ISAE 2026 Abstract Submission Guidelines

• Abstracts must be submitted via https://isae2026.exordo.com
• Abstracts must present information that falls within the scope of the ISAE.
• Abstracts presenting both theoretical and empirical work related to applied ethology will be considered for presentation at the ISAE Congress.
• Abstracts must not exceed 400 words in length, excluding title, names and affiliation.
• The first name of authors, not just initials, should be given.
• Abstracts must contain a clear statement of the purpose of the work, the methods used, the results, and conclusions. Results should be presented in sufficient detail to support the conclusions drawn. Except for theoretical contributions and review papers (such as plenary papers), submitted abstracts must contain data, indicate the method(s) of analysis, and provide information about test statistics.
• Abstracts must describe original data that are not yet published at the date of submission, except for review papers (plenary or keynote lectures).
• Reviewers will be advised to reject empirical abstracts that do not contain data, since it is very difficult to evaluate the suitability of these abstracts for presentation.
• An author may only be the presenting author on ONE abstract regardless of format (talk or poster), however authors may be listed on multiple abstracts. The organizing committee will accept only one abstract if an author submits multiple abstracts as the presenting author.
• A statement by which authors must confirm that the work described in the abstract conforms with the ISAE Ethical Guidelines.
  • Authors must review the checklist reviewing potential ethical issues associated with the work reported in the submitted abstract.
  • Authors must provide additional information about their work in case it involves ethical issues.
• Authors should indicate whether they wish their presentation to be considered for the student presentation competition.
• Authors should indicate their preferred form of presentation of their work (e.g. plenary paper, short oral paper, poster, or workshop).

Review of Potential Ethical Issues

The ISAE Ethics Committee has constructed a brief checklist of some relevant welfare or ethical issues. If any of these have occurred as part of the experimental design of the study being reviewed, then the justification should be apparent. If it is not, the reviewer may wish to consult with the Ethics Committee or recommend that the Ethics Committee reviews the paper. Further information is available in the ISAE Ethical Guidelines.

Ethics Checklist: Authors must complete a checklist in the submission system to clarify whether as part of the experimental design, the study imposed any of the following procedures or conditions.

• Housing or husbandry inappropriate for the psychological and physiological needs of the species being studied
• Staged aggression, competition, or social defeat
• Protracted food or water deprivation, or diet manipulations likely to have an adverse effect on the animals
• Mutilations (this can include some methods of permanent marking, e.g. toe or tail clipping)
• Killing of animals as part of the experiment (including giving live animals as food)
• Surplus animals raised/acquired for the experiment
• Inappropriate social conditions, e.g. protracted isolation of gregarious or social sentient animals, unduly early weaning, or group-housing of normally solitary animals
• Prolonged restraint
• Trapping
• Collecting biological samples directly from the animal, such as tissue, blood, urine, faeces, semen, and saliva
• Induced infection, disease or parasitism
• Inappropriate release of wild-caught animals
• Adverse implications for conservation or the ecosystem

If your study involved any of the procedures mentioned above, please provide an ethical justification for this study. In particular, please address:

1. The justification for studying this topic/subject area
2. The choice of research protocol
3. Also, if not already stated in the abstract, please give details of the research protocol, e.g.:
   1. The frequency and duration of potentially harmful procedures
   2. The intensity and duration of any adverse effects experienced by the animals
   3. The monitoring and procedures in place for alleviation of any suffering