Subject: Guidelines for assessment of presentations given at scientific meetings of the European Geosciences Union

With this letter we would like to provide information to funding agencies and evaluation committees on the assessment of presentations given at meetings organised by the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

The EGU is the leading organisation for Earth, planetary and space science research in Europe, with our annual General Assembly (GA) being the largest European geoscience meeting. Presenting a contribution at the EGU GA can be an important step in the career of many early career scientists. In 2019, 16,273 researchers participated in our GA, of which 53% were under the age of 35.

Presentations at our GA can be of three types:

• Poster presentations are given by displaying a poster, which delivers a textual and graphical summary of the contribution. Posters are displayed a full day, with a scheduled 1hr 45min author-in-attendance time to facilitate direct interaction, discussion and feedback.
• PICO presentations consist of a 2min oral followed by 1hr 15min presentation time at a touch screen.
• Oral presentations are typically scheduled for 12min, with an additional 3min reserved for discussion.

In recent years, two-thirds of abstracts were presented as poster and one-third as oral or PICO. EGU promotes poster and PICO presentations as they allow a better interaction among colleagues, therefore supporting interdisciplinarity and networking.

The EGU Programme Committee selects the presentation type of submitted abstracts based on (a) the current interest around the specific topic; (b) its interdisciplinary character; (c) the suitability of the topic for a long face-to-face interaction with a large audience, rather than a traditional speaker-audience interaction for a limited time; and (d) the preference of the author.

EGU would like to highlight that the selection of the type of presentation is not based on any evaluation of the scientific value of the contribution. There is no distinction regarding the standing, quality or prestige of oral, poster, or PICO presentations (please see our ‘Statement on scientific presentations at the EGU General Assembly’ for more details).

Therefore, the EGU highly recommends that the presentation type is not used as criteria for assessing the scientific value of contributions.

The EGU is at full disposal of funding agencies, evaluation committees and scientific bodies to provide further information to best support the career development of early career scientists. For more information, please contact the EGU Executive Secretary Philippe Courtial at executive-secretary@egu.eu.

With my best regards,

Alberto Montanari
EGU President

This open letter, digitally signed by the EGU president, is available for download in PDF format below.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is the leading organisation for Earth, planetary and space science research in Europe. With our partner organisations worldwide, we foster fundamental geoscience research, alongside applied research that addresses key societal and environmental challenges. Our vision is to realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet. We publish a number of diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organise topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. The annual EGU General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 16,000 scientists from all over the world in 2019. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, as well as energy and resources. The EGU General Assembly 2020 is taking in Vienna, Austria, from 3 to 8 May 2020.

• EGU General Assembly 2020
• Statement on scientific presentations at the EGU General Assembly