1.   Authors wishing to contribute papers to Pittcon 2009 must submit a preliminary 250-word abstract for review by the Program Committee. All abstracts must be submitted electronically via the Technical Program link on the Pittcon 2009 website at www.pittcon.org. The abstract submission deadline is Friday, August 15, 2008. Abstracts received after the submission deadline will be automatically placed on a waiting list. If you experience any difficulty with the electronic abstract submission process, please contact Ms. Becky Hackley at the Pittcon office (hackley@pittcon.org, 800-825-3221 x 219 or 412-825-3220 x 219). We regret that we cannot accept FAXed or mailed abstracts.The Program Committee reviews all received preliminary abstracts, including those placed on the waiting list. It is imperative that the title be as descriptive as possible and the abstract provide a precise objective of the research project, the significance of the research, the experimental procedures and equipment used, the results obtained, and the conclusions reached. All abstracts should acknowledge the source of funding that supported the work.  Please note:  Titles and co-authors cannot be changed/added/deleted after the abstract submission.  Be certain your information is complete and correct upon abstract submission. Authors are asked to please take particular care when choosing the Application and Methodology categories and the Focus on either category.

2.  All submitted abstracts are considered to be confidential. To maintain confidentiality, only members of the Program Committee will be permitted access to the preliminary abstracts. The Program Committee reserves the sole right to accept or reject any abstract for any reason. The acceptance of the abstract for presentation is an agreement between The Pittsburgh Conference and the person listed as the Presenter on the abstract.

3.  Contributed abstracts must report a previously unpublished novel scientific finding or technical advancement of clear significance in the fields of analytical chemistry or applied spectroscopy. Although Pittcon defines the fields of analytical chemistry and applied spectroscopy in the broadest possible terms, abstracts clearly falling outside these fields cannot be accepted. Abstracts must not contain statements that could be construed as commercials for any product, vendor or manufacturer. Except for New Product Forum submissions, company and product names cannot be used in the title, the body, the graphics, and the presentation of any contributed abstract.

4.  Authors will be notified early in November 2008, via email, as to the status of their abstracts and will be given detailed instructions regarding their presentations. There will not be any hard copy acceptance notices; therefore, it is important that you provide a valid email address with each preliminary abstract submission.

5.  Authors of accepted abstracts will have the opportunity to submit a final extended abstract by December 5, 2008. The extended abstract will also be submitted electronically using the Pittcon 2009 website. Detailed instructions will be provided with the notice of acceptance. The title and the list of authors must remain the same as those submitted with the preliminary abstract. Extended abstracts will be made available at Pittcon 2009 on CD-ROM, and they will be posted on the Pittcon website prior to the Conference.

6.  Oral presentations, preferably in the PowerPoint format, must be on CD-ROM or USB thumb/stick/jump drives. Pittcon will provide the LCD projectors and laptop computers. Exceptions can be made in special circumstances-contact program@pittcon.org. Poster boards will be provided for poster presentations.

7.  Except under extraordinary circumstances, Pittcon does not allow withdrawal of a paper less than two weeks before the conference. If an author cannot attend Pittcon, one of the remaining co-authors is responsible for the presentation.  This will avoid any discontinuity in the session. In the unfortunate circumstance where neither author nor co-author presents a scheduled presentation, the lead author will not be invited to present his or her work at Pittcon for two subsequent years.

8. The Pittsburgh Conference does not provide financial support to authors of contributed papers. Authors are required to pay the appropriate registration fee for admittance to the technical sessions and the exposition. Registration information will be available on the Pittcon website.