Rules for Participation 

Who May Submit a Program?

Any APA member may submit a proposed program or individual poster presentation for consideration. It is not necessary to be a member of the division to which a proposal is submitted.

Psychologists who hold a PhD or PsyD (or equivalent) and who are members of a national psychology organization that holds membership in the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPS) are relieved of the requirement to find a sponsor for APA 2025 submissions. To have the sponsor requirement waived, please provide evidence of degree held and membership in a national psychology association that is a national member (or that is part of a coalition that constitutes the national member) of the IUPS.

Nonmember Participation

Individuals who are not members of APA or an association listed with the IUPS may submit a proposal if an APA member is a coauthor of the presentation or sponsors the proposal. An invitation from a division program committee to submit a proposal constitutes the required sponsorship of nonmember participants.

Invitations to nonmembers of APA are issued at the discretion of the divisions and their program chairpersons. Ultimately, the divisions are responsible for the nature and quality of their programs, and the only restrictions on programs are those that can be derived from the ethical principles of APA.

The person who invites or sponsors a nonmember to participate in the program is responsible for ensuring that these steps are followed:

• Clarify financial arrangements, if any, with the sponsoring division and the nonmember participant.
• Provide the nonmember participant with registration and hotel information. All nonmember participants are required to register and pay the APA 2025 registration fee.
• Where protocol dictates, make arrangements for greeting the nonmember at the airport, escorting the individual to the session, and meeting colleagues at a business meeting or social event.

Some nonmembers (e.g., President, Vice President, First Lady, Members of Congress, presidential appointees, high-ranking policy officials) require special arrangements that should be coordinated with APA. Persons considering such invitations must first check with the APA Convention Office before making any inquiries on availability or issuing any invitations to these individuals.

Eligibility of Session Chairpersons

All chairpersons of sessions must be APA members (members, fellows, or associates). Persons with an affiliate status, such as student, high school teacher, or international, may not serve as chairpersons.

Number of Submissions Allowed

An individual may submit a maximum of two proposals to be considered for APA 2025. Multiple submissions that are redundant or substantively similar are not permitted. Each proposal must be submitted to only one division for consideration. Violation of this rule will result in the presentation not being scheduled.

Number of Participations Allowed

Individuals must limit themselves to two participations across all divisional programming. “Participation” refers to giving a presentation as a first author/presenter in a poster session or serving as a presenter/panelist in a symposium/critical conversation that is listed in the formal program. Participants who violate this rule will be contacted by the APA Convention Office and asked to select only two.

Exemptions from the Participation Count

Not included in the participation counts are chairs who do not present, non-presenting coauthors, division business meetings, division presidential addresses, division invited addresses, division awards ceremonies, APA 2025-wide programming (APA group-sponsored sessions, APA presidential programming, APA or APF invited addresses), or other APA or divisional non-program functions.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

All presenters are expected to disclose relationships that could reasonably be viewed as creating a conflict of interest with respect to the content of their presentations. The general purpose of such disclosures is to allow the listener to make their own informed assessment of the presentation. Each presenter is ultimately responsible for determining whether they should disclose a given relationship. Appropriate methods of disclosure will vary based on the type of presentation involved. To determine appropriate methods, presenters can discuss approaches for providing disclosure with session organizers, who may, in turn, consult with APA staff in relevant areas for assistance.

Scheduling Presentations

Persons with accepted presentations or programs must participate at the time determined by APA. Persons with time constraints for religious reasons must include this information on the original submission form.

Previous or Simultaneous Submissions

Except by invitation, a presentation previously published or read at any state, regional, or divisional meeting may not be presented at APA 2025 unless it is a substantial elaboration (additional findings, etc.) of a preliminary report. A presentation submitted to APA for consideration may not be submitted simultaneously for consideration at a regional, state, or divisional meeting.

Ownership and Use of Submitted Materials and Presentations

All rights, title, and interest in material submitted in connection with an approved program (“submitted material”) will remain with the author(s). As a condition of the acceptance of the approved program, all author(s) agree to grant to APA a royalty-free, nonexclusive, worldwide, perpetual license to use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, and prepare derivative works of the submitted material in any medium, including electronic, online, and/or print format. This license shall also include electronic archiving of submitted material in the APA PsycEXTRA database or another archive service utilized by the APA either now or in the future, unless the author(s) or a person authorized to submit on behalf of the author(s) decides not to permit electronic archiving of the program by clicking the “opt out of electronic archiving” box during the online submission process. APA divisions shall not be granted any rights hereunder.

By submitting submitted material for use by the APA, you represent and guarantee that you are either an author of the submitted material or a person authorized to act on behalf of the author(s). If you are a coauthor or acting on behalf of a coauthor, you represent and guarantee that you have received permission from all authors for your submission of material on their behalf. You also represent and guarantee that the submitted material is an original work or authorship that has not been previously published and does not infringe any third party’s rights. You represent and guarantee that you have all necessary permissions to use any third-party materials incorporated into the submitted material, and you have the authority to make these representations and guarantees and grant the rights herein. Should any third party bring a claim against the APA for its use of the submitted material, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold the APA harmless for any use of the submitted material set forth herein.

Further, as a condition of presenting or speaking at APA 2025, you agree to be recorded and/or videotaped and grant APA a royalty-free nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, publicly display, distribute, and prepare derivative works of the presentation in any medium, including electronic, online (including podcasts and streaming media), and/or print format. This license shall also include electronic archiving in the APA PsycEXTRA database or another archive service utilized by the APA either now or in the future.

APA Convention Interim Policy on Generative AI

All participants are expected to comply with APA’s Interim Policy on Generative AI for the Submission of Convention Related Materials to ensure transparency in the submission process. This policy, which may be updated to reflect technological advancements, is crucial for all presenters to understand. The current version of this policy will always be available on the convention website https://convention.apa.org/proposals/rules-for-participation. 

NOTE: For this policy, AI refers to generative Large Language Model AI tools and does not include grammar-checking software, citation software, or plagiarism detectors. 

• Generative AI Utilization: Generative AI models may assist presenters in creating APA convention presentations or materials but cannot compose the entire session content. The unique creative contributions and experiential insights of human experts are irreplaceable and integral to the unique offerings of APA. 
• Quality Assurance Affirmation: By submitting your materials to APA, you affirm that you have read, understood, and are comporting with the policy. This includes but is not limited to ensuring that content produced by AI is accurate, such as cited publications and presenter resumes. Additionally, presenters are responsible for securing any necessary copyrights. 
• AI Disclosure Requirement: Use of AI in material(s) development must be disclosed, detailing AI’s usage and extent of contribution, both on the presenters’ submission form (check the box "yes" in response to the question, “Was AI used in developing this submission? And if so, how?”), and appropriately cited (How to cite ChatGPT (apa.org)) 
• AI Output Documentation: Upon request from APA, presenters may need to provide the complete AI-generated content as supplementary documentation for review. Accordingly, presenters are encouraged to keep all AI supporting materials, so they are available upon request. Failure to provide such documentation, if asked, may preclude the content or presentation from being included at APA 2025. 

As with all APA convention program content, if materials cited or other information included do not exist, APA will automatically reject them. APA will then determine the next steps based on the APA’s policies and procedures, the specific facts and circumstances, and the APA staff's professional judgment. 

Online Access to Abstracts

APA is pleased to provide presenters at APA 2025 with electronic services for uploading presentation abstracts and PowerPoint files to the online APA 2025 program. Upon acceptance of a presentation or program, APA will provide presenters with a web page address where they can update/upload abstracts and PowerPoint files through the conclusion of APA 2025.

Note: If you have elected to opt-out of electronic archiving, your abstract will not be included in this service.

Electronic Archiving Services through PsycEXTRA

All accepted material may be automatically uploaded into PsycEXTRA, the APA’s gray literature database that provides an archival record of presentations, unless the author(s) or a person authorized to submit on behalf of the author(s) decides not to permit electronic archiving by clicking the “opt out of electronic archiving” box during the online submission process. Inclusion in PsycEXTRA does not affect your rights to the submission. The collection of conference papers in this important database enables readers to trace the evolution of research.

Media Coverage

To encourage higher quality programs and better media coverage, acceptance of a proposal assumes that presenters will prepare advance texts of their presentations or a summary consisting of at least five pages. All presentations and their specific findings should not appear in the media until after the time of presentation. Presenters are strongly encouraged to e-mail their papers to the APA Public Affairs Office at public.affairs@apa.org by June 15. The top page should include your name, affiliation, address, business phone, e-mail, and title of paper. Please add “Presented at APA 2025 at Denver, CO, 2025,” and note day and time of presentation.