Enhancing Interdisciplinary Research Through Abstract Management

How Abstract Management Systems (AMS) Are Enhancing Interdisciplinary Research

 

Academia and research sectors have changed incredibly over the last decade. Gone are the days when researchers worked in their labs and rooms without venturing beyond their specific disciplines. Fast forward to today, some of the most decisive discoveries for mankind have happened at the intersection of multiple fields. As a result, interdisciplinary research is booming now more than ever.

This trend has some important implications for modern-day conference organizers. Planners must now account for the interests and goals of several different academic disciplines within one room. Traditional paper-based submission systems simply cannot handle the demands of modern interdisciplinary conferences. It is time to pause and rethink your approach.

Managing interdisciplinary research events might seem daunting, to say the least. However, abstract management system platforms are now making this process smoother and more intuitive than ever.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All in Interdisciplinary Conferences

The conventional image of academic conference management is perhaps that of a standard submission form that every researcher fills out the same way. This is now progressively becoming an outdated approach. In the space of academic research, diversity is the quickest route to invention. That being said, it’s ironic that conference organizers are still using conventional systems when their events demand exactly the opposite.

Organizing a single-discipline conference is straightforward enough because planners know their audiences. They know the common terminology and can easily identify qualified reviewers. But interdisciplinary events are particularly challenging in that they use different citation styles, formatting conventions, and even terminology. A word that means one thing in Psychology might mean something entirely different in the area of Artificial Intelligence.

Being Adaptable for Interdisciplinary Events

One-size-fits-all submission forms hardly work for interdisciplinary conferences. There are countless stories of conference organizers who say that adopting an abstract management system was the best decision they’ve made for their interdisciplinary events.

These organizers chose to move away from spreadsheets and email threads to invest in proper conference infrastructure. And lo and behold, they’re now running their conferences more smoothly than ever. How did they do that? They found the courage to break away from the familiar manual processes and be open to modern solutions.

Abstract Management Systems: Your Options

Before you commit to any abstract management platform, it is important to know that not all systems are created equal. The contemporary conference management space is now offering a buffet of options for organizers at different stages. Here are the capabilities you should look for in an abstract management system for your interdisciplinary research conference:

Adaptable Submission Categories

Your system should let you create different submission types with different requirements for each track. Medical research might need ethics approval fields, while computer science papers require code repository links. Dryfta’s abstract management system handles this skillfully by showing relevant fields based on what category the author selects.

Intelligent Reviewer Matching

When a submission spans biology and machine learning, your system should identify reviewers who understand both domains. Modern platforms allow reviewers to specify their areas of expertise across multiple disciplines, which improves review quality dramatically compared to manual assignment.

Collaborative Review Processes

Interdisciplinary submissions benefit from multiple reviewers bringing different perspectives to the evaluation. The system should track each reviewer’s comments separately so you can see how different disciplinary lenses evaluate the same work, and discussion features should let reviewers communicate when they disagree.

Diverse Presentation Formats

Your conference probably features panels, workshops, and demonstrations beyond traditional presentations. Different submission types need different information during submission so workshop proposals should collect learning objectives, while panel submissions gather details about all participants.

The quality of peer review determines the quality of your conference program, and for interdisciplinary events, finding reviewers with appropriate expertise across multiple fields is perhaps the most difficult aspect of program management.

Abstract management systems with intelligent matching capabilities make this process significantly easier by allowing reviewers to specify their areas of expertise across multiple disciplines.

Collaborative Review Processes

Interdisciplinary submissions often benefit from multiple reviewers bringing different disciplinary perspectives to the evaluation process. The system tracks each reviewer’s comments separately so you can see how different disciplinary perspectives evaluate the same work, and this multifaceted review reveals blind spots that single-discipline evaluation might miss.

The Value of AMS for Interdisciplinary Conferences

While it’s time-efficient, the true value of an abstract management system goes beyond short-term convenience. Yes, you save hours of manual work, but after implementing a proper platform, you also gain:

      • A review process that’s now more rigorous than ever.
      • Better program collaboration and productivity across disciplines and perspectives
      • Improved communication with authors and reviewers across disciplines.
      • The potential to handle conference growth without drowning in logistics.
      • A truly professional experience that levels up your event’s reputation multifold.

Modern Conferences with an Interdisciplinary Vision

Should we tell a secret that traditional conference software providers won’t openly advertise? Organizers who understand the value of interdisciplinary research and have seen what good collaboration looks like are the best kind of clients to work with. Hence, it’s about time to quit looking at your multi-track conference as a burden.

In modern abstract management, there’s no need to simplify your vision. A few years down the line, other organizers will be wishing they dared to explore interdisciplinary event management like you did.

Integration That Actually Works

Abstract management should not exist in isolation from other functions of your conference. The best of AMS  platforms are the ones that integrate with registration so accepted authors can sign up directly through the abstract platform. This eliminates duplicate data entry and makes sure that all presenters complete their registration.

Dryfta helps unify abstract management with registration to create a unified platform for your entire event. Session scheduling pulls data automatically including presentation titles, author names, and format requirements. When authors update their information, those changes appear in your program immediately.

Your Next Chapter Starts Now

An abstract management system has hardly anything to do with how tech-savvy you are. Rather, it is about how open you’re to finding better ways of organizing interdisciplinary research events. Don’t let outdated processes be the thing that holds your conferences back. The right platform is waiting, and trust us, it’s never too late to upgrade your conference management approach.

If you’re still weighing your options, Dryfta’s event management platform, packed with sophisticated abstract management tools that we’ve designed specifically with academic events in mind, may be worth considering.

Our system handles multiple tracks, customized review processes, and intelligent reviewer matching and completes registration and scheduling automation.  Browse our website today to learn how Dryfta can support your next interdisciplinary conference.