Letzter Hasenpfad 63, 6000 Frankfurt 70 a.M., Federal Republic of Germany, * Medical University Clinic, Department of Clinical Chemistry, Martinistrasse 52, 2000 Hamburg 20, Federal Republic of Germany, and † The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Suite 310, Parnassus Heights Medical Buildings, 350 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94117, U.S.A. The increase in size of national and international scientific meetings has posed challenges to their efficient and effective organization. In planning the scientific programme, particularly when a process of abstract selection involves the judgement of multiple referees, new procedures should facilitate administration and reduce overall costs. The International Congress of Endocrinology held in Hamburg, Germany, in 1976, utilized a computer-assisted series of steps in handling abstracts and this paper summarizes the observations arising from the processing of over 1500 abstracts. We believe this experience will be valuable to future Congress organizers. The objective of the process was the preparation of a