Abstract Submission Software

How abstract submission works, step by step

Scientific, academic and professional conferences follow much the same sequence, though the details vary by field and society. Work back from the date the program must be final.

1. 1

   Publish the call

   State the themes, the types of submission (oral, poster, workshop), the word limit, the deadline and the rules. Put it on the conference website and send it to the community.

   Call for speakers guide
2. 2

   Open the submission form

   Authors enter the title, the abstract text, the authors and affiliations, the topic and the preferred format. Allow edits until the deadline.

3. 3

   Check submissions are complete

   Reject or return anything that is incomplete or outside the rules, before it reaches reviewers.

4. 4

   Assign reviewers

   Match each abstract to reviewers by topic, avoid conflicts of interest and give each abstract at least two reviewers if you can.

5. 5

   Score against a rubric

   Each reviewer scores independently on the same criteria and leaves comments.

6. 6

   Decide

   The committee reads the scores, resolves splits and decides: accept as oral, accept as poster, or decline. It also keeps a waiting list.

7. 7

   Notify authors

   Send results by an agreed date with next steps for accepted authors: confirm, register, send the final text and book travel.

8. 8

   Schedule the accepted abstracts

   Place them in sessions by topic and time, and publish the program.

   Conference agenda guide

What the submission form should ask

Ask for what reviewers need to judge the abstract and what the program needs to publish it. Long forms lose authors and short ones lose reviewers.

• Title

  Set a character limit so the program has room for it.

• Abstract text with a word limit

  Many societies ask for structured sections such as background, methods, results and conclusions. Say what the structure is and show a sample.

• Authors and affiliations

  Name each author, the presenting author and their institution. Ask for an email for the presenting author.

• Topic or track

  A drop-down list of the themes, so reviewers can be matched to the submission.

• Preferred format

  Oral, poster or either. Say that the committee may offer a different format.

• Declarations

  Conflicts of interest, funding and any ethics approvals that your field requires, as your rules say.

• Consent and terms

  Agreement to the conference terms, permission to publish the abstract and, where relevant, to record the presentation.

An abstract submission form template to copy

Copy this text into your form builder or call page and change the brackets to fit your conference.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: [CONFERENCE NAME], [DATES], [CITY OR ONLINE]
Deadline: [Date, time zone]   Notification of results: [Date]   Final text due: [Date]

THEMES
1. [Theme]   2. [Theme]   3. [Theme]   4. [Theme]

FORMATS
Oral presentation: [Length]   Poster: [Size and format]   Workshop: [Length]

FORM FIELDS
Presenting author: [Name]   Email: [Email]   Institution: [Name]   Country: [Country]
Co-authors and affiliations: [Names and institutions]
Title (maximum [N] characters): [Title]
Theme: [Choose one]
Preferred format: [Oral / Poster / No preference]
Abstract (maximum [N] words): [Text]
   Background: [Text]
   Methods: [Text]
   Results: [Text]
   Conclusions: [Text]
Keywords (up to [N]): [Words]
Conflicts of interest or funding: [Statement]
Ethics approval, if applicable: [Reference]
I agree that the abstract may be published in the program: [ ]
I agree to the conference terms: [ ]
I will attend and present if accepted: [ ]

RULES
One presenting author per abstract. Each presenter may submit up to [N] abstracts. Abstracts not within the word limit will be returned. Results are sent by email on [date]. Accepted presenters must register by [date].

CONTACT
Questions: [Email]

A review rubric

Scoring every abstract on the same criteria makes decisions fairer and easier to explain to authors. Agree the rubric before the first abstract is read, and ask reviewers to score first and discuss afterward.

Running the review fairly

Review quality decides whether authors trust the conference. A few practices keep it fair and keep reviewers willing to come back. Your field or society may have its own rules, so follow those first.

• At least two reviewers per abstract

  One reviewer is a single opinion. Two or more show where opinions differ and make the committee's decision easier to defend.

• Blind review where your field uses it

  Some fields remove author names before review. Decide this in advance and tell authors and reviewers.

• Conflicts of interest

  Reviewers should not score their own work, their colleagues' work or a rival's. Ask them to declare and reassign.

• A calibration step

  Have reviewers score two or three sample abstracts together first so the scale means the same thing to everyone.

• A clear deadline and reminders

  Reviewers are volunteers with other jobs. Give them a date, a time estimate and a reminder.

• Feedback for authors

  Send reviewer comments, edited if need be, with the decision. It makes the process more useful, even for those declined.

Features to look for in abstract submission software

Use this list to compare tools. Rank the features by what your process actually requires, since a small conference and a large society need different things.

Scheduling the accepted abstracts

Acceptance is not the end of the work. Turning a list of accepted abstracts into a program is a puzzle of topics, formats, rooms and people, and it goes faster with a method.

• Group by topic first

  Cluster accepted abstracts into themes, then name each cluster as a session. Attendees choose sessions by topic, so a coherent theme matters more than the order of acceptance.

• Set session lengths from the formats

  Decide the slot for an oral presentation, plus time for questions and changeover, and build sessions from whole slots. Leave a buffer at the end of each session.

• Check author constraints

  Collect travel dates, time zones and clashes where one person presents twice or chairs a session at the same time. Fix clashes before publishing.

• Place posters on their own track

  Give poster sessions a dedicated slot with no competing talks, so presenters have an audience. For ideas on format, see the poster session guide.

  Poster session guide

• Assign chairs and moderators

  Every session needs someone who keeps time and runs questions. Choose chairs from the committee or senior attendees.

• Publish, then freeze

  Publish the program with a date after which changes need the chair's approval, and send each author their time, room and format in writing.

What Eventdex covers

Eventdex runs a Call for Papers process, which its health and university industry pages describe. Here is what those pages say and what they do not.

The pages state that organizers can customize the look and feel of the submission form, collect only the information they need, review submissions and add only the accepted ones to the agenda. They also describe poster walk sessions, in which presenters show research and participants like, comment, vote and download, with reports on each poster's performance.

The pages do not describe assigning submissions to reviewers, blind review, scoring rubrics, conflict-of-interest checks or automatic decision emails to authors. If you need a formal peer review with scored rubrics and reviewer workflows, ask in a demo what Eventdex supports before you commit. If your process is lighter, such as a committee reading submissions and choosing, the process described fits that.

• Your own submission form

  Customize the look and feel and collect only the information you need.

  Eventdex for university events

• Review and agenda

  Review submissions and add only accepted papers to the agenda.

  Eventdex for health events

• Poster sessions

  E-poster walks online and poster sessions at hybrid events, with comments, votes and downloads.

  Virtual event platform

• Registration for accepted authors

  Registration, ticketing and payments for the event, so accepted authors and attendees are in one system.

  Event registration software