic category for their abstract on the submission form. The available topic areas are:

List of Available Topics

T01	Techniques to assess nutritional status*
T02	Macronutrients
T03	Micronutrients and hormones
T04	Critical care
T05	Liver and gastrointestinal tract
T06	Kidney disease
T07	Pulmonary and heart disease
T08	Neurological disease
T09	Other chronic diseases
T10	Obesity and the metabolic syndrome
T11	Cancer
T12	Pediatrics
T13	Geriatrics
T14	Perioperative care/surgery

Presentation Types

Abstracts submitted by the deadline of Thursday, 8 April 2027, 23:59 CEST will be eligible for consideration for the following presentation types:

Oral Presentations

Selected short talks of 7.5 minutes and 2.5 minutes Q&A, scheduled in an Oral Communication session, Best Abstracts session or Hot Topics session.

ePoster Presentations

5-minute ePoster presentations followed by a 2.5-minute Q&A during the allocated time slot at the ePoster stations, located in the ePoster area next to the exhibition hall. Sessions are chaired by one moderator. ePosters will also be uploaded to the Congress Virtual Platform and Mobile App.

ePoster Displays

Accepted ePosters will be displayed at the ePoster stations in the ePoster area next to the exhibition hall and will be uploaded to the Congress Virtual Platform and Mobile App during the Congress. No dedicated ePoster presentation timeslots will be allocated to individual presenters. Instead, interactions and scientific exchange will be arranged through a personalised booking tool and available meeting space.

Rules and Guidelines

General Points

A user account is required to submit an abstract and to register for the Congress. The account only needs to be created once and may be reused for future submissions and Congress registrations. Authors who submitted for last year’s Congress should use their existing login details.
An abstract should not be submitted to the 49th ESPEN Congress if it has already been presented at another congress.
Abstracts may only be submitted through the online submission system; submissions sent by email or post will not be accepted.
Please ensure your abstract is free of spelling, grammatical, and scientific errors, as it will appear exactly as submitted. Authors are responsible for linguistic accuracy. No proofreading or post-deadline editing will be performed. No changes to the abstract or the version published in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN will be possible after the submission deadline on Wednesday, 8 April 2027.
Abstracts will be evaluated based on their relevance to ESPEN, clarity of English, objectivity, methodological rigor, appropriateness of methods, validity of conclusions, ethical standards, scientific impact, clinical relevance, originality, and overall quality.
Abstracts may be saved in “Draft status” and edited until the submission deadline (Wednesday, 8 April 2027, 23:59 CET). Abstracts cannot be edited after the submission deadline.
Abstracts meeting all requirements may be saved as “Final submission.” Only abstracts marked as “Final submission” will be reviewed for inclusion in the Congress.
Submitting authors will be notified by Mid-May 2027 regarding acceptance. Notifications include the date, time and format of presentation, and will be sent to the email address provided during submission.
To withdraw an abstract, a written request stating the reason must be emailed to the ESPEN Secretary (espen.scienti@mci-group.com) no later than Friday, 5 June 2027.

Submission Content

Abstracts must be written in English.
The same abstract cannot be submitted by more than one author.
Abstracts must include data and comply with international ethical standards.
All abbreviations must be defined upon first use.
Trade names may not appear in the title but may be included in parentheses within the abstract text.
AI tools may be used only to improve language clarity. AI-generated first drafts are not permitted. Authors bear full responsibility for verifying accuracy after any AI use.
Abstracts may not exceed 2000 printable characters (including the title, spaces, and line breaks, but excluding author details and conflict-of-interest statements). Please refer to the character count displayed in the submission system, as slight discrepancies may occur between Word documents and other software.
The abstract needs to be structured as follows:

- Rationale: 1-2 sentences clearly stating the scientific question and its clinical or scientific significance.
- Methods: sufficient detail to understand the study design, analytical procedures, and the statistical methods.
- Results: objective data addressing the stated scientific question(s).
- Conclusions: only conclusions directly supported by the results, including implications for clinical practice; avoiding speculation or overgeneralisation.
- One table may be included, limited to a maximum of 16 cells (rows + columns). Note that a table will reduce the remaining allowable character count.
- Abstracts cannot be accepted without a completed conflict-of-interest disclosure. Required information regarding all authors must be provided in the online submission form.

Presentation Requirements

Accepted abstracts will be assigned either as an oral presentation, an ePoster presentation, or an ePoster display.
Submitters will receive an acceptance or rejection notification letter by email containing the outcome of their abstract submission, along with the presentation type and scheduled presentation time slot, where applicable.
Each presenting author may present and publish a maximum of 4 abstracts.
Presenters with accepted abstracts who do not register and confirm their participation by the deadline of 5 June 2027 may not be considered for abstract acceptance in future ESPEN Congresses.
Presentation of an accepted abstract requires in-person attendance at the ESPEN Congress. Due to institutional travel authorisation requirements that may apply in some countries, submitting authors are requested to ensure that they have obtained, or will be able to obtain, approval from their institution to attend the Congress if their abstract is accepted. During the abstract submission, ESPEN reserves the right to request a letter from the author’s institution confirming permission to travel and participate in the Congress as a presenter.

Embargo

Abstracts and late-breaking abstracts from presenters who are fully registered will be published exactly as submitted in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN, each assigned a DOI. Publication will occur after the Congress. Abstracts not presented at the Congress will not be published. The submitting author is responsible for ensuring accuracy of all details, including authorship. No changes will be permitted after final submission.

Publication

Late-Breaking Abstracts

Late-breaking abstracts may be submitted from Wednesday, 6 May until Saturday, 05 June 2027, 23:59 CEST. A non-refundable fee of EUR 100 is required at submission, regardless of acceptance status.
Late-breaking abstracts will be considered for ePoster displays or ePoster presentations.
The presenting author must be fully registered and have completed payment before submission. Registration and submission must occur under the same user account. If not, linking the abstract to the registration and guaranteeing programme inclusion cannot be assured. Only abstracts from presenters who confirm participation and complete registration (including payment) by Saturday, 12 June 2027, will be scheduled and published.
Submitting authors will be notified by End-June 2027 regarding acceptance and will receive presentation details via email.
Withdrawal requests must be submitted by email to espen.scienti@mci-group.com by Tuesday, 29 June 2027, and must include the reason for withdrawal.

Travel Grants

ESPEN awards 30 travel grants to young investigators under the age of 35 (one per country) for the best original abstracts. Each grant amounts to 500 EUR and is awarded based on the overall quality of the abstract and its relevance to the Congress theme.
The young investigator must present the abstract and attend the Congress in person to receive the grant (at the speakers’ desk, from 12:00 on Sunday 12 September 2027 after the Sir David Cuthbertson Lecture). No payment will be made before or after the Congress.
Applications can be made as part of the abstract submission process. The deadline for applications is Thursday, 8 April 2027.