AOCOO-HNS’s Research Paper Competition is held during the Annual Clinical Assembly. Residents and students entering this competition will have their papers evaluated by a nationwide panel of physician-researchers who will select up to three papers per specialty which will be recognized for this award.
AOCOO-HNS reserves the right to withhold these annual awards if the panel of judges deems the quality of the papers insufficient or lacking in substance significant enough to grant the award.
Requirements
1. Research entries are limited to one paper per author. Papers with multiple resident or fellow authors may be submitted; however, only one author will be identified as the presenting author.
2. Applications must be received by March 15, 2025
3. Winning authors will be notified by April 5, 2025
4. Winning authors will be required to submit a PowerPoint presentation of their winning paper no later than April 20, 2025. No changes will be accepted after that time. Winning authors will be expected to present their winning paper at ACA 2025.
Paper Submission Format
Papers submitted for review will contain the following elements:
1. Title Page: This will contain all information in the title to retrieve the article electronically, including author names and affiliations, disclaimers, and sources of financial or other support, if any, that facilitated the research.
2. Abstract: This will provide the context for the study, its purpose, procedures utilized, main findings, and conclusions. It should highlight new and important outcomes of the study or observation. All abstracts must reflect the accuracy of the research reported and be of no more than 500 words in length.
Research Study Abstract Format
Title - The title should reflect and concisely describe your research project. Authors - Include the author's name, degree, and institutional affiliation.
Introduction/Background - Why is the topic you have selected a problem that needs to be addressed? What is missing from the field of study that your study is going to address? Provide a one-sentence summary of the rationale for the study question.
Objective(s) - What does this study intend to resolve? Provide a one-sentence description (eg, "To determine...," "To establish...") of the study's primary objective. Authors may choose to include key secondary objectives.
Methods - A short paragraph discussing the design, setting, patients, and interventions (Refer to the descriptions below). This section describes how the study was carried out.
Design - A statement of the study's basic design (eg, randomized controlled trial, double-blind, cohort, survey, cost-effectiveness analysis). Note: Make sure you include in the design statement a notation that the research study was approved by the IRB (institutional review board)
Setting - A one-sentence description of the clinical circumstances of the setting (eg, general community, primary care center, hospitalized care).
Patients (or other participants) - A brief description of the key eligibility criteria of the study's participants. The total number of the participants must be included and how many participants were included in each group of the study (ie study group(s), control group).
Interventions—A brief description of any interventions administered. (e.g. OMM, medications, etc.)
Main Outcome Measure(s) - A brief description of the study’s outcome measurements. (e.g. blood pressure, symptom scores, patient satisfaction scales)
Results - A brief summary of the main results along with declarations and explanations of any important findings. Authors should include the study’s relevant statistical information (e.g. confidence intervals, levels of statistical significance).
Conclusion - How does this study add to the body of knowledge on the topic? Provide a brief summary of the study's conclusions directly supported by the reported evidence. Authors may include clinical applications and any recommendations for additional study.
3. Introduction: This will provide the background for the study, stating its objective or hypothesis.
4. Methods Section: This section will describe the selection of the participants, including eligibility and exclusion criteria and should explain how and why the researcher chose the method. The methods, apparatus, and procedures should be described in sufficient detail to provide other researchers wishing to reproduce the results the ability to do so. Statistical methods should be described clearly to provide the reader with access to the data to verify the results of the study. All computer software and programs should be identified in this section.
5. Results: This section should clearly explain the results in a logical sequence utilizing text, tables and illustrations to illustrate the most important findings first. All data presented in the tables and figures should be repeated in the text of the paper. Main observations should be summarized in this section.
6. Discussion: This section focuses on the new and important aspects of the study and its conclusion. It should link conclusions to the research goals, but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not supported by the study data.
7. References: This section should include references to original research sources that are directly linked to this research, if possible. A small number of references to key work are usually sufficient.
8. Tables: Tables supporting the research data should be included and numbered sequentially as they appear in the text. Each table should have a brief title and explanatory information placed in footnotes, not in the heading.
9. Illustrations or Figures: Illustrations and/or Figures should be professionally presented as should photographs or laboratory data. Each should be numbered sequentially as they appear in the text and have a brief explanation under the figure or illustration.
Awards
Judges will evaluate Research Papers, identifying the top three papers per specialty submitted in the academic year. However, it should be noted that AOCOO-HNS reserves the right to withhold or combine any award should it deem that sufficient suitable research has not been submitted that warrant the presentation of this prize. If awarded, the top three monetary awards will amount to a total of $8000. Typically, the first place receives $2000, the second place receives $1500, and the third place receives $500 (per specialty).
Entry: Only event registrants may enter competitions. Please access your registration or register to enter.