Edited by Sheng Luo, Biometrics Section Publications Officer

Abstract submissions for JSM contributed and topic-contributed papers will be accepted online until February 1.

Topic-contributed sessions are a nice alternative to contributed sessions because they are organized around a central topic, the talks are longer (20 minutes, rather than 15), and one can have discussants.

Sessions typically consist of five participants (i.e., four speakers and one discussant or three speakers and two discussants). Those interested in organizing a topic-contributed session should notify the 2016 JSM Biometrics Section chair, Dipankar Bandyopadhyay (bandyop@vcuhealth.org), and submit a proposal by January 15.

Also consider proposing a topic-contributed panel session. Panel sessions have 3–6 panelists and the session submission format involves one abstract for all speakers. Note that if each speaker wishes to provide an abstract, speak on a specific topic, and submit an individual paper for JSM Proceedings, their session should be a paper session.