SBC & PANCORNEA Submission Guidelines for Scientific Papers and Surgical Videos
General submission rules
All submissions must be made online through the official congress submission platform by the deadline established by the organizing committee. Submissions sent by e-mail or by any other means will not be accepted.
At least one author must be registered for the congress in order to complete the submission process. The organizing committee may require the presenting author to complete registration within the deadlines communicated by the congress.
Each submission must be assigned to one category only, chosen by the submitting author at the time of submission. The official categories are:
| Category | Description |
| Cornea | Corneal diseases, surgery, ocular surface disorders, transplantation, keratoplasty, cross-linking, infections, and related topics |
| Anterior Segment | Cataract, refractive surgery, iris, lens, anterior chamber, and other anterior segment topics not primarily classified as cornea |
| Other | Ophthalmology topics not adequately covered by the two categories above |
The Scientific Committee will make every effort to maintain each submission in the category selected by the author. However, the committee reserves the right to reassign a submission to another category whenever this is deemed scientifically more appropriate. When feasible, the corresponding author will be informed of the reassignment.
Each participant may be first author of only one scientific paper submission and one video submission, unless otherwise determined by the congress. A participant may appear as co-author on additional submissions. Each submission may include up to 6 authors. All official communication will be sent to the corresponding author’s e-mail address, and the submitting author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors have approved the submission.
The same work may not be submitted more than once in different formats or categories unless expressly authorized by the Scientific Committee.
Ethical and legal requirements
All submissions must comply with applicable ethical and legal standards. Studies involving human participants, patient data, or identifiable clinical images must have been conducted in accordance with the ethical requirements in force in the country where the research was performed. Research conducted in Brazil must comply with applicable national regulations. Research conducted outside Brazil must have received appropriate ethics approval and must have been conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
If a submission includes recognizable patient images, videos, or other identifying elements, the authors must have obtained the appropriate written informed consent for scientific presentation and disclosure. Authors must ensure that patient names, initials, hospital numbers, dates of birth, and any other identifying information are removed from abstracts, posters, slides, and videos.
Authors are solely responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted material, including images, figures, and third-party audiovisual content. By submitting their work, authors authorize the congress organizers to display, reproduce, and publicize accepted material in connection with the congress, nationally and internationally, without additional copyright payment, while preserving authorship attribution.
The Scientific Committee reserves the right to reject or withdraw any submission at any stage if it does not comply with these ethical, legal, or technical requirements.
1. Scientific Paper Competition – Submission Guidelines
Scientific papers must be submitted in English. The abstract must be structured and must contain the following sections: Objective, Methods, Results, and Conclusions.
The abstract must contain up to 350 words. The submission system should preferably perform automatic word counting. Figures, graphs, and tables are not permitted in the abstract text field.
The abstract should clearly state the scientific rationale, methods, main findings, and final conclusions. Whenever applicable, the results section should include relevant quantitative data and statistical information.
| Item | Requirement |
| Language | English only |
| Format | Structured abstract |
| Mandatory sections | Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions |
| Length | Up to 350 words |
| Figures/tables in abstract field | Not allowed |
| Number of categories per submission | One only |
The Scientific Committee will evaluate abstracts based on the following criteria:
| Evaluation criterion | Scope of assessment |
| Originality | Novelty of the question, finding, or approach |
| Scientific rigor | Adequacy of study design, methods, and interpretation |
| Relevance | Clinical, surgical, educational, or scientific importance |
| Quality of results and conclusions | Clarity, consistency, and support of conclusions by the presented data |
| Overall presentation quality | Organization, clarity, and readability of the abstract |
The top 3 abstracts in each category will be selected for oral presentation during the congress. Other accepted submissions may be allocated to electronic poster presentation, according to the final decision of the Scientific Committee.
If the congress requires a poster file in addition to the abstract, accepted authors may be asked to upload an e-poster in PDF format, following the technical instructions that will be provided by the organizing committee. In this case, the PDF file may include figures, tables, and references, and must follow the official congress template and size limitations.
The corresponding author may revise the submission until the official deadline. After final submission, no changes can be guaranteed.
2. Surgical Video Competition – Submission Guidelines
Submitted videos must present an ophthalmic surgical procedure and must be submitted in MP4 format.
Each video must not exceed 4 minutes in duration. Videos must be of high technical quality, with clear visualization of the surgical field, appropriate focus, stable image capture, and editing adequate for scientific presentation.
Narration in English is strongly recommended. Alternatively, clear and concise on-screen text in English may be used to explain the key surgical steps. If music is used, it must not interfere with the educational value of the video and must not violate copyright restrictions.
| Item | Requirement |
| Language | English narration or English on-screen text |
| File format | MP4 |
| Maximum duration | 4 minutes |
| Content | Ophthalmic surgical procedure |
| Submission category | One only |
Videos may include editing, titles, arrows, labels, slow motion, or split-screen resources when these improve educational clarity. However, promotional content, excessive institutional branding, or any element that compromises scientific neutrality should be avoided.
All videos must preserve patient confidentiality. Any identifying facial image, name, initials, chart number, or other identifying element must be removed unless explicit consent has been obtained and such disclosure is ethically justified.
The Scientific Committee will evaluate videos according to the following criteria:
| Evaluation criterion | Scope of assessment |
| Content quality | Scientific and surgical relevance of the case or technique |
| Originality | Innovation in technique, indication, or educational approach |
| Scientific rigor | Accuracy and appropriateness of the information presented |
| Educational value | Clarity of teaching points and usefulness for the audience |
| Technical and visual quality | Image quality, editing, stability, and overall presentation |
The top 3 videos in each category will be selected for live presentation during the congress.
Acceptance, presentation, and final decisions
All submissions will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Acceptance for presentation is based on the submitted material alone and does not imply endorsement of the authors’ methods, conclusions, or clinical opinions by the congress organizers.
Authors of accepted submissions will receive notification by e-mail according to the congress timeline. Accepted abstracts may be published on the congress website, in the congress platform, or in official congress materials.
The organizing committee reserves the right to exclude submissions that do not comply with formatting, ethical, legal, or scientific requirements. All decisions of the Scientific Committee are final.
Competition award and prizes
In addition to the official recognition awarded during the Cornea de Ouro Awards Ceremony, the top three presentations in each category will receive the following prizes:
First Place – Cornea de Ouro (Gold Cornea Award)
Round-trip flight ticket and congress registration for an international cornea congress, either in Europe (EuCornea or SICSSO) or North America (Cornea and Eye Banking Forum), together with the official Gold Cornea trophy.
Second Place – Cornea de Prata (Silver Cornea Award)
Congress registration for an educational program at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, USA, together with the official Silver Cornea trophy.
Third Place – Cornea de Bronze (Bronze Cornea Award)
Complimentary registration for Pancornea 2027, together with the official Bronze Cornea trophy.
These awards are intended to recognize and encourage excellence in scientific innovation, surgical education, and academic contribution in cornea and anterior segment ophthalmology.
Deadline: August 1, 2026
