All abstracts submitted to the SIR Annual Scientific Meeting go through a comprehensive review process which prioritizes anonymity, equity and quality. Highlighting the best science that interventional radiology has to offer is a long process—one that requires strict methodology, careful review and multiple dedicated volunteers.
SIR 2026 Scientific Program chair Kumar Madassery, MD, FSIR
Step 1: Submitting an abstract
Abstracts are submitted to one of two categories: original scientific research and educational exhibit. Original scientific research, which includes abstracts for oral or traditional poster presentations, may include both laboratory and clinical investigations of topics that would be appropriate for publication in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. Educational exhibits are designed to deliver practical, procedure-focused education that prioritizes teaching over research and are often referred to as posters.
“We have a cut off number for how many we can accept in each area,” said SIR 2026 Scientific Program Vice Chair Paula Novelli, MD, FSIR. “This year we were looking for around 400 oral scientific research abstracts, and about 100-140 traditional posters.” Consideration is made into the overall Annual meeting program, space and logistics.
Step 2: Blinded review
Once submitted, the abstracts go through a blinded review process, where each submission is randomly assigned to three reviewers (stage 1 of the review process). Abstract reviewers are volunteers, the majority of whom have been JVIR reviewers, and have been reviewing for the annual scientific meeting for years.
The full process is anonymous, with all identifying information removed. Reviewers manually report their conflicts of interest, and the abstract submission and review platform identifies and changes reviewers based on any conflict of interest before the review process has even begun.
“We really rely on our reviewers,” Dr. Novelli said. “Their comments, insight and expertise are crucial to selecting high-quality, impactful research.”
Each original scientific research abstract is given a score out of 10 and each educational exhibit a score out of 5 by each reviewer, and these three scores are then averaged.
“If there is a significant discrepancy between scores, then we will send the abstract to a fourth reviewer,” said SIR 2026 Scientific Program Chair Kumar Madassery, MD, FSIR.
That fourth reviewer, or tie breaker, is usually a seasoned reviewer who provides their own comments (stage 2 of the review process), which are then reviewed by the Scientific Program chairs (stage 3 of the review process).
“It’s a long process, but that’s because it is as equitable and fair as we can possibly make it,” said Dr. Madassery.
Paula Novelli, MD, FSIR
SIR 2026 Scientific Program Vice Chair Paula Novelli, MD, FSIR
Step 3: The abstracts are selected
Once all submissions are scored, the Annual Scientific Meeting Committee generally accepts those with the highest composite scores, and after taking reviewer comments highly into consideration. As Dr. Novelli noted, while there is a general goal for how many to accept, the numbers fluctuate based on the scores of each abstract. According to Drs. Madassery and Novelli, the quality of research has steadily risen over the years, as has the quantity of submissions.
“We received a wide field of submissions, and we have some very exciting items that provide updates, novel approaches and new iterations on some established data,” said Dr. Madassery.
He also saw an increase in abstracts on growing areas like AI and robotics, as well as topics such as embolization for musculoskeletal disease.
“The SIR community is very diverse, and that is reflected in the submissions we received,” said Dr. Novelli. “We are excited to showcase research from across the breadth of IR practice, regardless of clinical niche.”
Once abstracts are accepted, they are then assigned to either oral or poster presentations after acceptance; this assignment is based upon the subject and nature of the abstracts accepted each year.
“The whole process is a collective, group effort,” Dr. Madassery said. “We rely not only on excellent submissions, but the expertise of our reviewers in order to bring the SIR community the best science possible.”
Dr. Madassery and Dr. Novelli said they were both extremely excited to share the submissions accepted this year. Accepted authors have been notified and the full scientific program, along with the Abstracts of the Year and featured abstracts will be available on Dec. 11 online. SIR members will be able to access the accepted science in the JVIR supplement this spring, as well as live onsite at SIR 2026 in Toronto.
Interested in more SIR 2026 science? Check out the full educational programming schedule, live now.
