Detailed Instructions

Quick Tips

  • You will have one hour to complete your submission. A timer displays in the upper right hand corner to show your remaining time. You cannot save a partially constructed proposal.
  • Avoid using the “back” button on your web browser.
  • Each page includes its own instructions.
  • Your actions are not saved until you click “Accept and Continue” At the bottom of each page/step.
  • After you review your submission informajtion on the final page, click “Save This Submission.”  You should receive a confirmation email.
  • Please be sure you receive a confirmation email from do_not_reply@allacademic.com before exiting the system.
  • You must have an APSA account to submit a proposal. If you do not have an APSA account, please email membership@apsanet.org.

I. Steps
A. Submitting a Proposal
B. Submission Types
C. Title & Abstract
D. Second Choice & Presentation Format
E. Selecting & Adding Authors
F. Additional Instructions for Full Panel Proposals
G. Submission Confirmation
II. Editing a Submission
III. Submission Guidelines
IV. Proposal Guidelines

I. Steps
A. Submitting a Proposal:
To begin the process of submission, select “Submit or Edit a Proposal. Continue the process of submission by selecting “”Submit a New Division or Related Group Proposal to submit to division or related group or “Submit a Theme Panel Proposal” to submit a proposal for theme panel consideration.  Please see “Edit an Existing Submission” instructions down below for help in editing previous submissions.  Select the division or related group that you’d like to submit to.

B. Submission Types:
Select the appropriate submission type (paper, panel, etc.).

Individual Submissions:

30-minute Paper Presentations (3 or 4 papers at 30 minutes each; 1.5 OR 2 hrs): This format allows a scholar to present his or her work for a longer period of time and to have a dedicated discussant who isn’t overburdened by having to read multiple papers. One session chair would guide the time, but each paper would have its own discussant. The sessions might follow the “Brookings format,” in which the discussant presents and then comments on the paper; the author would then have a chance to respond.

Paper: individual paper submission by an author(s) that, if accepted, could be incorporated into any session type, at the division chair’s choosing

ePoster: individual paper submission by an author(s) that, if accepted, would be incorporated into APSA’s first electronic poster hall! In addition to onsite ePoster kiosks in high traffic areas of the convention center, posters would be available to view prior to the convention AND after the convention, providing greater opportunity for poster presenters to solicit feedback and engage in critical discussion of their research. Attendees would be able to provide comments directly to the presenters, and would also be able to arrange for time to meet onsite at the meeting in the Poster Discussion room to have face-to-face conversations as well.

Session Submissions:

Author(s) Meet Critics: Similar as to the regular roundtables, but proposal submitters and Division Chairs are encouraged to think creatively about incorporating works in progress to be published on the roundtable. These sessions could begin with a 10 minute presentation of a single paper that presents the next logical step in the research agenda set forth in the book, followed by a panel of critics talking about the book and about the work in progress. We also encourage Division Chairs to consider having author panels for articles that have appeared in refereed journals in addition to books.

Full Panel (paper panel) (1 hr 45 min):  A full panel proposal is a fully formed panel session. You must submit all panel details, including panelist names, paper titles, and abstracts. No more than 4 papers are permitted. One or two discussant(s) and one chair needed. All panelists must be in agreement that they will participate if the panel is selected. Division Chairs may also compile these from the submitted papers.

Mini-conference (full day): A full day of content devoted to a theme. The mini-conference can be in pursuit of a larger cohesive goal than traditional panels provide, such as an edited volume or an omnibus dataset. Sessions within the mini-conference might be comprised of other formats in this list.

Outreach Café (1.5 hrs): This session format incorporates a handful of topic clusters, each staffed with a moderator to discuss various outreach efforts in the field. Members will share successful engagement methods and provide guidance to colleagues on ways to apply what they’ve learned in other ways. This session could be about interdisciplinary outreach, public engagement, or any variety of outreach to unique audiences.

Research Café (1.5 hrs): This session format incorporates a handful of topic clusters, each staffed with a scholar (or scholars) in the field that has successfully used particular methodologies or epistemological frameworks. Attendees would group together to discuss research processes, methodologies, ask questions, and brainstorm together around issues in the field. The session may be about particular methodologies, archives, translations, datasets, or any other basis of research.

Roundtable (1.5 hours): A roundtable proposal is for a discussion format session. Participants agree on a specific topic to discuss and debate. You must submit a session title and all participant details. You may submit up to 8 participants, and all participants must be in agreement that they will participate if the panel is selected.

Short Course or Workshop (4 hours): These programs allow for a deep dive in a focused environment. Workshops might be professional development focused or subfield specific, or thematically of the same spirit or accomplishing the same knowledge-sharing or learning goals. Workshops provide participants with hands-on experience and should embrace adult learning principles with clear, pre-determined learning objectives that would be included in the proposal description.

Teaching Café (1.5 hrs): This session format provides a discussion forum for scholars to participate in the scholarship of teaching and learning, share pedagogical techniques, and discuss trends in political science education. Each topic cluster will be staffed with a scholar (or scholars) in the field that has demonstrated success in the use of practical instructional methods to share with attendees to take with them to their home institutions. Attendees would group together to ask questions and brainstorm together around core opportunities and issues in the field. The session may be about teaching and engaging students around particular topics (civic, archives, translations, datasets, or could be more generally focused around soft skills and professional development techniques for educators).

C. Title & Abstract

    Titles are limited to 80 characters. Please type your title in title case, i.e., start principal words with capital letters. Do not use capital letters for prepositions, articles, or conjunctions, unless it is one word. Do not use all capital letters or all small letters in your title. Do not put quotes around the title, unless you are emphasizing terms or book titles.

Abstracts are limited to 5000 characters. You may copy and paste your abstract from a word processing program.

D. Second Choice & Presentation Format

    Please select a second choice division or related group for your proposal to be considered under. This does not count as a second proposal.

If applicable, please indicate what type of format you’d like to give this presentation  in: Panel Only; ePoster; or Panel or ePoster (wherever it is accepted).

E. Selecting & Adding Authors:

    1. First, all authors must have an APSAnet.org account. If they do not, they can

create one here

    Once they have done this, you can search for them in the database. Search by last name only.

An author search will produce a list of authors under the “Choose From List of Authors” table heading. To add an author, click “Add” in the “Action” field.  If they are an author, but not planning to present and attend the conference, please click “Add Non-Presenting Co-Author.”

Continue this process until you have searched and added all the applicable authors from the association database.

F. Additional Instructions for Full Panel Proposals:

After you’ve added your first paper and its authors, click “Add a Paper.” Enter the new paper’s title, abstract, presentation format, and then add the applicable authors.

To add chairs or discussants, search by last name under “Add Other Participants” on Step 3. Chairs and discussants will also need to have an APSAnet.org account to be added.

G.Submission Confirmation
Once you have completed a submission, you will receive an automated email from do_not_reply@allacademic.com. The email will arrive within minutes of completing your submission. If you do not receive the email, it may be because of one of the following reasons:

  1. You did not complete the submission process properly. Go back and review the above help notes to make sure you have completed the process. Make sure that you have completed the upload paper steps.
  2. Your email address is incorrect. If you log in with an email account you no longer use, you will not receive email notifications. Please update your email with your association.
  3. Your email has very sensitive spam blockers that are blocking the incoming email. You can check your “junk” email inbox, add the domain “@allacademic.com” to your safe list, and talk with your email provider to resolve this issue.
  4. You can also check online that your proposal was properly uploaded by clicking on “Submit or Edit Submission” followed by “Papers & Posters” or “Sessions” on the right side (depending on which type of submission you are checking on). A list of your submissions will appear below by title. Click on the desired submission title. Your proposal was successfully uploaded, if on the Submission Summary form, under the “Proposal” sub-heading, the file name that the system assigned to your proposal is listed.

Once you receive your email confirmation, do not reply to All Academic. The email will not be viewed or answered. For questions about your submission, the process, its status, or any other issues, please contact APSA at meeting@apsanet.org or by phone at 202-483-2512.

You can also check online that your proposal was properly uploaded by clicking on “Submit or Edit Submission” followed by “Papers & Posters” or “Sessions” on the right side (depending on which type of submission you are checking on). A list of your submissions will appear below by title. Click on the desired submission title. Your proposal was successfully uploaded, if on the Submission Summary form, under the “Proposal” sub-heading, the file name that the system assigned to your proposal is listed.

II.  Edit a Submission
You may edit a submission up until the submission deadline of January 16. To edit a proposal that has been submitted, click “Submit or Edit a Proposal” on the Main Menu. A list of your submitted proposals by title will appear at the bottom of the page. Click on the “edit” link next to the desired title

The next page will display the submission summary. You can edit data using “Edit” (to the right of each item of session information – title, abstract, etc.). Edit the desired data, and follow the forms back to the submission summary using “Accept and Continue” on each page. Once all the data on the form is accurate and you are at  the final summary/review screen, click “Save This Submission.”

III. Submission Guidelines
When submitting and accepting panel and individual paper proposals, please follow the following four participation rules:

Rule 1: Participation Limit 

Please note that participation is limited to one (1) paper Author or Co-Author presentation and one non-author appearance, excluding discussants.

Limit 1: Author presentations in Research Panels and Poster sessions
Participation in the Annual Meeting is limited to one (1) paper Author or Co-Author presentation in a paper panel session, regardless of the organizer (division, related group, conference co-chairs, etc.).  Only presentations count against this participation limit.  For example, an attendee may have three co-authored papers on the program and, so long as she or he is a presenter for only one of these papers (and a non-presenting co-author in the other two), this would fall within the participation limits.

AND

Limit 2: Non-Author appearances in Research Panels, Roundtables, and Other Session Formats
Participation in the Annual Meeting is limited to one (1) appearance on the program as a panel chair OR one (1) non-author presentatoin participant in any other session format, in sessions organized by any of the following: division, theme panel/Program Committee, APSA committee, or related group.

Exemptions:

  • Participation as a non-presenting co-author does not count against the Author presentation limit.
  • Participation as a discussant does not count against any appearance limits.
  • Participating or presenting a paper on a panel organized by Division 9: Teaching and Learning in Political Science or Division 10: Political Science Education does not count against these limits.
  • If a person is appearing during a panel session as an Author or Co-Author presenter, serving as chair or discussant of the same session does not count against the participation limit.
  • Participation in or leadership of pre-conference workshops or short courses does not count against the participation limit.
  • Delivery of an e-poster presentation does not count against the participation limit

There are no other exemptions from the participation limits.

Rule 2: Pre-registration
The APSA Council requires all program participants to pre-register by June 10, 2016. Participants who do not pre-register by June 10 will be removed from the program.

Rule 3: Paper Delivery
As a paper presenter, you have an important obligation to ensure that all members of your panel, especially discussants, receive your paper two (2) weeks prior to the conference, with enough time to prepare for the meeting. Papers should be uploaded to the conference system no later than August 14, 2017.

Rule 4: Panel Schedule
Panels are scheduled in time slots beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday and concluding at 12:00 noon on Sunday. Participants are expected to be available for any of the time slots. Please note that due to the large number of participants on the meeting program, scheduling requests are not accepted.

IV. Proposal Guidelines

Submission Procedure-Beginning this year, APSA accepts a wide range of proposal types. For more information about the new session formats and proposal options, view the “Proposal Options” page.

To use the online submission system, you need a valid e-mail address, a MyAPSA account and Internet connectivity. To submit your proposal, log into your MyAPSA account and click the Call for Papers link on the Annual Meeting website (coming soon!). If you do not have a MyAPSA account, please contact membership@apsanet.org.

Submission Rules

The following submission rules were established by the APSA Committee on the Annual Meeting:

  • Submit up to two sole-authored papers or two organized panel proposals. Additional proposals from the same author or organizer will not be accepted.
  • Submit each proposal to no more than two Divisions.
  • All paper proposals will be considered for poster presentation.
  • All submissions must be received electronically by January 16, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

Confirmation of Proposal Submission
All electronic proposal submissions will receive a unique ID number and email confirmation. Please save confirmation email and ID number for future reference. You can view, edit, or delete submissions until the call for papers deadline through your View Submissions section on your homepage when logged into All Academic.

Acceptance Notification
In March 2017, you will receive an acceptance or rejection e-mail from the division chair for each proposal you submitted. If accepted for a panel or poster presentation, the e-mail will indicate the division for which you are accepted. If your proposal is not immediately accepted for a panel or poster, you may be contacted at a later date to present if spaces become available on the program. You will receive additional detailed information regarding your panel or poster session from the division or panel chair.

If their paper or panel presentation is accepted, individuals will be required to formally indicate their willingness to participate in the annual meeting.