Configurations for Conference Submissions

Publications may send out requests for abstracts or full-length articles to be presented at a conference, such as an annual meeting or a society meeting.

These conference submissions are submitted via the existing manuscript submission process and are managed by the editorial office and Editors using existing functions. The main difference is the way that the submissions are later transmitted to production. Conference Submissions may be transmitted one at a time or in a batch.

Additionally, Editors may organize Conference Submissions by Presentation Date, by Session, or by Presentation Type, and they can create a Sequence by which the presentations will be given and/or printed.

It is recommended that publications use a separate EM site for Conference Submissions, because the workflow, submission instructions, timelines, and terminology are often vastly different from regular publication submission workflows.

A single site could be used over again each year for an annual conference, e.g., 2017 Annual Meeting, 2018 Annual Meeting, etc. (The Hide feature can be used to remove options that are obsolete for the following year's conference.)

Note: It is possible to run multiple conferences in parallel at the same time through the system, but this is not recommended.

Reports for conference submissions

The Search/Manage Conference Submissions report enables Editors or Publishers (with RoleManager permission) to search, retrieve, and organize Conference Submissions. They can transmit the data for publication (printed or electronic) by SFTP. This report appears in the Report Tools section of the Reports menu.

For information on using the report, see Search/Manage Conference Submissions.

To Configure:

First, set up the Conference(s) by entering identifying data. Go to PolicyManager > Conference Submission Policies > Edit Conference Submission Metadata Fields. Five types of information may be entered from this page: Conferences Names, Presentation Types, Presentation Dates, Session Names and Conference Submission Book Titles.

All of these pages for metadata entry (Conference Name, Presentation Type, Presentation Date, Session Name, Conference Submission Book Title) function the same way.

Enter the new item in the text box and click the Add button.
The items and order in which they appear on this page are reflected in the list available for selection on the transmittal form. To reorder the list, enter the preferred numbered order in the boxes in the Order column and click the Update Item Order button.
Select the appropriate radio button to display (or not display) a default value on the transmittal form. The default value is the first item in the list.
Items may be hidden (deactivated and no longer available for new manuscripts); hidden items appear in italics at the bottom of the list. To hide an item, click the Edit link next to it. On the Edit page, check the box next to Hide and click the Submit button.
Items may be removed from the list (by clicking the Remove link) if they have not been associated with a submission.

Once entered, this data can be selected on the transmittal form for each Conference Submission. This allows the Editor to assign each Conference Submission to a specific Conference and Session as well as identify the Presentation Date, Type, and Sequence.

Note: These fields are accessed only by the Editor; they are not selected by the Author at time of submission. If you would like the Author to have input on any of these items, create a submission questionnaire. For details, see Questionnaires.

Second, create an Article Type for Conference Submissions. Go to PolicyManager > Submission Policies > Edit Article Types. Add a new Article Type in the Conference Submission family.

A submission with this Article Type is given a set of Final Dispositions that are different from those for submissions in other Article Type families. The purpose of having a different Final Disposition mechanism is to allow the publication to organize and transmit the Conference Submissions in bulk (all at once) for a meeting program (printed or electronic). Assigning the Article Type to the Conference Submission family also enables the Conference Submission metadata fields to appear on the transmittal form for any submission of that Article Type.

For details on the Article Types page, see Configure Article Types.

Third, create letters and associate them to ActionManager events.

The following ActionManager events relate to Conference Submissions. All are triggered when an Editor sets the Final Disposition on a Conference Submission:

Final Disposition – Accept and Transmit Conference Submission
Final Disposition – Accept for Extraction Conference Submission
Final Disposition – Reject Conference Submission
Final Disposition – Withdrawn Conference Submission

A status change is pre-configured for these Events in the Document Status section of ActionManager. The status term can be edited. For details, see Create Editorial Document Status Terms.

Letters can be configured for each event. Possible letters and recipients:

A letter to the Publisher role (e.g., someone in production) could inform the recipient when Final Disposition has been set.
A letter to Authors could inform the recipient(s) when Final Disposition has been set.
A letter to any Editor role that needs to know, such as a Managing Editor or other publication staff, could inform recipients when Final Disposition has been set on a Conference Submission.

For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.

For details on associating letters to events, see Link Letters to ActionManager Events.

Fourth, identify the SFTP site that will receive the transmittals of Conference Submission source files and metadata. Go to AdminManager > Set Default Target FTP Site for Extract of Conference Submissions. Enter the SFTP address, Username, Password, and Default FTP directory. When finished, click Submit.

Note: This is simply a default setting. The Editor will have the opportunity to manually redirect the results to another server when running the Search/Manage Conference Submissions report.

Finally, grant permissions to appropriate user roles. Go to RoleManager > Editor Role or Publisher Role. Grant permission to the applicable roles:

Editor roles:

Produce Reports
Search/Manage Conference Submissions

Publisher roles:

Search/Manage Conference Submissions