Abstract submission checklist for conference organisers

Name the scientific shape of the meeting

List tracks, topic codes and presentation types (oral, poster, flash, symposium). If the programme will not use a category, do not collect it. Authors will invent meanings for leftover dropdowns.

Decide who counts as an author

Corresponding author, presenting author, and the full author list are not the same role. Spell out affiliation format, whether a student can submit, and how many presentations one person may give. Put those rules next to the form, not only in a PDF linked from a newsletter.

File rules are part of peer review

Length, figure limits, anonymisation (if you use it), and whether a full paper is required later should be impossible to miss. Incomplete files should be visible to the author as incomplete, not discovered by a reviewer who cannot open a font.

Collect the statements the committee will need

Conflicts, ethics, trial registration, or funder acknowledgements — only ask for what this meeting will actually use. Empty mandatory fields train authors to type “n/a” everywhere.

Plan the day after the deadline

Who may grant an extension, how withdrawals work, and when assignment starts should be decided before the call opens. The checklist is finished when a new volunteer could open the call without asking the previous chair to remember the exceptions.

The full checklist

Tick every line before the call opens. Anything you cannot tick is a question to settle now, not in week three.

• Tracks, topic codes and presentation types are listed and final.
• Author roles are defined: submitting, presenting, corresponding.
• Word or character limit stated beside the field, with a visible counter.
• File formats, size limits and anonymisation rules stated beside the upload.
• Statements collected are only those the committee will use.
• Deadline, time zone and extension rules are published.
• Withdrawal and change rules are published.
• Confirmation email tested, including the wording about what happens next.
• Conflict-of-interest declarations collected for review.
• Consent to publish in the book of abstracts collected.
• Contact address for author questions monitored.

Test the form before launch

Ask two people who have not seen the form to submit a dummy abstract: one with five authors, one with special characters in the title. Check the confirmation email, editing before the deadline and how a withdrawn abstract looks to the committee. Our abstract submission form guide gives field-by-field examples.

How this differs from the call for papers

The call for papers is the public announcement: scope, dates, rules. This checklist is about the submission system behind it. Use both, and make sure they say the same thing. Our call for papers template covers the announcement.

Author fields checklist

Author data is the most error-prone part of a submission form. Before the call opens, check that each author entry collects only what you use, in a form you can sort.

• Given name and family name in separate fields, so the index can sort correctly.
• Email address for the presenting and corresponding author, checked for typing errors.
• Affiliation as structured fields or a controlled list, not one free-text line.
• Country, since it feeds later reports and fee categories.
• A flag for presenting author, so the programme is built from data and not from guesses.
• An optional identifier such as an ORCID, if your community uses it.

Rules to publish next to the form

Rules that are only in a PDF will be missed. Put the following beside the form, in words that leave no room for argument.

• The deadline with date, time and time zone.
• Whether authors may edit after submitting, and until when.
• The maximum number of abstracts per author and per presenter.
• How withdrawals work.
• The language of submission.
• The review model, and whether authors should anonymise the abstract.
• What happens if a presenting author does not register.

A testing script

Give this script to two people who did not build the form, and ask them to report every point where they hesitated. Ten minutes of testing finds problems that weeks of proofreading miss.

Test 1 Create an account and confirm the email. Test 2 Start a submission, leave, and come back. Is the draft saved? Test 3 Enter five authors, changing the order of two. Test 4 Paste an abstract with Greek letters, a formula and line breaks. Test 5 Enter 20 words over the limit. What does the form say? Test 6 Upload a file that is too large and one of the wrong type. Test 7 Submit, then edit, then withdraw. Read every email received. Test 8 Repeat on a phone.

What to watch while the call is open

Check the submissions at least twice a week. Look at how many drafts have been started but not submitted, which suggests a stumbling block in the form. Read the emails sent to the contact address, and if three people ask the same question, change the form or the page. Check that the spread across tracks is what you expect; a track with almost no submissions may need a reminder to a specific community. Keep a short log of problems found and fixed, so the next edition starts better.

The last week before the deadline

Most submissions arrive in the last two days, and that is when the form is most stressed and questions are most frequent. Send a reminder a week before and another two days before, and make sure someone is available to answer emails during the deadline day. Tell the technical team the exact closing time, and check that the system will not close early because of a time zone error. Decide in advance whether you will extend, and what you will say if you do not.

Handling extension requests

Some authors will ask for extra time. Decide the policy before the call opens and apply it to everyone. If you extend for everyone, announce the new date in every channel and keep the review schedule intact by shortening another step. If you do not, say so plainly and do not make exceptions: one exception is known within an hour. Keep a record of each request and the answer.

After the deadline: closing checklist

When the call closes, check the following before review begins. Export the list of submissions and check counts against the system. Read the abstracts flagged as incomplete or over the limit and decide how to handle them. Confirm that duplicates are merged and withdrawals are recorded. Send authors a short message thanking them and repeating the decision date. Freeze the list, and record the date and time so that everyone works from the same set.