Submissions

We are now accepting papers for the 2021 National Cave and Karst Management Symposium.  The theme for this symposium is “Endangered Species, Endangered Caves, Endangered Aquifers“, however we encourage authors to submit papers on all topics related to the management of caves and karst resources.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE:  15 September 2021 deadline now extended to 10 October!
FULL PAPER SUBMISSION DEADLINE:  1 November 2021

Presentations

Oral:  Presentations should be 15 minutes in length.  There will be a 5 minute discussion period afterwards.  Requests for a longer time slot will be considered on a case-to-case basis.  The preferred presentation format is Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt or .pptx extension) using the standard 4:3 ratio.  Standard computer presentation equipment will be available.  If you wish to use another format or program, need additional equipment, or want to request a longer time slot, contact Missy Singleton at .  If you would be interested in chairing a session or panel discussion, please contact us as early as possible to make arrangements.

Poster:  Posters will be attended by the corresponding author during the poster session on Thursday afternoon. The maximum size for posters is 90 cm wide by 120 cm high.

Preparation and Submission of Abstracts
Abstracts are required for all oral and poster presentations.  All abstracts should be sent to  with the subject line “NCKMS 2021 Abstract-Oral” or “NCKMS 2021 Abstract-Poster” as appropriate.

Before sending your abstract file, please make sure that any and all edits have been accepted in “Track Changes” and that “Track Changes” has been turned off.

All abstracts will be reviewed by the Organizing Committee and the presenting author will be contacted via email regarding acceptance as an oral or poster presentation.  If your preferred oral presentation is to be changed to a poster presentation because of time restraints in the program, you will be informed by email.

Accepted abstracts will be placed on the program schedule only upon receipt of registration by the presenting author.

The symposium timetable will be posted to the symposium website when available.  Please check this timetable for your presentation.

Provide all of the following information in the order given:

  • Indicate if the abstract is for an oral or a poster presentation.
  • Name of the presenting author in the format Family Name, Given Name(s).  Use entire given names, not just initials.
  • Email address of presenting author.
  • Title.  Keep the title as short as possible.  Do not use quotation marks around the title.  Capitalize the first letter of the first word of a sentence or a proper name only.  Use italics for species names only.
  • List of all authors in the format Family Name, Given Name(s).  Use entire names rather than initials.  For multiple authors separate each author name with a semicolon (;).  Do not use the word “and” before the name of the last author.  Indicate presenting author with an asterisk (*).  Use superscript numbers to differentiate authors with different addresses.
  • List of author addresses.  Use a separate line for each author in the order of the superscript numbers given in the list of authors.  Begin each line with the appropriate superscript number.  Do not use abbreviations but spell out all words, including state or province names and country names.
  • Text of abstract, limited to a maximum of 250 words, excluding title and author information.  Do not indent the first line. 

Format abstract using Microsoft Word using Times New Roman at 12 point font size, left justification only and saved with the file name “presenting author FamilyName_GivenName.doc” (or .docx) (e.g., Doe_John.doc).  For multiple submissions by the same presenting author add consecutive numbers after the author name (e.g., Doe_Johnl2.doc, Doe_John13.doc, etc.).  Submit each abstract file in a separate email.  Do not capitalize any whole word except commonly used acronyms (e.g., ANOVA).  Do not use any other style (e.g., bold) except for commonly accepted notations (e.g., superscript in “cm3” and subscript in α0.05).

Format for presentations to be published in the Proceedings
We request that all presenters submit the text and illustrations of their presentation(s) for the Proceedings which will be published after the Symposium.  Papers may be up to 30 pages in length (single-spaced) including abstract, text, maps, figures, tables, and/or images.

  • Papers should be submitted for review to  by 1 November 2021.
  • Papers will be reviewed and comments will be made to the presenter by Jerry Atkison, the Proceedings Editor, by 15 December 2021.  Final paper submissions with revisions are due back to the editor by 1 February 2022.
  • Assure the first author’s name is included within the file name.  If submitting multiple papers, please submit them as separate email messages or separate files.
  • Photos, tables, graphs, and illustrations should be included as separate files in commonly used file formats (.pdf, .jpg, .tif, .xls.).  Line art (i.e. cave maps and other drawings) should be saved as .tif files, never .jpg.
  • All graphics should be properly labeled and include a reference showing proper placement within the text.
  • All images should be capable of being reproduced at 300 dpi or better.
  • To help us reproduce illustration placements as closely to your wishes as possible, please consider including a PDF or hard copy of your final formatted paper.

Additional information is available through our website at https://symposium2021.nckms.org/.