Forty papers were submitted for presentation at the Fall Meeting, and twenty have been selected by the Program Committee. Eight additional papers for a new experimental longer format ware submitted, of which a paper by Herman Roiphe, M.D., “On a General Schema of Pre-Oedipal Development,” was selected for presentation.
For reading and making decisions on papers the twenty-one member Program Committee, which is under the chairmanship of Arnold M. Cooper, M.D., is divided into three subcommittees. Each paper is read by three members of the subcommittee. The author's name is removed in an effort to minimize the “halo effect” produced by the recognition of a well-known author, thus giving equal opportunity for the selection of quality papers by other members.
Arnold Cooper has stated that there is generally sufficient agreement among the three readers for a decision to be made. When wide divergence of opinion does occur, it is usually due to the question of whether methodology or subject matter is sufficiently psychoanalytic to belong at the meetings. “Occasionally there is out and out disagreement,” Dr. Cooper stated, “as to what is an original and creative psychoanalytic contribution. We are beginning to investigate the causes for this sort of disagreement.”
There is an eighteen page limit for papers of the usual format to permit time for two prepared discussants and for discussion from the floor. The discussants are selected from a list submitted by each of the readers. Whenever possible, an attempt is made to give candidates an opportunity to discuss papers. The names of appropriate candidates are submitted by the institutes at the request of the Program Committee. The majority of institutes have responded favorably to this request, although a few have refused to do so, feeling it may interfere with their training function.
The new long format will hopefully encourage the submission of papers by authors who have written primarily for a journal or who feel they cannot present their material in a shorter form. The Committee plans to limit the number of long papers because of the expense involved in pre-distribution. These papers will be discussed and not read by the authors. No formal discussants for these papers are currently planned.
Dr. Cooper has stated that the Program Committee is most eager to have more high-quality papers submitted for both categories, as the scientific papers have been and should remain a major aspect of the American's meetings.