Poster Rules and Guidelines

Ethics Policy & Code of Conduct

For information on the APS Code of Conduct for Conventions and Events, please review the Ethics Policy and Code of Conduct page.

Overview of Posters

Poster presenters will have the opportunity to discuss their research with interested attendees during assigned poster sessions at the APS Annual Convention.

There are 4 types of poster submissions for Convention:

• Standard Poster: Standard Poster submissions must only report data collection and analysis that has been completed by the time the submission is finalized. Submissions that do not report collected data and analyses, or that do not have enough collected data or analysis to make an empirical claim, will not be accepted. Non-empirical research should not be submitted as a poster. Standard Posters are eligible to apply for poster awards. More information on these poster awards can be found here.
• Research Proposal Poster: Research Proposal Posters should represent plans for a future empirical study. Data collection should not be complete. This is a chance to receive early feedback on your research study plan. Your submission should describe an empirical research study plan in detail including hypotheses, experimental design, plan for participant recruitment, procedure, plan for statistical analysis, and expected results. Research Proposal Posters are not eligible for poster awards.
• Teaching Poster: Teaching posters should pertain to the teaching of psychological science. This includes, but is not limited to, teaching techniques, innovations, evaluation, and philosophy. Posters should focus on methods for teaching psychology, such as particularly effective or innovative courses or course organizations, strategies (including demonstrations) for promoting active learning, ways of integrating course material, helpful use of technology, and the like. These posters are presented as part of the pre-conference Teaching Institute, which takes place on Thursday. The Teaching Institute requires an additional registration fee.
• Cross-Cutting Theme Poster: The Convention features two cross-cutting theme programs in which leading researchers from across psychological science’s sub-disciplines come together to discuss current topics, bringing insight from their particular fields.
  • Team Science –  How does team science work within the current incentive structures of the field (e.g., tenure track, NIH, NSF)? What does effective team science look like in terms of organizational structure? Operations? And research output? How can team science be leveraged to generate insights and innovations? Are there ways that team science can be used to address seemingly intractable problems in psychological science?
  • The second topic is forthcoming. 

With any poster submission, you must explain the rationale, theoretical and/or applied significance of results (or predicted results), and general principles. State whether the research is exploratory or confirmatory. It is not acceptable to say, “The results will be discussed.”

The poster submission form accepts plain text only, but you should incorporate illustrative materials such as tables, graphs, photographs, large-print text, and materials in your final poster presentation at the Convention.

Sample Poster Configuration:

Authors present their posters using a visual medium with key excerpts from the papers displayed in landscape/horizontal orientation on a 4′ high x 8′ wide/1.2 m high x 2.4 m wide free-standing bulletin board. Your poster can be printed in any size that fits within those dimensions. Poster presentations should incorporate illustrative materials such as tables, graphs, photographs, and large-print text, and materials should be clearly readable from a distance of three feet (primary text font should be 20 points or larger, and headings font at least 30 points). Posters are assigned a session number and bulletin board number and are organized by keyword when possible. No audio visual equipment can be used. 

You are NOT required to submit your final poster before presentation. If your poster proposal was accepted for presentation, you simply need to bring your printed poster to the Convention for presentation.

Deadlines for Submission

All poster submissions must be finalized and are due by Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 5:00 PM ET (22:00 UTC). Notifications of acceptance or rejection of poster submissions will be sent out in February 2024.

Review, Selection, and Notifications

• Submissions will be reviewed by members of the APS Program Committee. Your poster will be matched with a reviewer based on the subject area.
• Review decision notifications will be sent to the first author and presenting author on each poster submission. These notifications will be sent in February 2024.
• With all submission formats, including posters, the Program Committee retains the right to request additional information, ask that changes be made to improve a presentation, or decline a presentation the Committee does not find relevant to the meeting or that does not follow the guidelines for submission. No changes can be made after proposals have been submitted unless the Committee has specifically requested that change. Please re-read your submission before you finalize it to ensure the submission is free of spelling or grammar errors and that all authors have been added to the submission. The deadline to request any edit to the program listing for an accepted poster is April 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm ET (21:00 UTC).

Speaker and Submitter Responsibilities

• Submitters do not need to be members to submit proposals or to have proposals reviewed. Please note that you must log in to your APS Member Profile or create a free APS account in order to begin a submission.
• There is no membership requirement of any author on a submission. (Note: APS members receive discounted convention registration rates.) 
• An individual may be a first author on only one (1) poster proposal. However, that individual may be a co-author/presenter on multiple poster proposals and may participate in multiple symposia. (Exception: An individual may be the first author on an APS Annual Convention poster proposal, as well as an APS-STP Teaching Institute poster proposal.)
• The first author or presenting author must accept the speaker agreement if their submission is accepted for presentation. Information on how to do so will be included in your emailed acceptance notification.
• The presenting author must register for the Convention. APS members receive discounted convention registration rates. Early-bird registration rates are available until Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm ET (21:00 UTC).
• The name of the proposal submitter will not appear in any program unless the submitter elects to be listed as an author. Submitter information is only used while submitting. After a submission has been finalized, all submission communication will be sent to the first and presenting author(s).
• The commitment of all participants and listed co-authors must be secured in advance of proposal submission.
• The first or presenting author is responsible for sharing submission notifications, information and certificates with co-authors.

Program Participant Registration Policy

All program participants must register and pay the appropriate registration fee. APS members receive discounted convention registration rates. Early registrants receive a discounted rate before the Early-Bird deadline of Wednesday, April 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm ET (21:00 UTC). All poster presenters must present on-site at the Convention in San Francisco, CA. No remote or virtual presentations can be facilitated.

Submission Guidelines

APS seeks presentations showcasing the latest findings in psychological science. Below are some guidelines that can assist in the preparation of your poster submission.

To submit a poster, you’ll need to enter the following information:

• Submitter information: When you begin your poster submission, you’ll be prompted to log in to your APS Member Profile or create a free account with APS. Although membership is not required to submit your research, you must create an APS Profile. Once you log in or create your account, you’ll be automatically redirected to complete your submission.
• Poster title: The title should be succinct and descriptive because it will be listed without the abstract in Convention materials. The title should indicate the important result, rather than the experimental question. Please use Title Case – e.g., Meaning in Time: We Consider Our Lives Insignificant When Viewed from the Future.
• Poster type: Standard Poster, Research Proposal Poster, Teaching Poster or Cross-Cutting Theme Poster.
• Abstract: A brief, high-level overview of the research that will be presented; describes the findings (50-word maximum, plain-text format).
• Subject area: Related area of research; used to match the proposal with the best-suited reviewer. Secondary subject area may also be selected.
  • Subject areas: Biological/Neuroscience, Clinical Science, Cognitive, Developmental, General, Industrial/Organizational, Methodology, Personality/Emotion, and Social.
• Keyword: Select the keyword that best represents the poster (limit 1).
• Supporting summary: Provides a more in-depth overview of the completed work and includes the following: the background/theory tested, the methods used, a summary of the major findings, and the implications for the work on the field as a whole.  (500-word maximum, plain-text format).
  • Standard Poster submissions should include the background/theory tested, the methods used, a summary of the major findings, and the implications for the work on the field as whole.  You must clearly state that data collection is from an empirical study and is complete.
  • Research Proposal posters should include hypotheses, experimental design, plan for participant recruitment, procedure, plan for statistical analysis, and expected results.
  • References are optional (words will count towards the 500-word maximum).
  • Emphasize the rationale, theoretical and/or applied significance of results (or projected results for a Research Proposal Poster), and general principles of the research. State whether the study is exploratory or confirmatory. It is not acceptable to say, “The results will be discussed.”
• Author Information: The university or business affiliation, individual e-mail address and highest degree earned must be included for all presenters/co-authors. Maximum of 15 co-authors may be included.
  • An individual may be a first author on only one poster proposal. Exception: An individual may be the first author on one standard poster, research proposal poster or cross-cutting theme poster submission as well as a Teaching Institute poster submission.
  • The first author is the person who contributed the most or led the research study and should be listed first (even if first author is not attending the Convention).
  • The presenting author will present the poster on-site at the Convention. The presenting author must register for the Convention.
  • No APS membership is required of any author. APS members receive discounted convention registration rates.

APS 2024 Poster Awards

Please visit the APS 2024 Poster Awards page for information on poster awards.