In television news, the term late-breaking refers to a piece of urgent information that requires immediate attention. It is often broadcast alongside other important news, with special lower thirds or alert crawls that convey a sense of urgency. Breaking news used to be reserved for a few specific, high-profile events that would justify such interruptions in the regular programming of major networks: for example, a terrorist attack, a sudden death, or severe weather like a tornado or hurricane. In the age of 24-hour news networks, however, such breaking news can occur at any time.
In the case of scientific abstracts and Theme K abstracts, late-breaking abstract submission is intended to provide an opportunity for presenting results that have become available since the general abstract deadline. Submissions will be screened for scientific merit and relevance. In some cases, a selected number of late-breaking abstracts will be accepted for oral presentation in a special Spotlight on Late Breaking Clinical Research session. Other accepted late-breaking abstracts will be presented as paper or virtual posters in the late-breaking abstracts area of the poster floor.
Presenters of late-breaking abstracts must be registered for the requisite SfN event and have a free My SfN account. In addition, presenting authors of late-breaking abstracts must ensure that their co-authors are also registered for the corresponding SfN event and have a My SfN account. In addition, the presenting author must be listed first on the abstract author block and must appear as such in all meeting materials (including the Itinerary Planner). SfN members may not serve as a presenting author on more than one late-breaking abstract.