2015 Annual Meeting Atlanta, GA Meeting Begins: 11/21/2015 Meeting Ends: 11/24/2015 Call for Papers Opens: 12/17/2014 Call for Papers Closes: 3/4/2015

Deadlines

• Program unit chairs should enter calls for papers by Wednesday, December 17.
• All proposals are due by the date indicated on the main Annual Meeting webpage.
• All session details are due Wednesday, April 1, including all participant, discussion, and presider information and scheduling requests.
• Program unit chairs should review and decide upon all proposals by Wednesday, April 1.
• All session information, including audio-visual and scheduling requests, should be entered by Wednesday, April 1 so that initial room assignments are as accurate as possible. We can accommodate AV requests and changes at no charge through June 30. If a presenter requests A/V or changes prior requests after June 30, he or she will be charged a $100 fee per request. After September 30, all new A/V requests will be directed to SBL’s A/V vendor for direct payment.

Participation Details

• Only current full and student, not public, SBL members may propose papers.
• Full members of SBL are limited to participate in no more than two regular program sessions as a presenter, panelist, or respondent. Presiding at a session does not count towards this total. Appearances on Affiliate programs do not count towards this total. SBL Committee and business sessions do not count towards this total.
• Student members of SBL may participate in two sessions as presenter, panelist, or respondent but are limited to only one paper presentation. Presiding at a session does not count towards this total. Appearances on Affiliate programs do not count towards this total. SBL Committee and business sessions do not count towards this total.
• By submitting a paper proposal or accepting a role in any affiliate organization or program unit session at the Annual or International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, you agree to participate in an open academic discussion guided by a common standard of scholarly discourse that engages your subject through critical inquiry and investigation.
• Paper proposal policies apply at the time of proposal. If a student member submits proposals under her/his student membership but changes her/his membership type to full membership at a later date, for example, policies related to student members will apply to those proposals.

Proposals

General

• Proposals must be submitted through the online system.
• Proposers (full and student members) who have not presented at the Annual Meeting must submit the paper to-be-read to the program unit chair(s) during the call for papers period (by Wednesday, March 4).
• Proposals require presentation title and an abstract of approximately 500 words. Enter only your abstract in the abstract box. Do not put your paper title or your name in your abstract.
• Papers are most often allotted 20-25 minutes in a session, with 5-10 minutes for discussion.
• If you have a question about a particular program unit, email the chair listed in the call for papers for that unit.
• All presentations must be new presentations of the scholar's own original work. In absentia presentations are not typically accepted.
• Papers cannot be repeated in other sessions or at other SBL Annual or International Meetings.
• Proposers are obligated to notify program unit chairs of any change to their participation as soon as possible.
• SBL Membership must be current at time of the Annual Meeting. If your membership expires before your proposal is accepted, your proposal will be withdrawn. SBL Membership will be checked by June 1 and non-current members will be removed from the program at that time.

Style

• Enter only your abstract in the abstract box. Do not include your paper title or your name in the abstract field.
• Enter your paper title and abstract using the SBL Handbook of Style as a guide.
• Translate or transliterate non-English text and limit diacritical notations to basic marks (e.g., ä, ç, é, ø).
• Do not put quotation marks around your paper title.
• Do not use all upper case letters (all caps) for your paper title.

Registration and Membership Requirements

SBL Program

• SBL Membership is required at the time of a proposal for the SBL program.
• SBL Membership will be checked by June 1 and non-current members will be removed from the program at that time.
• SBL Membership must be current at time of the Annual Meeting.
• Both SBL and AAR permit the participation of the other organization’s members in its sessions without requiring that the individual hold membership in the other organization. The person is required to register for the meeting as a member of one of the organizations.

Affiliate Organization Programs

• Affiliate organization membership is required to participate.
• If a member of an Affiliate organization intends to participate in an SBL session, the member is required to have current SBL membership.

Registration for Meeting

• All meeting participants must be registered by June 1. Registration will be checked and those not registered will be removed from the program.

Waivers of Registration and/or Membership Requirements

• The consideration for waiver is not simply whether one is or is not a "biblical scholar," but whether one works regularly with the literatures, histories, and cultures (material and social) that interface "Bible," broadly construed.
• Membership in other related organizations (e.g., AAR, ASOR) does not qualify one for a waiver.
• Waivers are granted on a one-time basis only. If a waiver recipient wishes to participate on the program a second time in subsequent years, he or she must join the SBL.
• Waivers will not be granted to individuals who have held SBL membership within three years of the start date of the Annual Meeting for which the waiver would be requested.
• A waiver for the Annual Meeting includes:
  • Waiver of membership requirement;
  • Complimentary meeting registration;
• The waivers program is administered by the Congresses staff in consultation with the Executive Director and the Annual Meeting Program Committee.
• Waivers register using a waiver registration form, which is usually sent to all waiver recipients by May 15.

Changes to the Program

• In general, the printed Program Book serves as the authoritative guide to the program. Changes resulting from cancellations and other factors often occur after the book has been printed (printing typically happens in early September). The online program will be updated to reflect such changes, but changes will be made only until November 1 (however, cancellations after this date will be noted).
• Changes to the program between the printing of the Program Book and November 1 will not alter the schedule of sessions, including the order of presenters within sessions and times at which they are scheduled to present. (Changes such as cancellations may be noted, but the schedule represented in the Program Book will remain unaltered.)
• Changes will not be made after November 1.
• In rare cases, room changes must be made after November 1. Such changes will be publicized as widely as possible.
• Late changes will be publicized on a single webpage on the SBL website: http://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AMprogramupdates.aspx.