Selecting & classifying submissions

Prepare the functions for the selection process

Locate the selection functions

Go to Submissions & reviews / Abstract selection / Accept or reject submissions.
This page contains all the functions needed to select and classify submissions.

Use the filter to select submissions to work on

The top of the page, at 1. Select the submissions, contains a filter that can be used to select the records to work on.
If the filter is cleared, all records will be selected.

Adjust the display of data

At different stages of your workflow, you might need to use different types of data.

Go to 5. Display options to select the data you want to display alongside the submissions.
Available options are: [Show abstract and authors / Show reviews / Show keywords / Show files to download].
The selected options are remembered in the database and remain as set, until they are changed.

Export the data if you want to work offline

You can export the submissions and the reviews in various formats (see below for details).

Email notifications

You will need to prepare emails to inform submitters of your decision concerning their submissions.
No emails are sent when you assign acceptance and rejection statuses to the submissions.
Notification emails are sent independently, typically when the selection process is complete (see below for details).

Option 1: Select and classify submissions one at a time

Go to 2. Accept, reject submissions one by one to find the list of submissions and the selection functions.
The list should consist of all the records selected with the filter at the top of the page.
It should show the data you selected for display.
If you have chosen to display the reviews, these will be shown in detail for each reviewer, including comments and the marks given, if any, as well as their averages.

The following functions are provided to help the selection process:

Selection statuses

A drop down list of selection statuses is shown for every submission.
By default, the options in the drop down are: [Undecided / Accepted / Declined / Under evaluation / Ask corrections / Temporarily declined]. These options can be modified to suit your needs.
To assign statuses, simply select suitable options for one or several submissions and press the save button at the top of the list.

Themes / tracks, topics and presentation types

If themes / tracks, topics and presentation types are used, drop down lists with options you have created, are displayed for each submission and can be used for assignment.
If submitters and reviewers were asked to indicate their preferences for these data, their choices are also shown, to help guide your decisions.

Conference sessions

If sessions have been defined in the agenda module, a drop down list of sessions, identified by their titles or other attributes, is also shown, allowing you to classify the submissions into sessions at the time of the selection process.
The alternative is to insert them at a later stage, using the agenda module.

Option 2: Select and classify submissions in bulk

This function is useful if you perform the selection process offline, but want to input the results into the system.
Go to 1. Select the submissions and set the filter to select the submissions you need to work on. Typically, you would input a list of submissions identified by their submission-ids and having the same status as well as (optionally) other common attributes (e.g. same track). This could be a list of submissions accepted as posters. Save the filter.
Go to 3. Bulk assignments: assign a selection status, topic and presentation type to the filtered submissions. Set appropriate values in the drop down lists and save your selection. All the submissions selected by the filter will be assigned those values.

Option 3: Assign a selection status based on the average scores

This function can be useful if you use numerical criteria when reviewing the submissions. The mean scores can be used to select the submissions for acceptance or rejection, based on cut-off values.
Go to Submissions & reviews / Abstract Selection / Automatic selection. This page contains two histograms showing the number and percentage of submissions that are above (or below) a range of scores. These histograms can be used to set a threshold value to select a given number, or a given percentage of the submissions.
After selecting a cut-off value for paper acceptance, enter this value in the box labelled Select papers for acceptance and save. All the submissions with a score greater or equal to this value will be set to Accepted.
A similar function is provided to assign a Declined status to some submissions. The cut-off value is independent of the cut-off value used for acceptance. It can be the same, smaller or even larger (in which case some accepted submissions will change status).
A function is provided to clear all the assignments, allowing for a trial and error process, bearing in mind that no emails are fired as a result of the assignments.
After using the automatic assignment function, you can alter the results manually, at Submissions & reviews / Abstract selection / Accept or reject submissions / 2. Accept, reject submissions one by one.

Export the data

Export filtered records

At the top of the list, at Submissions & reviews / Abstract selection / Accept or reject submissions / 2. Accept, reject submissions one by one, you will find links to export and download data in bulk.

These will export the records that are selected by the filter, at the top of the page.

You can export the submissions to Excel, HTML and MS-Word and the reviews to Excel; you can download any documents uploaded by the submitters or the reviewers as a zip file.

Detailed export of the reviews

Go to Exports / Reviews / Export to CSV or Excel. You will be able to export the reviews with individual scores or with mean values.

Send email notifications

Available templates

Several email templates are available for communication with authors of submissions. They can be edited in advance or at the time they are needed. They can be found at:

Emails / Notification emails / Abstract Selection. This page contains a template for each of the options available in the dropdown list of selection statuses ("Undefined / Accepted / Declined / Ask corrections ...").
Emails / Bulk emails / Hand-picked users. This template has a filter to allow a precise targeting of the recipients. For example, you can email individual authors or target authors of accepted posters.

Edit and personalise a template

Most of the templates are pre-filled with text that is suitable for their purpose. However, they can be edited and adapted to your needs. A number of placeholders can be inserted in the templates to personalise the emails. The list of available placeholders can be found at Emails / Overview and settings / Placeholders.

Preview the emails

After editing and saving a template, you can preview the emails by clicking the List of recipients & preview button, to review the recipients and check that the placeholders are properly replaced.

Send the emails

Press the Send mail button to send the emails. You will be asked for confirmation.

Display the results of the review process on users' accounts

Display the selection status

Go to Configuration / Access rights Disclose key data to users / 2. Submission status and activate the display.

Display the reviews or parts of the reviews

Go to Configuration / Access rights Disclose key data to users / 3. Reviews and activate suitable data for display:

Display reviews to submitters will display the entire review, for each reviewer, including the feedback.
Display feedback to submitters will display the feedback, leaving out other parts of the review (scores, comments for the committee and other fields).
Display proposed corrections to submitters If reviewers were allowed to upload documents with suggested corrections, these will be made available for download on the authors' accounts.
The display of reviews, feedback and corrections are anonymised by default.