Hey,

I am in the process of submitting my first conference abstract, the deadline being tomorrow.

Everything is written up and all, but there are like two separate sets of instructions one saying that the abstract should contain title, authors & affiliations, keywords and references, whereas the other set omits the reference instruction. Thus, do I submit references? Also, does this reference list need to be exhaustive or is it ok to just submit a handful of key references?

I'd be really grateful for any advice!

Vini

I would include the references, better to have them there if they are needed rather than leave them off.

I would only included references to work that you have cited in the abstract itself.

hope this helps!

I've submitted a number of conference abstracts in my time and I agree with XJR. Now, I would include the references, there won't be many anyway because I don't think you'll have the space and you don't include many anyway.