The Education Committee of the Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS) invites the submission of abstracts for the presentation of Free Papers and Posters to be held January 7-10 at the Paris Las Vegas. The committee considers the free paper & poster session as one of the backbones of the meeting. This is where eye care practitioners, educators and researchers meet and share their knowledge. GSLS has several spin-off sessions from this. In addition to the free paper session (research oriented), a select number of posters shall be chosen to be presented in a ‘Rapid Fire’ session at the conference, where authors can present their work (clinical or research) from the podium as a summary and to urge participants to visit their poster and the poster session in general. In a special CE-breakout this year, a selection of resident’s submissions (US based schools) shall be given the opportunity to present their work too in a rapid-fire format.
GSLS seeks topics including new and innovative concepts, clinical cases and research on all aspects of contact lenses (such as materials, designs, lens care, etc.) in addition to related topics such as corneal and ocular surface disease, diagnosis and treatment approaches, and practice management. Contributions can be submitted as either a free paper (short presentation), as poster – or as both.
Abstract submissions for the 2026 Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS) will be accepted only through the official GSLS website, http://www.gslsymposium.com/, until September 15, 2025, at 5:00 m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Requests for extensions or exceptions will be denied. The abstract (and poster or paper presentation) must be entirely new and not have been previously presented in any form at a meeting or published otherwise. Supplementing data from a prior presentation is not permitted. After presenting the abstract (poster or paper), the authors are free to submit their work for full publication to any journal. Please allow for enough time at the time of submission as close to the deadline the portal can potentially get busy.
There are two categories of abstract submission types: clinical case reports and research.
For clinical case reports/series abstracts, please use the following standard headings to structure the abstract: AUTHORS, AFFILIATIONS, TITLE, BACKGROUND, CASE DESCRIPTION, CONCLUSIONS. These case reports require at least 30 days of follow-up care be demonstrated beyond the initial clinical interaction. If it is not evident that 30 days of follow-up care have been provided or that the abstract is not structured properly, the abstract will be rejected. A case report is inclusive of 1 case presentation; a case series includes up to 5 case presentations (without IRB approval); case series with greater than cases presented must have IRB approval.
For research abstracts, please use the following set of standard headings to structure the abstract: AUTHORS, AFFILIATIONS, TITLE, PURPOSE, METHODS, RESULTS, and CONCLUSIONS. If the abstract is not structured as such, it will be rejected.
The abstract, excluding author names and affiliations (i.e., institutions, contact information), is limited to a total of 2,500 characters (including spaces, punctuation, etc). Submissions that exceed this limit will not be accepted by the website, but the submitter will immediately be given the opportunity to modify the submission so that it fits within this size limit. Images and figures within abstracts are not allowed.
The first author will receive immediate confirmation that his or her abstract was received via an e-mail confirmation sent the email address listed for the communicating author.
For research submissions, the first author is asked to indicate his or her preference for a Free Paper or Poster presentation (note that there are a VERY LIMITED number of Free Papers). In addition, please indicate in the respective field on the submission form whether you would be willing to consider future publication in Contact Lens Spectrum. The submitting author is also required to assure that the abstract complies with each of the following standards, insofar as they are applicable:
Any and all research involving human subjects and case series containing more than 5 presented cases must be conducted in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Declaration of Helsinki and in adherence of applicable national and local IRB human subject’s requirements, including an indication of human subject informed consent (unless waived by an IRB), as published by The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.1
Submissions that are clinical trials must indicate that they comply with and have registered on clinicaltrials.gov or regional equivalent.2
Research involving animal subjects must be conducted in accordance with international standards for animal treatment and care, as published by the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. 3
All co-author(s) must read the final, submitted version of the abstract and explicitly consent to include their name(s) in the list of authors. The submitting author is responsible for assuring that all co-authors have had the opportunity review and approve the materials, and for assuring that the work is original and not the work of others.
Potential and current conflicts of interest must be disclosed as instructed on the abstract submission form per that of GSLS.
All abstracts and posters/presentations must be conducted per current ARBO COPE CE guidelines including the absence of advertising or promoting products, services, instruments or devices. They can be detailed as part of something being used in the research or clinical case but not feature the commercial product or logos beyond this. Do not include or suggest commercial product names in abstract titles as the abstract will be rejected.
Submitting authors can submit a maximum of two abstracts for consideration as first author.
Poster presenters are responsible for developing, printing, shipping/transporting, and hanging their poster and will be supplied an appropriately sized board for poster hanging. Please note that there are (OR MAY BE) two poster sessions, and posters will be randomly assigned to one session or the other. First authors must be present at their poster at the assigned time for discussion and Q&A.
1 https://www.arvo.org/About/policies/helsinki-declaration/
First authors must be registered for the Global Specialty Lens Symposium and are expected to present their accepted work; exceptions will not be made for substitute presenters.
The first author will be notified of the Committee’s decision within 30 days of the submission window’s closure.
Web Submissions only: http://www.gslsymposium.com/
Submission Deadline is September 15, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). No exceptions can be made unfortunately in any shape or form (be mindful of time differences)
Do not use any commercial or product names in the title. No logos at any time (on poster) are permitted of any company or product.
Note ANY affiliation with industry partners.
Use BACKGROUND, CASE DESCRIPTION, CONCLUSIONS or PURPOSE, METHODS, RESULTS, and CONCLUSIONS format for clinical / research applications respectively.
First authors must be present at their poster at the assigned time for discussion and Q&A.
The poster board dimensions are 4 ft (high) x 8 ft (wide) (1.22m x 2.43m) – This allows Landscape Posters only.
When printing, posters should be sized to fit within the size of the poster board and not be larger than the advertised dimensions of 4 ft (h) x 8 ft (w) (1.22m x 2.43m). The minimum size the poster should be is 2.25 ft (h) x 4 ft (w) (.69 m x 1.21 m). The printer poster should be in 16:9 ratio.
Posters uploaded to the GSLS site should be in 16:9 format and 1280 px x 720 px PNG.
Free Paper and Rapid-Fire Poster sessions – Slides should be in 16:9 format