Submit to BOSC 2026 - Open Bioinformatics Foundation

Abstract submission is now closed.
To be accepted, abstracts submitted to BOSC must be:
In addition to the requirements listed above, we consider the following when selecting abstracts for short or long talks.
The Open Bioinformatics Foundation, which coordinates BOSC, is dedicated to promoting the practice and philosophy of Open Source Software Development and Open Science within the biological research community.
For this reason, if a submitted abstract concerns a specific software system for use by the research community, then that software must include a recognized Open Source License or Public Domain dedication, and be available for download, including source code. We recommend Open Source Initiative (OSI) Approved Licenses where appropriate. Similarly, abstracts with a focus on data, analysis methods, and/or documentation must make these available in a manner consistent with Open Science standards, utilizing appropriate licensing and approaches that promote open sharing, reuse, and redistribution.
See the following websites for further information and examples of recognized Open Source Licenses and Public Domain Dedications:
BOSC follows the ISCB policy on acceptable use of large language models (LLMs). Key points:
In-person presentation: “ISCB strongly prefers that scientific research accepted for oral presentation be presented in-person at the conference venue. ISCB will grant remote presentation options for reasons associated with maternity/paternity leave, care for a family member, personal/medical disability, sickness, financial hardship, or potential visa problems.”
Talk OR poster: ISMB does not allow a presenting author to present both a talk and a poster on the same topic. If you want your work to be presented as both a talk and a poster, a different presenting author needs to submit for each.
At BOSC, talks chosen from submitted abstracts are generally either “long” (typically 16 minutes plus 4 minutes for questions) or short/“lightning” (5 minutes, scheduled in groups of three lightning talks followed by 5 minutes for questions for all three). Abstracts submitted in the Late Poster round are not eligible for talks.
Talk abstracts submitted to BOSC are typically reviewed by three reviewers; poster abstracts by two. Our review process and rubric can be found here.
We realize that the cost of ISMB may be prohibitive for some. If you are submitting an abstract to BOSC and would have difficulty covering the cost of registration, you can request registration fee assistance. To make it easy, this request can be made right on the abstract submission form. (Only the conference chairs will see these fee assistance requests – the abstract reviewers will not.) Last year, thanks to help from our sponsors, we were able to grant free registration to 15 participants.
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