The majority of the time, a committee or individual reviews these abstracts to decide whether or not they should be accepted to be later presented in full during the conference. Since no two conferences are alike, it's crucial to look through the available abstract management system options and choose the most adaptable one. This will enable the usage of the same abstract management software across many events by determining which is the most flexible.
Instances of Abstract Management
Abstract management is a common tool used by event planners to create submission guidelines, collect submissions, choose reviewers, and perform several other activities. Online abstract management software must be flexible since, as has already been shown, no two events are the same. The abstract management software should make it possible to specify the necessary submission requirements while planning an event. Collecting entries is the next key consideration for event planners. How will the participant entries be saved and shown once they have been made?
The event manager should be able to view all entries and sort them according to the specific rules established. Assigning reviewers is a crucial demand from the conference abstract management software for special event administrators. It is simple to decide on abstracts and prepare them for presentation day by assigning reviewers. The abstract management system should also give submitters the option of multiple submissions after reading reviewer reviews and let them access the reviewers’ notes.
Managing hundreds of articles that arrive in your mailbox for review from authors all around the world can be difficult and irritating. Abstracts are being submitted by writers; your duties include gathering them, preparing them for review, scheduling sessions, creating abstract books, corresponding with authors and reviewers, and more. Reviewers must be given abstracts to read over and debate. However, managing these abstracts can get complicated when multiple writers and their suggestions cover a range of themes. Software for abstract management can help with this. By facilitating the submission, review assignment, discussion, and verification of abstracts for participating authors, abstract management software can assist you in organizing your work.
What Does Abstract Management Software For Conferences Do?
Event planners can streamline their event's abstract part by using conference abstract management software. Finding the finest abstract software is essential since there are many different types of paid and free abstract management software and abstracts can be a big burden for event businesses. Without an abstract management program, event coordinators would need to contact individual authors to collect their submissions and then manually distribute these abstracts for evaluation. By employing an abstract management system, event planners may use a single platform to collect all material.
How Do I Utilize The Software For Online Abstract Management?
Finding the one with the most flexibility and additional functionality is essential for event planning because numerous event management firms provide abstract management. After choosing abstract management software, familiarizing yourself with its capabilities will help you manage your time more effectively and better abstract management during the live event.
A platform for planning and managing the submission, peer review, and publication of work that academics are submitting to present at a conference is known as abstract management software. These solutions give you the ability to centralize the whole abstract management process, saving you time and preventing the typical hassles that occur when handling every step of this process manually. Starting with our solution, we list what we believe to be the top eight abstract management programs in this post.
However, in today's technologically advanced age, there are numerous possibilities for conference abstract management software. Which one will you pick for your upcoming conference? Here are the top 10 characteristics you need to consider before choosing an abstract management system. For the finest and most effective abstract submission experience, choose software that contains the majority of these characteristics. You can hire an IT specialist or try it out yourself.
Effective Management of Submissions
Managing multiple submissions at once is a difficult task. A conference will also see numerous submissions. If a proper system is not accessible, it may be impossible to keep track of abstract submissions to supplemental documents, graphics, PDFs, and other necessary materials. You should be able to gather submissions, download several papers at once, edit submission forms, and ensure a smooth judicial procedure using the abstract management software you select. You might want to try the next one if the Abstract Submission and Management software doesn't have a good framework in place for this.
Each Participant's Communication Is Individualized
An abstract review session includes several attendees, including authors, judges, staff members, and others. You will frequently need to email them. Every message needs to be tailored to the recipient. Is this possible with the abstract management system you now have? The best abstract management software ought to make it simple to send tailored messages to certain people and target audiences. Even better if you can keep all of your data, marketing emails, and outreach emails in one place.
Arrangement with Other Systems
Planning an online academic conference requires more than just abstract submission. The implementation of numerous systems is necessary, including ones for registration, fee collection, exchange of material and data, communication, and more. The majority of conference planners will have the necessary hardware and software in place to do that. You should choose abstract management software that is compatible with current digital platforms. Because it won't migrate the data to the cloud promptly, low-quality native software will not be able to integrate with other systems. Your next conference abstract management software must completely support hybrid cloud integration, which is a growing trend.
Adaptability and Personalization
Your conferences will be organized differently and have distinct needs. The specifics of each online event will vary from that of the others. The abstract management software should therefore be flexible and able to handle variety. You should be able to set up and customize the abstract submission process, acceptable file types, how attendees fill out their information, whether they should type their own abstracts or copy and paste them, the presentation format, who can participate and how many reviews are permitted, and several other specifics. The ideal scenario would be for the abstract management software to automatically provide recommendations for allocating papers to writers for the review process. Additionally, you'll need this adaptable modification capability when your organization expands and holds additional events, which will inevitably necessitate adaptation for numerous events.
Data Validation, Mining, And Analytics
Names, contact information, contributions, and other particulars are all crucial information that your software gathers about all attendees, participants, and reviewers. Your system needs to store and analyse this data in preparation for any future events. You should use abstract management software for a virtual conference that can uncover insights through data analysis. The requirement for data validation is yet another important component of data. You can't examine each invitation card when conference attendees attend events online. They will submit an online form with their information filled out. Additionally, manually verifying and checking those facts is incredibly inefficient.
Therefore, the feature to automatically evaluate and confirm the attendees' information should be included in the conference abstract management software to achieve peak management. Additionally, it should detect and rectify information, such as when small characters are used in place of capital letters. You won't be able to organize a seamless event without data-efficient software.
Tools for Sending Notifications and Creating Reports
Any data field that is present in your system should be able to generate reports using the capabilities built within the abstract management software. The ability to create reports using data visualization should be a feature of the software because reports are crucial to the decision-making process. Reports might be generated depending on criteria like name, group, field, kind of file or abstract submission, etc. These reports ought to be quickly created, printable, trackable, and shareable with a one-button click.
The ideal abstract management software should also assist you in keeping current with news and developments in the world of academic conferences. You might receive daily or weekly reminders from it informing you of new abstract submissions, their authors, and other significant announcements. This would enable you to quickly and easily take in the major points of important information from a few messages.
The 8 Best Abstract Management Software
Fourwaves
We at Fourwaves created a peer-review and abstract management system that is quick to set up and simple to use. Our objective, as seasoned academic researchers and conference planners, was to streamline and reduce the complexity of the abstract management and review process. You may design the ideal submission form using Fourwaves' simple drag-and-drop form builder. The title, list of authors, and abstract are included by default; however, you can add any other fields, such as those to classify submissions according to a topic, presentation style, or track. Until the submission deadline, authors can log in and make changes to their proposals. They can also upload any supplemental materials, including slides, posters, figures, and videos.
Cvent
The Cvent event management software platform offers a complete approach to sourcing and managing conference content, from the peer-review procedure through the publication of accepted submissions and the development of a conference agenda. Because the Cvent data-collecting procedure is programmable, organizers can set up their submission form to gather the precise data and file formats they require. Additionally, this system offers tools for managing invitations, confirmations, alerts, and reminders via email.
The procedure of assigning submitted content to the reviewers in charge of that topic or track is managed by Cvent. The Cvent portal is available for reviewers to visit, and the platform enables information to be classified via ratings, votes, and comments. According to these categories, submissions can be accepted or refused, and Cvent can be configured to inform writers of the status of their applications. After the content has been submitted and reviewed, Cvent will publish it to the event website and assist in the development of an event agenda.
Oxford Abstracts
Oxford Abstracts assists event planners in gathering submissions, reviewing the material received, and deciding whether or not to include it in the event. The technique for gathering abstracts is straightforward and includes an editable form with question templates. Additionally, it makes it easier for organizers to publicize a call for papers by enabling them to upload the form to the event website, include it in emails, and distribute it via social media.
The peer review options were made to be straightforward and practical for reviewers. The program randomly sends submissions to reviewers based on their areas of expertise. It offers a simple method for determining potential conflicts of interest, scoring submissions, and offering suggestions for how the contribution ought to be presented. Additionally, it offers a helpful tracking tool that handles any incomplete or late evaluations and follows up automatically. Oxford Abstracts offers a straightforward decision-making feature that enables organizers to specify their decision-making procedure and makes it simple to acquire all the information required to decide which entries to accept or reject. Authors may be contacted by a range of integrated manual and specially created emails from inside the platform to inform them of the progress of their application.
OpenWater
A software program called OpenWater collects abstracts, distributes them to reviewers, controls the review procedure, and plans and publishes sessions. Similar to the other platforms we've examined, OpenWater provides a configurable submission form to let conference planners collect all the data they require. It also includes the ability to copy an existing abstract collection for a simple setup the following year. The peer review process and all related correspondence are managed more efficiently. It allows users to download abstract submissions, manage event sessions in a useful dashboard, and generate reports based on sessions.
Exordo
Exordo's abstract management features make it easier to gather abstracts and papers, manage peer reviews, and inform authors of the acceptance or rejection of their submissions. It enables conference planners to designate single or multiple tracks for the event and personalize submission forms to get the precise data required. The peer review process can then be customized to automatically assign contributions to reviewers who specialize in that track or area of interest. With the option to re-assign submissions, close, or disable reviews, it keeps track of the review process and alerts reviewers when they are falling behind.
EasyChair
The abstract management tools of the EasyChair Conference Management software platform offer alternatives to those previously discussed. The first significant feature is a call for submissions, which is managed via Smart CFP. Abstracts, papers, and posters can all be submitted in a variety of formats thanks to the versatile, easily customizable submission forms.
The database administration for the program committee and reviewers is also overseen and managed by EasyChair, who also makes sure that submissions are sent to the appropriate reviewers and that any potential conflicts of interest are disclosed. Once the reviews have been submitted, the platform can handle the author’s rebuttal phase, during which the author can address the criticisms and communicate with the reviewer. Additionally, it could promote online discussions of the content.
Conclusion
We hope the options for abstract management software in this list have helped you make an informed decision. If you're in charge of planning an academic or scientific conference and want to learn more about Fourwaves, schedule a demo right now.
References
- What's Abstract Management And Why Do You Need An Online Abstract Management Tool? (meetinghand.com)