Academic conferences are highly impacted by the quality of the abstracts they present. The success of the event rests on the shoulders of the researchers presenting their abstracts. These well-researched abstracts provide a glimpse into their hard work, creative ideas that the scholars have perceived. They become a core element that shapes the overall academic conference. The organizers also consider them and design the event that reflects diversity and depth.
The journey from the initial announcement and call for papers to the publication of the book of abstracts. The academic conference submission process usually demands meticulous planning, precise execution, and implementing and adopting the right tools for use. Organizing an academic event consists of countless steps. One of the most crucial steps that directly affects the performance and quality of the overall conference is the abstract submission process. The submission form is the gateway to displaying the work of knowledgeable researchers.
A well-designed abstract submission form guarantees that all important information is included without any needless complications. For the entire abstract selection and review process to go successfully, the form needs to be precise, effective, and provide a smooth user experience.
In this article, let’s dive deeper and understand some of the best ways to design a user-friendly abstract form that enhances the authors’ and the organizing committee’s experiences.
The Importance of the Abstract Submission Form
The abstract submission form acts as the first point of contact between the authors and organizers. To set a high standard for the attendees, maintaining the layout and readability of the submission form is important. These aspects impact everything, such as submission, review process, and final program selection.
If the form design is inefficient, then this might lead to a rigorous follow-up process, incomplete submissions, and frustration. On the other hand, a user-friendly, comprehensive form improves the chances of receiving higher-quality abstracts, reduces mistakes, simplifies administrative tasks, reflects the conference’s brand identity and standards, and facilitates efficient peer review.
Crucial Components of an Abstract Submission Form
A well-structured form guarantees that you collect all the necessary information required for smooth processing and evaluation. It also offers a user-friendly experience for the authors. The clearer, straightforward, and more organized the form is, the lower the chances of errors, incomplete submissions, and confusion in the review process.
Some of the most essential components for every abstract submission form are:
1. Abstract Title
It is the first element that reviewers and attendees will notice. The title should be brief, concise, and reflective of the research subject. It should be compelling enough to provide a quick understanding of the abstract’s content without being too long or ambiguous.
2. Presentation Style
Organizing sessions and assigning activities like panel discussions or lightning talks becomes very easy when the presenting style is known beforehand. Giving an option for authors or speakers to choose their desired presenting format is always helpful. Presentation styles are of various types, which include poster, oral presentation, or other formats appropriate for the academic event.
3. Relevant Field/Topic
It is essential to ask the authors to categorize their abstracts under the relevant topic or field. This streamlines the overall abstract review process. It will help to segregate the submissions appropriately, like sessions or tracks. It also ensures that the abstracts are reviewed by specialists in their respective fields.
4. Author Information
A well-organized submission form must consist of complete details related to the authors and co-authors who were actively involved in the research process. This includes:
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- Corresponding Author: Someone who is the main point of contact and who will get notifications and updates about the status of the submission.
- Presenting Author: Someone who is going to exhibit their research at the conference. Sometimes, both the corresponding and presenting authors are the same person, but not always. It’s important to clarify and mention these things clearly in the abstract submission form.
5. Body of the Abstract
The abstract is the core of the submission. It is essential to provide proper space for the abstract body with clear length requirements if there are, formatting guidelines, and structure. The structure includes – Introduction, Observations, Methods, Results, Discussion, and more. Ensuring better consistency across submissions, giving clear guidelines, will make the whole review and submission process hassle-free.
Sometimes, authors need to present visual elements such as images, charts, and tables. This helps to better explain their research and knowledge. Organizers must design a submission form that allows them to upload these kinds of visual elements, which complement the overall text of the abstract.
These features in the submission form can be essential, especially in topics where the presence of visual data plays a crucial role. Apart from these aspects, the form should also support the use of special characters such as mathematical formulae or scientific notations. This makes the form highly relevant with all the information present accurately. The design of the submission forms must be compatible with handling multiple submissions from the same authors as well.
6. Keywords
The presence of keywords has become incredibly useful. Asking the researchers to provide a few relevant keywords that give an insight into their research will be helpful for easily categorizing abstracts. This also helps the reviewers to quickly identify the focus of the research.
7. References (if applicable)
In some abstracts, the references might be necessary for certain fields or topics. However, this section is optional but can be included based on the academic event’s specific regulations. The organizers must be clear about this and provide relevant formatting details for citing references so there’s no ambiguity and confusion for researchers.
8. Full-Text Submission (Optional or Required)
Many academic conferences usually ask for a full-text submission apart from the abstract. This is because the organizers want to publish the proceedings of the conference. At this time, there should be a clear section for the researchers to upload their full-text papers. There should be clear guidelines mentioned related to the file types, styles, formatting, and length.
Ways to Design the Best Submission Form
For the smooth execution of an academic conference submission process, the abstract submission form must be user-friendly, visually appealing, clearly understandable, and logically organized. Some of the main aspects to consider while designing the best abstract submission form are:
Simple and Intuitive
Simplicity is often underrated, but prioritizing it can be quite helpful in designing the best user-friendly abstract form. The submission process should be easy for the authors. They must not feel irritated while filling out the form. The design should be effortlessly presented from start to finish. If there are cluttered pages, too many fields, or confusing layouts, then many will be demotivated to participate in the conference.
Define Clear Objectives
It is always good to have a clear vision for your conference’s goals. Think about the disciplines involved, various types of presentations, such as poster, oral, panel, and workshop. If there is any need for unique and specific requirements for the research community, do consider those aspects as well.
Be driven with clarity, which guides every aspect of the form. This includes mandatory questions to users, optional questions, and more. Be open to feedback and improve the form accordingly.
Clear Instructions with Examples
Incomplete or incorrect submissions mainly happen due to the lack of clear instructions. Every section of the abstract submission form must have clear and concise instructions on what details to include without compromising on the quality. It is highly recommended to follow a set of guidelines and a checklist.
Giving examples for each section, especially for complex fields like the formatting of the abstract body, the structure of keywords, entering the author’s details, and more. Following this process easily eliminates vagueness and helps researchers feel confident in completing the abstract form appropriately on their first attempt.
Ease in Accessibility
Usually, it takes a lot of time and several drafts to submit an abstract. The conference organizing committee must allow the scholars to begin their submission, save their work, and come back to complete it later. Giving an option to submit later is useful for them. This option helps the researchers who might need more time to work with co-authors or get more information before submitting their work. Apart from this, it limits the possibility of applicants rushing through the abstract form just to fulfill a deadline.
Data Privacy and Compliance
Academic submission forms often contain sensitive data like unpublished research, intellectual property, and sensitive author details. The event organizers must ensure data security, confidentiality of the collected information, and compliance. You must assure the scholars that you follow all the necessary global data privacy standards. This helps to build trust.
The event organizers can expect cutting-edge research output from the scholars if they strictly follow encrypted connections, secure login credentials, and multi-factor authentication. Always give a clear disclaimer of how and where their information will be used, stored, and shared. Gain a complete understanding of the relevant and necessary data-protection frameworks to win the trust of your event’s attendees.​
Mobile Responsiveness
Globally, many researchers are working on the go. The academic conference organizers must craft a form that is quickly responsive and easy to complete on any device, especially smartphones and tablets. A mobile-friendly form is vital for accommodating more researchers.
A mobile-optimized form adjusts automatically according to the screen size and stays fully functional on any platform. This is also helpful for scholars to submit their work whenever and wherever on any device.
Online Abstract Management Tools
An online abstract management tool makes a huge difference in the overall submission process. These advanced tools simplify the process and help the conference organizers streamline their workflows, so the whole event can run smoothly. These tools not only collect the abstracts but also follow other crucial steps, such as:
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- Sending instant and automated acknowledgments through emails to confirm the submission.
- Providing the summary of the conference, like core objectives, expectations, speakers, and more.
- Giving the details related to the next steps so that the researchers won’t remain clueless on how to proceed further.
- Utilizing innovative options to assign the abstracts to the suitable reviewers.
- Offering options for multiple exports and supporting the files of various formats like PDF, Excel, and Doc will maximize inclusivity.
- Easily connects the abstract submission form with registration, schedule, delivery details, progress, and publication for seamless administrative workflow.
Abstract management software like Dryfta is the best solution for creating abstract submission forms. This platform empowers event planners with a very sophisticated, flexible, and user-friendly abstract form. It gives organizers customization options to create tailored submission forms that perfectly align with the academic conference goals and the diverse needs of authors.
To Sum Up
The standard of the academic conference is usually measured by the quality of the abstract submission process. A well-designed, user-friendly abstract form is the foundation of a successful event. The journey of the conference begins with the abstract form. Designing a convenient and intuitive form eases the process for authors. Using innovative solutions like online abstract management tools will not only save a lot of time for the event organizers but also contribute to the success of the event.