Track A will explore technological advances and novel insights into HIV persistence, including recent findings for interventions to silence or activate and eliminate HIV. Key topics include gene editing tools, genetically engineered immune cells, and insights from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The track will further highlight biomarker research and concepts for engaging innate and adaptive immunity for HIV control. Additionally, novel avenues for prophylactic and therapeutic HIV vaccines will be highlighted, alongside studies on bNAb combinations, bispecific antibodies, cell-based therapies and gene-modified NK cells.

Current one-pill, once-daily regimens and the first all-injectable ART regimens demonstrate continued progress. As people with HIV live longer on ART, co-morbidities remain challenges; these include ageing, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurocognitive disorders, renal and liver impairment, weight gain, frailty and mental health. In addition, co-infections, such as tuberculosis, cryptococcal disease, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases (including mpox), can cause significant morbidity. Recognizing the clear advances with ART, HIV cure represents an aspirational therapeutic goal, albeit with important ongoing challenges. Additional innovations in ART regimens include long-acting therapies (both oral and injectable), novel ways of administration (implants, patches), and drugs with new mechanisms of action (HIV reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitors, HIV maturation inhibitors, and the development of immunotherapy, such as broadly neutralizing antibodies, or bNAbs). Specific populations face ongoing challenges with ART, including trans individuals, children, pregnant people and people who use drugs. In addition to featuring the latest research findings and controversies regarding ART, Track B will address optimal care and service delivery models and the latest on management of important co-morbidities and co-infections, including ageing and major non-communicable diseases. Finally, Track B will highlight findings and progress from completed and ongoing HIV cure research trials, providing insight on promises, as well as challenges, related to current cure strategies, such as analytical treatment interruption.

Track C will discuss newly identified and promising products in development and scale up, such as injectable and implantable long-acting PrEP, combination prevention, use of doxycycline to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), different types and combinations of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, and innovative HIV testing modalities. A major area of focus will be the scale up and future directions of long-acting injectable PrEP, particularly the scale up of two-monthly intramuscular technologies and challenges preventing its rapid rollout globally, as well as new, cutting-edge science on six-monthly subcutaneous long-acting injectable PrEP from Phase III clinical trials.

Social and behavioural science research continues to guide our understanding of salient, influential factors in the complex dynamics of HIV prevention and care. Mixed methods and adaptive designs offer new insights to identify the tools and resources to most effectively and efficiently design multicomponent intervention packages, differentiated service delivery, expanded care options to provide and support choice, integration of mental health screening and services, and support for economic stability, food security and safety. The guiding theme of Track D will be pushing the boundaries, showcasing research focused on tailoring services through differentiated delivery, choice or other community-centred, local and sustainable approaches. Further areas of focus will include a deep dive into stigma and intersectionality (interventions, critiques of models and innovative thinking in this domain) and the development and implementation of complex multicomponent interventions and strategies to provide whole-person, community-at-the-centre care with special emphasis on groups that are disproportionately impacted by HIV.

Track E examines the barriers to achieving the 2025 targets and ways to improve our chances of achieving the 2030 targets through both context-specific and standardized approaches of implementation research, econometric study and health systems research to enhance interpretation, transferability and assessment of sustainability. Studies evaluating the barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of existing interventions will be complemented by studies of new strategies for delivery across a range of contexts and a diversity of target groups, from health systems to policy makers to providers to communities to clients. Particular attention will be on studies describing strategies for operationalizing evidence-based interventions and evaluating their sustainability, identifying best-practice methodologies, assessing different stages of implementation, determining key drivers (capacities) needed for change, deploying relevant implementation teams at different levels of the health system, and using measurable quality improvement cycles and policy-practice communication approaches.

Copyright policy

Abstracts must not include libellous or defamatory content. Material presented in abstracts must not violate any copyright laws. If figures, graphics and/or images have been taken from sources not copyrighted by the author, it is the author’s sole responsibility to secure the rights from the copyright holder in writing to reproduce those figures, graphics and/or images for both worldwide print and web publication. The author must bear all reproduction costs charged by the copyright holder.

Language

As the official IAS 2025 language is English, all abstracts must be in English. If English is not your native language, please arrange for a native English speaker to review your abstract before submission. Please use the UNAIDS terminology guidelines and People First terminology when drafting and submitting your abstract. Please ensure that you DO NOT use stigmatizing language. DO use: people or person living with HIV; person or people with TB; people or person living with HIV and TB; healthcare seekers or clients. DO NOT label people as: HIV-infected; infected; co-infected; cases; carriers; victims; patients.

Resubmission policy

An abstract that has been previously published or presented at a national, regional or international meeting can be submitted to IAS 2025 only if there are new methods, findings, updated information or other valid reasons for resubmitting.

If preliminary or partial data have been published or presented previously, the submitting author will be required to provide details of the publication or presentation, along with a justification of why the abstract merits being considered for IAS 2025. The IAS 2025 Organizing Committee will consider this information when making final decisions.

If the author neglects to provide these required details and justification or if evidence of previous publication or presentation is found, the abstract will be rejected.

Plagiarism

The conference organizers regard plagiarism as serious professional misconduct. All abstracts are screened for plagiarism and, when identified, the abstract and any other abstracts submitted by the same author are rejected. In addition, the submitting author’s account and scholarship application (if one has been submitted) will be cancelled.

Ethical research declaration

The conference supports only research that has been conducted according to the protocol approved by the institutional or local committee on ethics in human investigation. Where no such committee exists, the research should have been conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association. If you answer “no” or “not applicable”, you will be required to provide a written explanation for your answer. The IAS 2025 Organizing Committee may inquire further into ethical aspects when evaluating abstracts.

Artificial Intelligence

The use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools to develop any portion of an abstract must be disclosed and described in detail in the Methods section. The author is fully responsible for the accuracy of any information provided in the abstract, including the portions developed by the generative Artificial Intelligence tools. The use of tools to improve language quality is not to be considered generative Artificial Intelligence and does not need to be disclosed. The decision about whether the use of generative Artificial Intelligence tools is acceptable in a submitted abstract lies with the IAS 2025 Organizing Committee. 

As is the case with most scientific and medical conferences, abstracts from IAS 2025 are released to delegates and media under a strict embargo policy. You can find the conference embargo policy here. All conference delegates, presenters and media agree to respect this policy.

Conference account

Authors must create a conference account to submit an abstract. More than one abstract can be submitted through a conference account. After an abstract has been created, modifications can be made until 22 January 2025, 23:59 Central European Time.

Choosing a track category

The track category is the general heading under which the abstract will be reviewed and later published in the conference materials if accepted. During the submission process, you will be asked to select one track category for your abstract. Choose the track category that best describes the subject of the abstract.

Abstract structure

The conference offers two options for abstract submission:

Option 1

This is suitable for research conducted in all disciplines. Abstracts submitted under Option 1 should contain concise statements of:

• Background: Indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the hypothesis that was tested, or a description of the problem being analysed or evaluated.
• Methods: Describe the study period, setting and location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used.
• Results: Present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings and/or outcomes of the study. Please disaggregate data by age and gender where possible and summarize any specific results.
• Conclusions: Explain the significance of your study’s findings and/or outcomes for HIV prevention, treatment, care and/or support and future implications of the results.

The following review criteria will be used in scoring abstracts submitted under Option 1:

1. Impact: Does the study contribute meaningfully to the field as an original study or a useful confirmatory study?  

2. Science: Is the study/research design of high quality and sufficiently explained, including clearly stated questions, data sources, data collection procedures and appropriate analytic/methodological approach and with clear and consistent results? 

Option 2

This is suitable for lessons learnt through programme, project or policy implementation or management. Abstracts submitted under Option 2 should contain concise statements of:

• Background: Summarize the purpose, scope and objectives of the programme, project or policy.
• Description: Describe the programme, project or policy period, setting and location, structure, key population (if applicable) and activities and interventions undertaken in support of the programme, project or policy.
• Lessons learnt: Present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings and/or outcomes of the programme, project or policy. Include an analysis or evaluation of lessons learnt and best practices. Please summarize any specific results that support your lessons learnt and best practices.
• Conclusions/next steps: Explain the significance of the findings and/or outcomes of the programme, project or policy for HIV prevention, treatment, care and/or support and future implications of the results.

The following review criteria will apply to abstracts submitted under Option 2:

1. Impact: Does the study contribute meaningfully to the field as an original study or a useful confirmatory study? 

2. Science: Is the programme, project or policy implementation of high quality and sufficiently explained, including justified objective, detailed findings/outcomes, data sources and feasibility and with clear and consistent results?  

Disaggregation by sex and other demographic data in abstracts 

Authors are encouraged to provide a breakdown of data by gender identity and/or assigned sex at birth and other demographics, such as age, geographic region, racial/ethnic identity and/or other relevant demographic characteristics in submitted abstracts when appropriate. Your abstract should include the number and percentage of men and women who participated in your research or project (and additional breakdown by gender, age and/or ethnicity if appropriate). Results should be disaggregated by sex/gender and other relevant demographics. Analyses of any gender-based differences or any other differences between sub-populations should be provided in the Results or Lessons learnt sections if relevant.

Meaningful engagement of people living with HIV in research 

The IAS actively encourages the submission of research that meaningfully engages and involves people living with HIV, fostering collaboration through co-authorship and presenting author roles, in alignment with the principles outlined in the UNAIDS Global Advocacy Policy Brief on the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV (GIPA).

Font

Use a standard font, such as Arial, when formatting the text. This helps prevent special characters from getting lost when copying the text to the online abstract submission form. Ensure that you check the final abstract with the system’s preview function before submission, and edit or replace if necessary.

Word limits

The abstract is limited to 350 words. Titles are limited to 30 words.

A maximum of two tables and/or graphs or images can be included. A graph or image (in JPG, GIF or PNG, ideally 600dpi) counts as 50 words and a table counts as five words per row (50 words maximum).

Common reasons for abstract rejection:

• Abstract poorly written
• Not enough new information
• Clear objective and/or hypothesis missing
• Methods (either quantitative or qualitative) inadequate and/or insufficient to support conclusions
• Summary of essential results inadequate and/or missing
• Study conclusions not supported by the data
• Linkage between different parts of the abstract not comprehensible
• Duplicate or overlap with another abstract
• Study too preliminary or insufficient to draw conclusions
• Study originality lacking

Recommendations:

• Abstracts should disclose primary findings and avoid, whenever possible, promissory statements, such as “experiments are in progress” or “results/lessons learnt will be discussed”.
• If English is not your native language, arrange for a native English speaker to review your abstract before submission.

Submission confirmation

After submission of the abstract, a confirmation email will be sent to the abstract submitter. To receive confirmation, please ensure that your email provider does not mark emails from ias2025@abstractserver.com as spam. 

The IAS established the Abstract Mentor Programme (AMP) at AIDS 2004, the 15th International AIDS Conference. For two decades, the AMP has lifted the chances of abstracts of mentees, particularly from resource-limited settings, being accepted for presentation. Building on this, the IAS remains determined to assist less-experienced and early-career researchers in improving their abstract submissions through innovative mentorship and learning initiatives. We invite you to join the IAS Mentorship Programme, register for the upcoming JIAS workshop on abstract writing, and visit the IAS+ learning platform.

Scholarships

Abstract presenters interested in applying for a scholarship must submit their application by 22 January 2025. Please visit the Scholarship page for more information.

Abstract review

All submitted abstracts will go through a blind peer-review process carried out by international reviewers. At least three reviewers will review each abstract.

Abstract selection

A small number of abstracts will be selected for oral presentation. The majority of abstracts selected for the conference will be displayed as paper posters on site.

Notification of acceptance or rejection to the corresponding author

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to the submitting (corresponding) author by mid-April. Please note that only the corresponding author will receive an email concerning the abstract; this author is responsible for informing all co-authors of the status of the abstract. The presenting author, whose abstract has been accepted, will receive instructions for the presentation of their abstract.

Rule of two

Each presenting author may present a maximum of two abstracts at the conference. The number of submissions is, however, not limited. If an author has more than two abstracts accepted for presentation, a co-author must be named as the presenting author for one or more abstracts.

Each presenting author may also present one late-breaker abstract at the conference.

The submission of an abstract constitutes the author(s)’ consent for publication. If the abstract is accepted, the author(s) agree that the abstract is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. The licence allows third parties to share the published work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it for any purposes, under the condition that IAS 2025 and authors are given credit and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this licence are made clear. Authors retain the copyright of their abstract, with first publication rights granted to the IAS.

Accepted abstracts may, therefore, be published on IAS websites and in such publications as the IAS 2025 online conference programme and other conference materials, the IAS abstract archive and the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS).

For IAS 2025, the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science, an abstract is a standalone statement that briefly explains the essential information of a study, research project, policy or programme.

You can find detailed descriptions of the scope and objectives of each scientific track, as defined by the IAS 2025 Organizing Committee, on the abstract submission page.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 22 January 2025, 23:59 Central European Time.

Abstracts are intended to present scientific studies, research, programmes and policies, highlighting the methods and/or description and results and/or recommendations. If you are describing a study that is still in the planning stage, it would not be suitable for submission unless the methods that you use are, for example, of particular scientific interest. However, if your study is ongoing and you have preliminary data that seem relevant or significant, please submit an abstract.

Late-breaker submissions must introduce data of unquestioned significance. Data analysed after the regular submission deadline (22 January 2025) should not be sent in for late breakers if the data do not meet an extremely high standard of scientific merit. The percentage of abstracts selected as late breakers will depend on the number of submissions made, but selection will certainly be more rigorous than for regular abstracts. A small number of late-breaker abstracts will be accepted for presentation orally or as posters at the conference.

During their abstract submission, authors will have to declare the reason why their abstract is a late breaker. The same submission rules apply for late-breaker abstracts as for regular abstracts, but each presenting author may present only one late-breaker abstract at the conference. Late-breaker abstract submission will be open from 8 to 29 April 2025.

An abstract consists of a title, author list and abstract text no longer than 350 words. It can also include tables, graphs and/or images. Literature references should not be included.

IAS 2025 offers two options for abstract submission:

Option 1

This is suitable for research conducted in all disciplines. Abstracts submitted under Option 1 should contain concise statements of:

• Background: Indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the hypothesis that was tested or a description of the problem being analysed or evaluated.
• Methods: Describe the study period, setting and location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used.
• Results: Present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings and/or outcomes of the study. Please disaggregate data by age and gender where possible and summarize any specific results.
• Conclusions: Explain the significance of the findings and/or outcomes of your study for HIV prevention, treatment, care and/or support and future implications of the results.

Option 2

This is suitable for lessons learnt through programme, project or policy implementation or management. Abstracts submitted under Option 2 should contain concise statements of:

• Background: Summarize the purpose, scope and objectives of the programme, project or policy.
• Description: Describe the programme, project or policy period, setting and location, structure, key population (if applicable) and activities and interventions undertaken in support of the programme, project or policy.
• Lessons learnt: Present as clearly and in as much detail as possible the findings and/or outcomes of the programme, project or policy. Include an analysis or evaluation of lessons learnt and best practices. Please summarize any specific results that support your lessons learnt and best practices.
• Conclusions/next steps: Explain the significance of the findings and/or outcomes of the programme, project or policy for HIV prevention, treatment, care and/or support and future implications of the results.

Before submitting an abstract, you will be asked to create a conference account. One or several abstracts can be submitted through this account.

To submit abstracts, please log in to your conference account and click on the “Abstract submission” box on the conference account overview page. Then click on the red button, “Submit an abstract”. In the abstract submission system:

1. Select the track, category and country of research. Enter your abstract title and text.
2. Enter the presenting author and co-authors (individually).
3. Preview your abstract and check format and correctness.
4. Submit your abstract.

After an abstract has been created, modifications can be made at any time until the submission deadline. After submission, the abstract submitter will receive a confirmation email with an abstract reference number. Please refer to this reference number in all conference correspondence.

After an abstract has been submitted via the conference account, modifications can be made until the submission deadline, 22 January 2025. After making your modifications, you need to resubmit your abstract. No modifications will be accepted after 22 January 2025.

A good abstract title is short, specific, representative and informative. It helps the reviewers categorize your abstract and, if accepted, it may help conference delegates find your presentation. The title should summarize your abstract without going into excessive details. Describe the topic clearly, including, for example, the population, country and issue of the research. Titles are limited to 30 words.

It is permitted but not mandatory to include tables, graphs and/or images in the abstract. A maximum of two tables, graphs or images in total can be included. A graph or image (in JPG, GIF or PNG, ideally 600dpi) counts as 50 words, and a table counts as five words per row (50 words maximum). As a reminder, the abstract text body is limited to 350 words.

Please create your table or upload your graph or image following the instructions in the abstract submission system. Place the table, graph or image into your abstract text and save the changes. Review the abstract preview page to ensure that your table, graph and/or image displays properly.

There is no limit to the number of co-authors per abstract, although we strongly recommend the use of a study group name for abstracts with a high number of co-authors. A person can be listed as a co-author if they meet ALL the following criteria:

1. They made substantial contributions to concept and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data.
2. They drafted the abstract or revised it for intellectual content.
3. They approved the final version to be submitted.

If the abstract is accepted, the presenting authors are asked to disclose all financial and personal relationships between themselves and others that might be perceived as biasing their work. The IAS asks that all presenting authors disclose any conflicts of interest at the time of presentation for the benefit of conference delegates. The purpose of this is to guarantee that all potential conflicts of interest are recognized and that mechanisms to resolve them before the conference are implemented.

Material presented in abstracts should not violate any copyright laws. If figures, graphics and/or images have been taken from sources not copyrighted by the author, it is the author’s sole responsibility to secure the rights from the copyright holder in writing to reproduce those figures, graphics and/or images for both worldwide print and web publication. The author must bear all reproduction costs charged by the copyright holder.

All submitted abstracts will go through a blind peer-review process by international reviewers. At least three reviewers will review each abstract. The IAS 2025 Organizing Committee makes the final selection of abstracts to be included in the conference programme.

A small number of abstracts will be selected for oral presentation. The majority of abstracts selected for the conference will be presented as paper posters on site.

The methodology or study design presented in your abstract should be appropriate to address the purpose and objectives. Results or lessons learnt should be clearly presented and support the conclusions. In addition, the findings should contribute to the advancement of knowledge and development in the field.

If English is not your native language, we strongly recommend that you arrange for a native English speaker working in your field to review your abstract before submission.

Please use the UNAIDS terminology guidelines and People First terminology when drafting and submitting your abstract. Please ensure that you DO NOT use stigmatizing language. DO use: people or person living with HIV; person or people with TB; person or people living with HIV and TB; healthcare seekers or clients. DO NOT label people as: HIV-infected; infected; co-infected; cases; carriers; victims; patients.

You may check the common reasons for abstract rejection in the abstract submission guidelines found further up on this page.

You may also review examples of abstracts from previous conferences.

The IAS remains determined to assist less-experienced and early-career researchers in improving their abstract submissions through innovative mentorship and learning initiatives. We invite you to join the IAS Mentorship Programme, register for the upcoming JIAS interactive workshops, and visit the IAS+ learning platform.

Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to the submitting (corresponding) author by early April.

To obtain a certificate for abstracts accepted, please contact abstracts@ias2025.org.

The submission of the abstract constitutes the authors’ consent to publish. If the abstract is accepted, the authors agree that their abstract can be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) licence. The licence allows third parties to share the published work (copy, distribute, transmit) and adapt it for any purposes, on condition that IAS 2025 and the authors are given credit and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this licence are made clear. Authors retain the copyright of their abstracts, with first publication rights granted to the IAS.

An electronic abstract book will be available immediately after the conference free of charge on the conference website.

Accepted abstracts will be published on IAS websites and in such publications as the IAS 2025 online programme and other conference materials and the IAS abstract archive. Oral abstracts will be published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS).