All correspondence will be with the person who submits the abstract online. The presenting author does not have to be the first named author listed in the abstract and will be identified through the submission process.

The online submission form will provide space (limited by characters/words) for data entry, the available character/word count is indicated below.

You will be asked to provide the following:

1. Title of abstract [maximum 20 words].
2. Completed abstract [maximum 500 words]. Abstracts will be included in the congress proceedings and must be structured using the headings below.
   1. Background: What is the context for the study or project? Why is it important? (Note: a project may be a research study, or the development of a new or adapted programme, method or theory).
   2. Purpose: What is the primary aim of the study or project? Are there any secondary aims
   3. Methods: What principles, methods/methodological approaches, and materials were used in the project?
   4. Results: What are the main findings from the analysis?
   5. Conclusion(s): What conclusions can be drawn from the study or project? What are the recommendations for future work?
   6. Implications: What are the implications of the project, and how can the findings be translated into physiotherapy practice, management, education, or policy?
3. Keywords: use up to three words to describe your work that are supplementary to the programme topic(s)
4. Funding acknowledgements: please acknowledge all funding sources that supported your work. If the work was unfunded, please state this [maximum 20 words]
5. Primary topic [mandatory] second and third topics [optional]
6. Ethics Approval-(see general information 11 for resource documents) Evidence of ethics approval (institution and committee that approved it and approval number) will be required where appropriate/relevant. If no ethics approval was required, please state why. Generally, ethics approval is not required for work that does not involve human participants or animals and
   • addresses new and unique developments in practice, theory, education, management, policy, and resources.
   • describes innovative ways in which established methods have been adapted to meet the changing needs of practice.
   • is a systematic review.
     In these cases, please state N/A for institution and ethics committee, and complete the reason ethics approval was not required, giving as much detail as possible [250 words].
7. Speaker details, including contact email, biography [200 words] and profile picture of the presenting author.
8. Co-author and submitting author details, including contact email.
9. Information concerning any presentations or publications of the work made prior to congress [50 words].
10. Preferred presentation format.

1. The congress language is English, and all proposals and presentations must be made in English. Live translation via AI tools may be available to make presentations as accessible as possible.
2. A written abstract in English must be submitted for each proposed presentation.
3. It is the author’s responsibility to submit a correct abstract. Any errors in spelling, grammar or scientific fact will be reproduced as typed by the author.
4. The topics selected will be used to inform the review, selection, and programming processes. Please choose the topics(s) from the submission topics list that best describe the subject of your abstract that will attract the right audience to interact with you.
5. A person can only present a maximum of two abstracts. They may be named as the presenting author on multiple submissions but will only be permitted to be confirmed as the presenting author on two accepted abstracts. Changes to the presenting author on accepted abstracts will be permitted. They may be named on other abstracts as a co-author. This excludes any submissions made and accepted as part of the call for focused symposia.
6. Only one presenting author per submission is permitted. Only an author may present the abstract. If no author is available onsite, the abstract will be withdrawn. Any changes to the presenting author must be notified directly to World Physiotherapy. Changes will be incorporated into the final programme if there is sufficient time, but thereafter no further changes will be reflected in the programme.
7. Notification of outcome will be sent to the submitter. Please note that only the person who submits the abstract will receive correspondence concerning the abstract and is responsible for informing all authors of the status of the abstract.
8. All presentations must describe original work to which all the authors listed have made a significant contribution. Any reference to personal experience should be clearly labelled as such.
9. All proposals and presentations must adhere to the use of “people-first” language. A person must not be referred to by disability or condition, and terms that could be considered biased or discriminatory in any way should be removed (eg “person with a stroke” instead of “stroke patients”). See: disabilityisnatural.com/people-first-language.html for more information and examples.
10. Any source of funding or support for the work being presented should be acknowledged.
11. All presentations including research on humans (patients, carers, students, faculty, staff, colleagues) or animals must provide evidence that the research was carried out ethically (ie ethics committee approval, informed consent by subjects). To check that your research complies with ethical principles, please view the Ethical Aspects of Research ^[1] document. See also the global international standards.^[2]
    The CPC expects the research to have been conducted in accordance with international ethical principles.
12. Each abstract submission must indicate if the material has been or will be published, in any format, or presented at another national or international meeting prior to the World Physiotherapy Congress 2027.
    Abstracts will only be considered if they are unlikely to have reached a wider international physiotherapy audience in their previous presentation or publication, and if the authors take responsibility for providing any copyright clearance needed for inclusion in the congress proceedings or other congress publications.
13. The author presenting the paper must register to attend the congress in-person and be available to participate in the programme at the time scheduled.
14. The scheduling of all presentations will be determined by the CPC to ensure best fit with the overall congress programme. Any requests for specific dates and times will not be considered. Similar abstracts in related topic areas will be grouped together for presentation.
15. PowerPoint presentation facilities will be available in all congress rooms.
16. The presenter agrees to upload a PDF of an ePoster if accepted for presentation so that it can be added to any on-demand content available post-congress.
17. There will be no display area provided for professional resource materials, including computer-based programs, materials, and audio-visual resource presentations. It is expected that any resources or materials will have been designed/developed by the author(s) and must not currently be for sale commercially by the author(s) or another vendor. If featured, they must be included in the standard PowerPoint presentation or ePoster format.
18. Platform presentations may be recorded. Any recordings of PowerPoint presentations, or copies of ePosters made available online will be in PDF format; original PowerPoint files will not be published. Consent will be sought through the submission system.
19. Presentations/presenters are not permitted to market new products, equipment, or organisations, or use the presentation time to challenge or criticise competitors’ products.
20. Presenting authors only will receive a certificate of presentation.
21. All presentations during the congress must include the same content and follow the same outline as described in the submitted and accepted abstract. Exceptions will only be allowed with written permission of the chair of the CPC.
22. In keeping with World Physiotherapy policy, no honorarium, fee, or payment of expenses will be paid to speakers.
23. All decisions of the CPC are final.

^[1] With thanks to Julius Sim, University of Keele, UK, for permission to use this document.

^[2] Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association (2013) and the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences’ (CIOMS) International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects published in collaboration with the World Health Organization (2106). Page 90 of this document is a good guide for research that is exempted from approval. CIOMS and International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (2012) International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals.

In submitting an abstract you must confirm that:

• you accept responsibility for the accuracy of the submitted abstract and understand that the content cannot be modified or corrected after the submission deadline and that it will be published exactly as submitted
• all co-authors are aware of and agree to the content of the abstract and support the data presented
• all speakers have agreed to participate at congress, should the proposal be accepted for presentation, and take responsibility for their own travel, accommodation, and registration costs 
• you accept responsibility as the contact person for all correspondence about the abstract and to share information with all authors about its status
• you consent to the session being recorded and made available by World Physiotherapy
• you have secured any copyright/permissions clearance required relating to any previous presentations, equipment, or other material for inclusion in the World Physiotherapy congress, its proceedings or other congress publications
• for all studies (including service evaluations and audits) involving human participants or animal subjects, permission has been obtained from the relevant ethics committee, where applicable, and properly informed consent given, where appropriate, both for the work completed and the intent to present
• anyone who is identifiable in the abstract and presentation has given their consent to be included
• the work is original, except for extracts from copyrighted works used with permission from the copyright holders, and it does not infringe upon any copyright, proprietary, or personal right of any third party
• you have identified any potential conflicts of interest eg financial interest in products or processes described in the abstract, stock ownership, membership on an advisory board or board of directors, or other substantive relationships

On behalf of any and all co-authors, the submitter will confirm the:

• consent to have authors’ names, affiliations and biographical materials used in connection with the publication of your work.
• content belongs to the author(s). However, if the abstract is accepted the submitter agrees, on behalf of all co-authors, to transfer and assign to World Physiotherapy free of charge, on a non-exclusive basis, the rights to edit, publish, reproduce, reformat, distribute in whole or in part the abstract and prepare all type of derivative works. These works may include press releases, recordings, and/or educational products, using all communication tools and means, now known or hereinafter developed, including any and all analogue and digital means and any and all supports or forms of media, now known or hereinafter developed. This includes use in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media.
• author(s) retain the right, after presentation, to subsequently include the work in articles, books, or derivative works that they author or edit, provided said use does not imply the endorsement of World Physiotherapy.
• the author(s) will retain copyright of their abstract. However, the author shall only reuse, reproduce or post the abstract with acknowledgment to the initial and first publication or presentation at a World Physiotherapy Congress 2027 event, and therefore reference the name of the World Physiotherapy event and the date.

World Physiotherapy and the congress programme committee support the transparent and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in research. We expect abstract submitters to follow established guidelines on the use of AI such as the European Commission’s Living guidelines on the responsible use of generative AI in research. The key principles behind the European Commission’s guidelines are:

Reliability in ensuring the quality of research, reflected in the design, methodology, analysis, and use of resources. This includes aspects related to verifying and reproducing the information produced by the AI for research. It also involves being aware of equity and non-discrimination issues in relation to bias and inaccuracies.

Honesty in developing, carrying out, reviewing, reporting and communicating on research transparently, fairly, thoroughly and impartially. This principle includes disclosing that generative AI has been used.

• Submitters should be transparent and detail which generative AI tools have been used substantially in their research processes.
• Submitters should aim for reproducibility and robustness in their results and conclusions. They should disclose or discuss the limitations of generative AI tools used, including possible biases in the generated content, as well as possible mitigation measures.

Respect for colleagues, research participants, research subjects, society, ecosystems, cultural heritage and the environment. Responsible use of generative AI should consider the limitations of the technology, its environmental impact and its societal effects like bias, diversity, non-discrimination, fairness and prevention of harm. This includes the proper management of information, respect for privacy, confidentiality and intellectual property rights, and proper citation.

• Submitters should pay particular attention to issues related to privacy, confidentiality and intellectual property rights when sharing sensitive or protected information with AI tools.

Accountability for the research from idea to publication, for its management and organisation, for training, supervision and mentoring, and for its wider societal impacts. This includes responsibility for all output a researcher produces, underpinned by the notion of human agency and oversight. 

• Submitters are accountable for the integrity of the content generated by or with the support of AI tools.
• Submitters should maintain a critical approach to using the output produced by generative AI and are aware of the tools’ limitations, such as bias, hallucinations and inaccuracies.
• AI systems are neither authors nor co-authors. Authorship implies agency and responsibility, so it lies with human researchers.

It is critical that submitters always perform a final manual check of the abstract to correct any AI-generated inaccuracies. When completing the online submission process the submitter will be asked to confirm that the presenting author has read and understood the general information and the requirements they are expected to fulfil.

Please consult the abstract FAQs and abstract support page before contacting the congress team.

If you have any further questions or require additional support with your submission, please contact abstracts@world.physio.

If you have any general questions related to congress, please contact congress@world.physio.