Choosing the ideal abstract management platform (AMS) is possibly the most impactful decision an academic event organiser can face. The platform you select determines the experience for authors and significantly influences the workload for reviewers. Additionally, these systems impact data protection and reporting practices, and often become the central hub for event workflows over the coming months. Making the right choice can enhance engagement, streamline processes, and ultimately elevate the quality of your event.
Here are 15 questions carefully selected, each coupled with a brief explanation and a practical follow-up suggestion to check vendors. These questions reflect the present standards in the event management sector and directly address academic organisers: programme chairs, research office staff, and conference managers.
1. Is the Abstract Management Platform Capable of Managing Your Regular Submission Volume?
Some platforms slow down, charge per submission, or need manual intervention when there is a surge of submissions. Ensure they have not only the capacity for slow days but also the ability to withstand peak submission days.
Ask about events that have a similar number of submissions and request their performance data.
2. Is the Tool Flexible When Dealing With Abstract Submission Forms and Metadata Fields?
In general, academic abstract submissions should have custom fields, such as source of funding, approval of the ethics committee, keywords, and extended structured metadata in most cases. A strict format will require you to do extra administrative work.
Prepare a questionnaire with conditional questions and ask for a real-time demonstration showing the author’s part and the back-end exports.
3. What Reviewer Workflows and Blind-Review Modes are Supported?
Single-blind, double-blind, triple-blind, open review, and different fields necessitate different regulations. Additionally, verify the manner in which reviewers identify conflicts of interest, rebuttals, and discussion threads.
Obtain a reviewer demo account and perform the steps of assignment, scoring, and discussion.
4. Is It Able to Automate the Reviewer Assignment Process and Balance the Load?
When the number of reviewer assignments grows to a large scale, it is no longer feasible to manually assign tasks. An intelligent system that matches keywords, expertise, and conflicts of interest while automatically balancing the load saves time and reduces bias.
Ask for the documentation describing the matching algorithm and a sample report of the automated allocation.
5. How Are Roles, Permissions, and Data Access Handled by the System?
Different areas of a conference require different levels of access that they receive from organisers, track chairs, reviewers, and external editors. If the tool doesn’t allow permissions correctly, there is a risk that confidential materials will be exposed.
Request the service provider to help you control who sees what information and what actions they can take, ensuring data security and smoother workflows.
6. What Export Formats, APIs, and Integrations Does the Company Provide?
Accepted abstracts should be transferred to scheduling tools, proceedings, workflows, publisher portals, or registration systems. CSV/PDF exports might just be insufficient.
Request sample exports and API documentation. Check if the vendor has ready-to-use connectors, which are pre-built links that let your AMS platform automatically share data with other conference tools. These features are time-efficient and reduce manual work.
7. Can the System Support Multiple Languages and Be Localised?
At international conferences, it is usually necessary to provide translated versions of submission forms, use localised date formats, and have a reviewer interface in several languages. If the localisation is not done properly, the number of submissions will be low and the number of questions will increase. Request a multilingual demonstration along with samples of localised email templates.
8. What is the Method Used for Communications and Automated Notifications?
Personalised and prompt emails with receipt, review invitation, decision, and reminders help in lowering the number of queries and increasing the satisfaction level of the authors. Evaluating templating, scheduling, and merge-field functionalities is necessary.
Request to have a look at the email builder and some examples of automation rules, for example: reminder cadence for pending reviews.
9. What Security Measures Were Put in Place to Ensure the Protection of Data, Privacy, and Compliance?
Research data, together with personal identifiers, are highly sensitive. Therefore, it is essential to verify that General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or local data law, encryption, and retention policies are all correctly followed. This is done through the provision of security whitepapers, certifications, and a data processing agreement.
10. How Does the Platform Facilitate Session Creation and Program Export?
The next step after approval is usually quite complicated, which is about making sessions, posters, and schedules. It is advisable to check for drag-and-drop session builders and simple exports to apps or timetables.
Investigate the process of creating sessions, handling simultaneous sessions, and finalising the export to your event format by asking for a demonstration.
11. Are There Features to Ensure Efficient Reporting, Analytics, and Monitoring?
You will require submission statistics, reviewer turnaround times, demographic breakdowns, and acceptance rates to report to the committee. Inquire about sample reports, custom report builders, and whether there are any live dashboards.
12. Will the Vendor Provide Onboarding, Training, and Timely Support?
If there is a steep learning curve and vendor support is not satisfactory, the costs may increase. Find out if the platform includes training materials, resources, and the hours of live support. Make sure to access the onboarding plan, sample training materials, and the support tickets.
13. Are There Features That Prioritize Accessibility and Mobile-Responsiveness?
Activities in the academic sector should be open to everyone. Ensuring that the AMS platform meets accessibility standards and that submission and review processes are user-friendly for mobile devices helps to attract more users.
Ask for accessibility declarations, verify them through a screen reader’s navigation method, and check whether the platform is accessible via mobile devices.
14. How Transparent is the Pricing of the Abstract Management Software?
A lot of systems carry some kind of hidden fees per submission or per user, which can double the budgets unexpectedly. Find out details about free trials, penalties, export costs, and long-term licensing if you aren’t sure.
Obtain a detailed cost estimate of your event, mentioning the number of submissions, reviewers, and integration necessities from the vendor.
15. Is the Abstract Management System Scalable, or Is It Possible to Tailor It to Particular Academic Needs?
A few systems are designed for community meetings, while others are meant for huge multi-track research conferences. Check for configurability, modular add-ons, and the vendor’s academic track record.
Check case studies in your field and request references from similar events. Find out if custom development is feasible and what the cost would be.
The Takeaway
Picking the ideal abstract management platform is essentially about making sure that your conference is a reflection of the quality, honesty, and fairness of the research that it depicts. A careful decision made now can speed up your submission and review operations, lessen the administrative workload. Thus, it provides a flawless experience to authors, reviewers, and organisers.
The investment in a dependable system will be of great help to you, whether you are organising a small symposium or a large international conference. You will be able to concentrate on the scholarship rather than the spreadsheets.
If you need a single solution for hosting world-class academic events, Dryfta is the right choice. It offers robust abstract management tools that facilitate submission, expedite reviews, and hence, easily integrate with your event workflows.
Discover the innovative ways Dryfta can elevate your next event to new heights! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to check out a free demo and see firsthand how effortless academic event management can be.