Outcome notifications
Outcome notifications of regular abstracts are expected to be made available to first authors and submitters by early February.
Outcome notifications of accepted full LBAs are expected to be made available to first authors and submitters by end February.
Submission categories
- Advanced NSCLC
- Early stage NSCLC
- Imaging and staging
- Locally advanced NSCLC
- Mesothelioma
- Metastases to and from the lung
- Prevention, early detection, epidemiology, tobacco control
- SCLC
- Translational research
- Tumour biology and pathology
- General interest
Late-breaking abstracts (LBA)
Late-breaking abstracts may be submitted for high quality, new research findings from randomised phase II or phase III trials with implications for clinical practice or understanding of disease processes.
Only abstracts for which no conclusive data are available at the time of the abstract submission deadline of 13 January 2026 will be considered for late-breaking status. The work must not have been previously published in any publication in a peer review setting or presented at a meeting of any other scientific organisation prior to the ELCC 2026.
A skeleton indicating the type of data that will be available by the late-breaking abstract deadline must be submitted online by the regular abstract deadline of Tuesday, 13 January 2026.
Submitters of preliminary versions receiving approval to proceed must submit the final LBA by Tuesday, 17 February 2026.
Trial in progress abstracts
Trial in Progress (TiP) abstracts in all phases of clinical research (phases I to III) may be submitted to ELCC 2026
It is expected that abstracts submitted as Trial in Progress are ongoing trials that have not reached any protocol-specified endpoints for analysis and consequently will only require the completion of two (2) sections:
- Background
- Trial design
Notes:
- Recruitment must have already begun or have been completed by the abstract submission deadline of 13 January 2026.
- Abstracts including results or preliminary data will be rejected.
- Trial in Progress abstracts will not be considered for Proffered Paper (oral) presentation or Mini Oral.
- Encore TiP abstracts will NOT be accepted.
Publication schedule for accepted abstracts
Details regarding the publication of accepted abstracts will be available on will be released online according to a schedule which will be available on the ELCC website in due course.
Embargo and Confidentiality policy
Data and information included in the accepted abstracts are under embargo until the relevant embargo release date cited in the “Publication schedule for accepted abstracts”.
Data and information beyond what is included in the accepted abstracts, e.g., full data sets, may only be made public at the start of the official programme session during which the study is presented.
Abstracts accepted for presentation at the ELCC 2026 must be considered confidential by the author, co-authors, institute(s), research sponsor(s) and ELCC 2026 organisers until publicly released in connection with the ELCC 2026.
In the event that any relevant party, including but not limited to, author, co-authors, institute(s), research sponsor(s), plans to issue a press release prior to presentation at the ELCC 2026, ELCC organisers request that it adheres to the Qualitative Sample Press Release format by summarising abstract data in a qualitative rather than quantitative way, and avoiding interpretations about the implications of the data for clinical practice.
The relevant party is to submit to programme@esmo.org, and media@esmo.org written notification of the intention to issue a press release in advance of the release itself.
A note stating that full data has been submitted for presentation at the ELCC 2026 should be added in the press release.
ELCC organisers are available to provide guidance and feedback for the qualitative press release.
If the press release includes significantly more information than ELCC organiser’s recommendations, the abstract’s placement in the ELCC 2026 is subject to change.
ELCC organisers reserves the right to share material under embargo with journalists on the authorised ELCC media list who have agreed to respect the ELCC embargo policy.
Presentation and publication of accepted abstracts
The ELCC 2026 Scientific Committee will select abstracts for presentation during the Congress based on the following possibilities:
- Proffered Paper: Oral presentation of original data of superior quality, followed by expert discussion and perspectives.
- Mini Oral: Short oral presentation of good quality data, followed by expert discussion and perspectives.
- Poster: Display session for review, discussion and questions. The presenting authors must be available for Q&A to represent their work.
- E-Poster – Electronic poster in PDF format for inclusion in the Congress Virtual Platform and onsite digital screens. Presenting authors of ePosters are not required to attend the Congress in person to represent their work. Paper posters are not to be prepared, and poster boards will not be provided.
All accepted abstracts will be published in the ELCC 2026 Abstract Book, a supplement to one of the official ESMO journals, ESMO Open.
Detailed instructions for the preparation of slide presentations, posters and ePosters will be made available on the ESMO website by mid-February (“Information for Presenters”) along with scheduling notices.
ELCC Merit Awards
A restricted number of ELCC Merit Awards for the ELCC 2026 are available, upon application, to first authors (= presenters) who submit abstracts considered to be deserving of recognition. Candidates must be member of either ESMO or IASLC (or both) under the age of 40 and indicate that they wish to be considered for a Merit Award at the time of submitting the abstract. The selection will be made by the Scientific Committee on a competitive basis considering the scientific merit of the abstract.
