Abstracts Manager is an online application to manage conference authors, documents and reviewers. Conference organizers set-up the Abstracts Manager application using the instructions following and then link to the application from the conference website.
When using Abstracts Manager customers are given a unique domain name http://abstractsmanager.com/conf/yourname/ from which to use Abstracts Manager. This domain name can be masked with the domain name of your choice if you wish. Authors, reviewers, conference organizers and the conference committee are then given access to the relevant parts of Abstracts Manager. The application is not intended for the general public. The conference website will link to the relevant parts of Abstracts Manager for authors and reviewers.
Abstracts Manager contains 3 overall control panels:
The conference organizers would provide access to the Abstracts Manager application from the conference website.
Use the menus in the tool bar to access different areas of the application
Once you have entered a major section (e.g. Configuration or Emails) you can return to other areas within that section by using the main tool bar, or the tabs that appear.
Abstracts Manager has been built to be easy to use and follows a logical path. If you have trouble using the application email support@abstractsmanager.com.
The first time you use the Abstracts Manager application you will be prompted to complete some basic set-up information. Once this form has been completed the entire application will be activated for you. This information can be changed at any time in the future.
The overview screen provides a snapshot of the conference. You can access other areas of the Administrators Control Panel by using the hyperlinks within this overview screen or by using the main tool bar at the top of the screen.
This will sign you out of the application
View and add new presentation types
View and add equipment that will be available to accepted authors
View and add to the themes, sub-themes, streams or categories that the conference will be offering
This screen allows the administrator to enable and disable the author control panel. There is also an option to enable the author control panel, but not allow any new account creation. Place a message that will be displayed when authors try to access the disabled authors control panel here also.
Instructions that the author will see when they create a new account and when they log-in to their account once it is created.
Select which fields must be completed by authors when they sign-up for an account and set a word limit for the author biography.
Set-up the conference to receive author submissions as "plain text" or "documents". Set a word limit if plain text submissions are received or upload a "template" document if you wish authors to submit documents using a standard template.
This screen allows the administrator to enable and disable the reviewer control panel. Place a message that will be displayed when reviewers try to access the disabled reviewers control panel here also.
Instructions that the reviewer will see when they log-in to their account once it is created.
Select whether reviewers will conduct blind or normal reviews. Normal reviews means that reviewers will see the name of the author. Blind reviews means that reviewers will not see the name of the author.
If you would like Reviewers to be able to ask authors to make revisions to their submissions, mark the "Revise and Resubmit" dropdown box to "Enabled". Once you click on 'Update Review Type' to save this change, you CANNOT disable it later. Unless you are sure you want to allow reviewers to use the Revise and Resubmit feature, DO NOT enable this option.
If this option is Enabled, when doing document reviews, a Reviewer may mark an Author's submission for revisions. Authors are then automatically informed to make changes. Reviewers are then required to check the changes made. The process of making recommendations for revisions continues until the author completes the Review process and performs their acceptance.
View and add criteria which reviewers will score document submissions on. Each criteria can be given a specific weighting and total scores are calculated based on these criteria and weightings.
Set-up the email account that will be the "from" email account whenever the application communicates with authors, reviewers and administrators. Generally this should be the email account and name of the person responsible for organising the conference
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any new author who registers for the conference
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any new reviewer who is reviewing documents for the conference
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any new reviewer who is reviewing documents for the conference
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any reviewer when the list of documents assigned to them is changed
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any author when their submission is accepted by the conference administrator
Set-up the subject and content of the email that is sent to any author when their submission is rejected by the conference administrator
Please note the following limitations to bulk emails:
Set-up various bulk emails to send to various users of the Abstracts Manager application. Emails are logged for you.
View bulk emails that you have configured to send. To send bulk emails click on the envelope icon.
View existing administrator accounts and create new accounts to receive access to the administrator control panel
View existing reviewer accounts and create new review accounts for reviewers to receive access to the reviewer control panel
View existing author accounts and create new author accounts for authors to receive access to the author control panel. This allows the administrator to create new accounts for authors who are unable or having difficulty using the application
View existing administrator accounts and create new accounts to receive access to the administrator control panel
View existing reviewer accounts and create new review accounts for reviewers to receive access to the reviewer control panel
View existing author accounts and create new author accounts for authors to receive access to the author control panel. This allows the administrator to create new accounts for authors who are unable or having difficulty using the application
View a real-time listing of administrators, authors and reviewers currently logged in to the application
View documents previously submitted by authors
Submit documents on behalf of existing author accounts
Assign documents to a reviewer by selecting the document you wish to assign by clicking the edit icon and follow the prompts to assign a new reviewer.
View documents assigned to a reviewer and assign new documents to a reviewer by clicking the edit icon and following the prompts
View scores given to reviewed documents and see a list of documents which have not yet been assigned to a reviewer, accepted or rejected. By following the prompts assign documents to reviewers, view reviews, accept and reject documents.
View documents that have been accepted and if necessary revert the status back to "no status". Follow the prompts to view and change the document.
View documents that have been rejected and if necessary revert the status back to "no status". Follow the prompts to view and change the document.
View a log of which users accessed the application and when
Access the help files or email support@abstractsmanager.com