Managing conference abstracts feels like conducting an orchestra. You are coordinating reviewers and tracking submissions while you maintain quality standards and keep everyone informed on a tight timeline. However, you might wonder how to determine if your process actually works.
Most conference organizers rely on gut feeling. They sense when things go wrong, but they struggle to pinpoint exactly where the system breaks down. You make decisions in the dark when you lack hard numbers.
The right KPI can change the tide in your favour. These metrics tell you what works and what needs fixing. They also show you where to focus your energy for the next event.
Submission Volume and Timeline Distribution
Start with the basics by examining how many abstracts you receive and when they arrive.
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- Track your total submission count: Track your abstract submissions against historical data and initial projections. A significant drop might indicate marketing problems or topic relevance issues. It could also point to technical barriers in your submission system. An unexpected surge could mean you have tapped into a hot research area. It might also indicate that your system cannot handle the load.
- Make note of submission patterns: Pay attention to submission patterns over time. Most conferences see a massive spike in the final 48 hours before the deadline. Reviewers get less time to evaluate submissions properly if 60% arrive in the last two days. Authors rushing at the deadline might submit lower-quality work as well. Late submissions also compress your review timeline in ways that create additional pressure.
- Find your average: Calculate your average daily submission rate and identify peak periods. Consider implementing early deadlines with benefits if the last-minute rush consistently overwhelms your process. You could also set up automated reminders that start weeks before the final date.
KPIs That Review Completion Rates and Speed
Your review process is only as good as your reviewers’ follow-through when assignments come due.
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- Check for completion: Measure what percentage of assigned reviews actually get completed. Industry standards vary but anything below 85% completion suggests problems exist. Maybe reviewers are overloaded or unclear about expectations. They might also lack motivation to complete their work.
- Time and deadlines: Time-to-review matters just as much as completion rates. Calculate the average number of days between review assignment and completion. Compare that figure against your stated timeline. Your schedule has a structural problem if reviewers consistently take 15 days when you have given them 14.
- Reminders need reminders too: Track the effectiveness of your reminders as well. Find out how many reviews get completed after each reminder email. You are sending too many messages if completions jump significantly after your first reminder but barely budge after the second. Your initial deadline might be unrealistic if completions only pick up after multiple reminders.
Break down all this data by individual reviewer. This information helps you build a reliable reviewer pool for future events. The fast and thorough reviewers deserve recognition and first consideration next time. The chronic non-responders need removal from your list.
Abstract Quality Scores and Acceptance Rates
Numbers alone do not tell you whether you are accepting good work. Record the distribution of review scores across all submissions. Your rubric might be too vague if everything clusters at the middle of your rating scale. You need better reviewer calibration if scores vary wildly between reviewers evaluating the same abstract.
Take a closer look at how common or different ratings are when multiple reviewers are involved in the peer review process. Large disagreements between reviewers suggest unclear evaluation criteria. Something is broken in your process if one reviewer gives a submission 2 out of 5 stars while another awards it 5 out of 5.
KPIs That Stabilize Reviewer Workload and Help Maintain Balance
Uneven workload distribution burns out your best reviewers over time. Therefore, it is important to keep track of how many abstracts each of your reviewers evaluates.
Following this, with the number you’ve arrived at, calculate the standard deviation across your reviewer pool. A few reviewers handling twice the average load, while others barely participate, creates resentment and fatigue.
KPIs Pointing at Author Communication Responsiveness
Conference success depends on keeping authors informed at every stage. Track how long authors wait for each communication. This includes submission confirmation and review assignment notifications. It also covers decision letters and revision requests. Long delays create anxiety and damage your reputation with the research community.
Measure author response rates when you request revisions or additional information. Low response rates might indicate unclear instructions or unrealistic timelines. They could also mean notifications are landing in spam folders.
Document common author questions and complaints. Your initial communication was not clear enough, if you are answering the same question 50 times. Patterns in author confusion point directly at process improvements you need to make.
System Usability and Technical Performance KPIs
Technical problems sink even well-designed processes when they occur repeatedly.
Monitor submission abandonment rates. This represents the percentage of authors who start but do not complete their submission. High abandonment suggests a confusing or buggy interface. Check where in the process people drop off. You might have file size issues or unclear format requirements if most abandonments happen at the file upload stage.
Track system uptime and performance during peak periods. You are losing submissions and frustrating authors if your platform crashes or slows to a crawl during the deadline rush.
Record technical support requests related to the abstract system. Categorize them by issue type. Clusters of similar problems indicate systemic flaws rather than user error.
KPIs to Measure Revision and Resubmission Success Rates
Many conferences allow authors to revise and resubmit rejected abstracts for reconsideration.
Calculate what percentage of invited revisions actually get resubmitted. Low resubmission rates suggest your revision requirements are too burdensome. They might also indicate that your initial feedback was too discouraging.
Track the acceptance rate for revised submissions. Your initial feedback might not be actionable enough if most revisions still get rejected. Authors need specific guidance about what to fix in their work.
Measure the quality improvement between the original and revised submissions. Authors either did not understand the feedback or the feedback was too vague if the revised versions showed minimal changes in reviewer scores.
KPIs to Measure Your Overall Process Cycle Time
Consider how long your entire abstract management process takes from call for papers to final notifications. And then compare your actual timeline against your planned schedule.
Most conferences tend to underestimate how long each phase takes in reality. Chronic delays point to unrealistic planning or bottlenecks you have not identified yet. Identify which phase consistently takes longer than expected. Ask yourself:
Is it getting reviewers to complete assignments?
Are we waiting for program committee decisions?
Do we face technical issues with the platform?
Each of these bottlenecks that do show up along the road needs different solutions. KPIs measuring these problems are the first step in finding reliable solutions for them.
Making KPIs Matter
Collecting data accomplishes nothing if you do not act on what you learn. To make the best out of the KPIs you’ve recorded, consider the following:Â
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- It is productive to set up even a simple dashboard that will show how your key metrics progress in real-time and during active abstract management periods.
- Share relevant KPIs and associated metrics with your team so that everyone stays informed. Reviewers should see aggregate completion rates, too. Authors deserve transparency about timeline expectations as well, so they can plan accordingly.
- Review your KPIs after each conference cycle concludes. Identify your three biggest problem areas and develop specific action plans to address them. Do not try to fix everything at once because that approach often fails.
- Compare your KPIs against industry benchmarks whenever feasible. Professional associations often publish survey data about conference management practices that offer some truly useful context.
Modernize Your Abstract Management Process with Dryfta
Managing these KPIs manually means spreadsheets and constant calculations. It also means data scattered across multiple systems. You spend more time tracking numbers than improving your process when you work this way.
Dryfta’s abstract management solution automatically captures and displays every metric covered in this article. Real-time dashboards show you submission patterns and reviewer completion rates over time and make out process bottlenecks without any manual data entry. Your team will see what matters when it matters most.
To stop guessing whether your abstract management process works as intended, sign up for a free demo with us today. No more second-guessing, start measuring what truly matters for your conference success. Visit our website to see how modern conference organizers are using data to create better events.