The OpenWater Blog

5 Things to Look for in an Abstract Management Software

Are your administrators still having to go through hundreds of emails with multiple attachments? Then yes, you do. Create a better abstract management process by switching to an Abstract Management Software that helps your organization cut through the noise and to the best conference content that your attendees deserve.

1. Is there an Event Management Integration?

Because submitting an abstract is just one part of the conference, having a system that serves as an end-to-end solution from the point of submission to the point of presentation will save you a lot of headaches along the way.

Some key features to look for:

• Secure Payment Gateway that can handle Submission fees
• Form abstract sessions for an organized conference presentation
• Online Schedule Builder that acts as a powerful presentation calendar

2. Is the Review process flexible?

In any abstract review process, submitted abstracts are peer-reviewed by community reviewers or reviewed in groups by academic reviewers. These reviewers then vote to move the submitted abstracts for oral, poster, or a round-table presentations. Accepted abstracts are then grouped into sessions for presentation purposes. None of this can happen smoothly without an Abstract Management Software that accommodates a multi-level submission process that allows flexibility across multiple rounds.

3. Can you custom-build it?

Every Academic Conference has its own specific needs, meaning that your Abstract Management Software should be able to flexibly accommodate all of them.

Some key features to look for:

• Customizable submission period that you can go back and change at any time
• Public Gallery view of all submissions that administrators can toggle on/off
• Multiple submission methods (multi-line submission fields vs. PDF attachments)
• Submission as an Individual vs. Team submissions

4. Does it help Reviewers and Applicants communicate better?

Your Abstract Management Software should come with various functionalities that help facilitate better communication between applicants and reviewers. Can administrators remind reviewers who have yet to assess assigned abstracts through the system? Can you send a confirmation of receipt to the authors as soon as their abstract is received? Can you let applicants know of the results instantly? Check to ensure your software platform can handle all of these needs.

5. What other AMS/CRMs can it integrate with?

OpenWater’s Integrations team makes sure that our Abstract Management System integrates with other association management systems. To take an example, many organizations often have a recurring lsit of reviewers that set out to evaluate abstracts that are submitted across multiple conferences. With an integration that lets you automatically import reviewer lists, administrators won’t have to deal with huge numbers of abstracts and reviewers again.

Still not sure if an Abstract Management Software is the one for you? Click here to find out more about OpenWater’s Abstract Management Software solution and Growthstack.

Already with OpenWater’s Abstract Management Software? Have you checked if your organization is OpenWater certified? Hurry! Check out our calendar to find out about upcoming webinars and certification programs.

Read more: 5 Silly Mistakes People Make when writing an Abstract

Read more: Build a Better Conference with an Abstracts Software

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