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Scientific Contributions

EGPRN meetings are held twice yearly (spring and autumn) in different European countries, providing a forum to present and discuss research relevant to general practice/family medicine. Meetings are hosted by National Representatives, assisted by an organisational committee. They last from Thursday (pre-conference-workshops, executive and council meetings, welcome reception) to Sunday (committee meetings), with Friday and Saturday being the main conference days.

The main objectives of these meetings are:

  • To provide GPs and researchers in General Practice with a suitable environment to present and discuss their research (including studies at a developmental stage).
  • To give and receive critical but constructive feedback focussing on methodology, enabling presenters to further develop and improve their projects and to prepare publications. To discuss it with a group of researchers from all over Europe and with experience in research in the field of General Practice.
  • To facilitate networking and cooperation between senior and junior researchers from all European countries, and to create a platform for exchange and collaborative international research projects.

Submit a paper

EGPRN welcomes the presentation of completed research projects as well as research ideas or work in progress. Ample time is provided for the discussion of each presentation. There are four formats for presentation as detailed below. Authors are invited to indicate their choice of format when submitting their abstract, however the final decision is taken by the planning committee of each conference.

Theme papers

At each meeting, time is allocated to papers on a specific theme. The theme is suggested by the Research Strategy Committee, the EGPRN Council or by the country hosting the Meeting and approved by the EGPRN Council. Theme papers are preferably presented in plenary sessions and are allocated 30 minutes each, of which 15 minutes is for the presentation and 15 minutes for discussion.

These slots are limited for almost finished studies, finished or published studies.

Free standing papers

These are presentations not related to the theme. These papers should be about almost finished, almost finished or published studies with high relevance for general practice.  They may be presented in parallel sessions, and are allocated 30 minutes each, of which 15 minutes is for the presentation and 15 minutes for discussion.

One slide / five minutes presentations

One slide/five minute presentations are appropriate for researchers who want to suggest an idea for future research, raise a question concerning a research problem or want to invite others to participate in a planned study. Five minutes are allocated for each presentation, using a single slide (with no or very few animations). Five minutes is then allocated for discussion.

These slots are for study proposals.

Posters

EGPRN posters are displayed throughout the conference. One session is allocated for discussion of all the posters. Each poster is presented by a person appointed by the session's chair and discussed with the author and audience. Poster presenters are encouraged to attend the whole conference, but they must be present for the poster discussion session.

Submission Process

Approximately 5 months before each EGPRN conference, a call for abstracts is published on the EGPRN website and emailed to all EGPRN members. Abstracts must be structured (background, research question, method, results, conclusions, if applicable relevance/questions to EGPRN) and not exceed 300 words. Tables or references should not be included. Abstracts should be submitted online. Authors should indicate if they wish to receive feedback on reasons for rejection or presentations skills. Submitted abstracts are scored by 4 experienced researchers, usually two from the host country and two international ones. In the first instance, scorers are blinded to author's identities. A structured approach is used, with individual criteria being scored in each abstracts.

Validity is assessed through the following items:

  • Background with relevance for general practice
  • Is there a clear, focused research question?
  • Are the methods appropriate to answer the research question? (included population, type of design and methods, analysis methods)
  • Are the results consistent with the research question and methodology? (for freestanding papers and theme papers communication on the main results)
  • Is the conclusion based on results?
  • Discussion points on the methodology or used methods

Relevance is described through these items:

  • Is the study original and provides new knowledge?
  • Does it address a clinical topic relevant for primary care?
  • Are the results applicable in general practice or GP education?

Additional points can be given for special merits or difficulties, i.e. particularly interesting methodology or a project conducted in difficult circumstances. Scoring accounts for abstracts presenting project ideas or work in progress where no results or conclusions are available yet.

Acceptance or rejection of abstracts is then decided based on overall sum scores of all 3 reviewers, depending on the space available in the program.

Feedback on rejected abstracts

EGPRN offers the possibility to receive feedback on reasons why an abstract was rejected, in order to help the authors to improve their work. Recently, a structured checklist was developed to facilitate this feedback, which is increasingly demanded.

Feedback on presentation skills

EGPRN provides guidelines on how to prepare and present an oral presentation or a poster. Presenters have the possibility to receive structured, individual feedback on their presentation skills (see Education for Research through EGPRN above)

Mentoring

In addition to feedback on presentations at workshops, EGPRN offers the opportunity of mentoring relationships. A presenter who is interested is appointed a mentor willing to accompany a project or publication to help the researcher/author to achieve his/her aims. Mentors offer advice and constructive feedback, thus helping to improve a paper or project, or help establishing (international) contacts. EGPRN has a database of experienced researchers who are willing to be mentors.

Pre-conference workshops

At EGPRN meetings, highly interactive one-on-one and small group sessions are organized for half a day, targeted to local primary researchers and EGPRN members. The focus is on research skills (e.g. designing a proposal, searching the literature, writing a paper, presenting orally, writing an abstract, organizing a focus group, organizing fieldwork etc.). Topics are chosen in agreement with the needs of the host country. The teachers are researchers with expertise in the subjects addressed as well as educational experience, with a combination of local and internationally acknowledged researchers.

Collaborative or special interest group meetings

During the meeting there is an opportunity for project groups to meet, and for individual researchers to exchange information and communicate with potential research collaborators. If you wish to have a special interest group meeting please contact the EPGRN office well in advance of the conference.