Bridging the Gap: Index Volume [International Conference on AIDS (12th: 1998: Geneva, Switzerland)]

SCORING AND SELECTION OF ABSTRACTS
More than 7,000 abstracts were received by the deadline. The Geneva Secretariat developed procedures to
ensure fair, objective and regionally balanced selection.
A reviewer file was established by writing to experts who had reviewed abstracts for the previous conference.
To this list were added first and last authors of articles published in the journal AIDS during 1997 and 1998,
and names based on recommendations of members of the scientific and community programme committees.
Potential reviewers were contacted in October 1997 and asked to indicate their subjects of expertise. The
final file comprised 930 names.
Abstracts were classified according to subject. Each abstract was sent to five reviewers with expertise in the
relevant area. Authors' names and affiliations were removed. Reviewers scored each abstract as to design and
methods, presentation and interpretation, and importance to the Conference. The scores were read by
machine, and collated and averaged by computer. Double weight was accorded to grade three (importance).
The abstracts were classified according to their region of origin: Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern
Europe, and all other countries. The percentage originating from each region was determined. All selections
were done in such a way that abstracts from each region had an equal chance of acceptance. This means that
the cut-off grades were different in each region, i.e. higher in the "rest-of-the-world" countries than in
developing countries. From the total number of abstracts received, 5,000 were accepted as posters, and an
additional 1,000 were accepted for printing only in the Conference Record. Of the 800 selected as candidates
for oral presentation, roughly 400 were finally chosen during a three-day meeting in March. During May and
June, poster "no-shows" were replaced by print-only abstracts or rejected abstracts where the low grade was
considered controversial.
Continuing Medical Education Accreditation (AMA)
The American Medical Association (AMA) has approved the scientific programme of this Conference for
up to 26 hours of category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. On-site verification of
attendance is required. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in
the educational activity.

Disclaimer
In an effort to improve legibility and uniformity of the information presented at the 12th World AIDS Conference
and to facilitate conversion to electronic formats, all the abstracts included in this volume were re-typed. Every
effort was made to reproduce faithfully the abstracts as submitted. However, due to the volume of material re-typed
(over 6,000 abstracts) and to the lack of legibility of certain texts, some mistakes were probably unavoidable. No
responsibility is assumed by the organisers for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of
product liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or
ideas contained in the material herein. Because of potential inaccuracies on the part of authors or typists and because of the rapid advances in the medical sciences, we recommend independent verification of all data, diagnoses,
and drug dosages.