ORCA CONGRESS ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please read the submission guidelines carefully before submitting your abstract. You will find the submission system at the bottom of this page.

If you are a member of ORCA, please log in using your ORCA membership username and password. There is no need for a separate login as the abstract submission system is now integrated into the ORCA website.

If you are not yet a member of ORCA, please consider joining to enjoy the benefits a membership provides, incl. considerably reduced registration rates for our annual Congress. If you prefer not to join ORCA at this time, please create an account first (scroll down) to submit your abstract.

General Information

Abstract submission is now open. The deadline for submitting an abstract for the 73rd ORCA Congress in Zagreb, Croatia is 16 January 2026. If your visa application or funding arrangements require evidence of your abstract being accepted, please ensure that you submit your abstract as early as possible in order that the Scientific Program Committee can try to support you by reviewing  your submission speedily.  The submitting author will be notified of acceptance, the need for revisions, or rejection of their abstract. For abstracts submitted close to the deadline of 16 January 2026, expect to receive final acceptance, need for revisions or rejection by 06 March 2026. Any revisions must be submitted by 13 March 2026, when the scientific program will be finalized.

NEW this year: You can tell us your preference on presenting your research. Based on feedback from previous congresses, we are trialing a presentation format whereby some participants will disseminate their research by poster-only, without the usual brief oral presentation. Participants will be expected only to stand by their poster during specified periods in order to discuss their work with other researchers. Therefore, in the submission system, you can choose your preference for the usual poster discussion abstract or a poster-only abstract. Please note that the Scientific Program Committee will do their best to honor the choice of authors, but a different format may be provided. Authors of abstracts considered of high interest by the Scientific Program Committee may be invited to present an extended oral presentation of their abstract instead of a poster presentation. A limited number of these will be trialed, and details about this will be confirmed with authors when scheduling has been informed by numbers of abstract submissions.

If you are a junior investigator presenting outstanding research, you can apply for the ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award during the abstract submission process by selecting this award under Topic. Any abstract to compete in this Award must be submitted as poster discussion, or they will not be considered for the Award.

If you wish to apply for an ORCA Conference Travel Fellowship, please complete the separate application. Travel Fellowships will only be given to abstracts submitted as poster discussion. Note that your abstract will need to be accepted in order to compete for the ORCA Conference Travel Fellowship.

You can apply for both the ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award and an ORCA Conference Travel Fellowship.

Presenters should note the following:

• The Congress focuses on research into dental caries, erosive tooth wear, and related topics. If your work is not related to dental caries or erosion, it will not be accepted for the ORCA Congress.
• Abstracts must describe research that has not been published or presented already and has not been submitted to another meeting at the time of submission for the ORCA Congress.
• Authors may present only one paper at the Congress, but may co-author other papers.
• The presentation at the Congress must conform to the material in the published abstract.
• Those who submit an abstract are committed to present the paper in person at the Congress. All poster-only and poster discussion presentations apart from extended oral presentations are conducted as poster sessions and include the presence at the poster at a set time. Poster discussion presenters will also give a short oral presentation using two slides followed by a brief discussion with the audience.
• Posters and slides for the oral presentation must be uploaded in the submission system by Monday 09 June 2026. More information about the submission will be provided to authors of accepted abstracts sooner to this date.
• Details on how to prepare the poster will be available on the congress webpage. For the Poster discussion slides, note that the two slides maximum should have no animations.

Presenters should:

• Ensure that they will have the necessary funds to attend the Congress
• Apply for any necessary visas in good time to ensure travel to the Congress for presentation of the work. If you need an invitation letter from the Congress organizers to support your visa application, please contact the Congress Organizing Committee as early as possible to organize this.
• Ensure that any abstract describing commercially-funded research has been approved by the funding company before submitting it
• Write their abstract exactly according to the instructions given below

Instructions

Please study the Master Abstract and prepare your abstract accordingly. Please note that you will not be able to make changes to your abstract once submitted unless instructed to do so after your abstract has been reviewed.

Presenters will be asked for the following items:

• The full name, affiliation (institute, city, country only), and email address of each author. Use the ‘plus’ button to add additional authors. Important: List ALL authors in this field, including the presenting author.
• The full name and email address of the presenting author. Note that the presenting author will be listed twice – in the name of all authors, and as the presenter.
• Title of abstract. This should be 15 words or less.
• Text of abstract. This should be 280 words or less and should state: the aim of the work; the experimental approach; the main results; the conclusions (please do not name these sections within the text; check the Master Abstract). The results must include key numerical and statistical data, but do not attempt to report data exhaustively; SI units should be used. The conclusions should be explicit. Vague expressions such as ‘the results will be discussed’ could result in rejection of the abstract. Include references only when they are essential and follow an abbreviated Caries Research format, but omitting the authors’ initials and the title, and using ‘et al.’ for multiple-author works. Example: [Main et al.: J Oral Rehab 1983;10:307-313]. Tables, photographs, graphs or diagrams are not allowed. Acknowledge sources of funding in the designated field outside the abstract text.
• Select one of the following topics from the drop down menu to assist programming: ORCA Nathan Cochrane Junior Scientist Award; Artificial Intelligence; Behaviour; Clinical Studies; De- and Remineralization; Diagnosis; Education; Epidemiology; Erosion; Fluoride; Microbiology; Public Health; Pulp-Dentinal Reactions.