ConfTool Glossary

This glossary gives you an overview of the terms and definitions used in ConfTool Standard and ConfTool Pro. They are explained with a focus on academic conferences. Please note that organizers can adjust their ConfTool installation to their own terminology in the system settings.

If you cannot find the term you are looking for, please send us an e-mail and we will try to extend the glossary.

A

Abstract: An abstract is either a short, independent contribution for a conference or a reduced-length summary of a full paper.
Acceptance Status: Confirmed after the review process; it indicates whether a contribution is accepted and released, and in which format (e.g. full paper or poster).
Access Management: See Rights.
Account: See User Account.
Acquirer (Acquiring Bank, Credit Card Merchant): An institution that carries out payment settlement via credit card – for example a bank or a company specialised in credit-card processing. The acquirer charges various fees, including fees based on the transaction volume.
Active: Denotes that a particular phase is "live" in ConfTool. If a phase is not active (deactivated), the functions connected to that phase cannot be executed. Whether a phase is active depends on the settings, e.g. those in Phases and Deadlines.
Administration of Contributions: The submission and review process of academic meetings typically follows several steps: 1. submission of a contribution, 2. assignment of the contribution to a reviewer, 3. review phase, 4. decision on acceptance or rejection based on the reviews, 5. submission of the final version, 6. program planning.
Assignment: The process by which contributions are matched to the most appropriate reviewers. With ConfTool this can be done automatically or manually; bids and matching topics are taken into consideration.
Author (Submitting Author): Someone who submits a contribution for a conference in ConfTool. The submitting author is the contact person for the conference organizers, can make changes to the contribution up until the deadline, and is informed of the result of the review process. Co-authors can be identified by matching e-mail addresses. See also Co-Author and Presenter.

B

Backend (Back Office): The part of ConfTool's functions that is not accessible to "normal" users but requires administrative user rights. Administrators use the backend to carry out administrative tasks and to configure the system.
Best-Paper Award: An option for one or more reviewers to rate a submission so that it is recommended as the "best paper" of a conference.
Bidding (Phase): In ConfTool Pro, reviewers can take part in a bidding process, selecting the contributions they would like or would not like to review (based on their personal area of expertise). The chairs try to consider these bids when assigning submissions to reviewers. Reviewers can also indicate potential conflicts of interest.
Bidding for Reviews: Reviewers can bid for submissions they would like to review, e.g. because a submission concerns their area of expertise (see Bidding Phase).
Bulk Mails (Group E-Mails): A (personalised) e-mail sent from ConfTool to a specific user group via the corresponding function. Group e-mails are never sent automatically.

C

Chair: A person in charge of the submission and review process of a conference. A chair usually recruits several reviewers who read and evaluate the submissions and, based on the reviews, decides on the acceptance and rejection of the submissions.
Co-Author: An additional author of a contribution who did not submit it themselves. Co-authors can also be informed of the result of the review process by e-mail. Assignment to their user account (if any) works via their e-mail address, so submitting authors should state the e-mail addresses of all co-authors in ConfTool.
Community System: ConfTool Pro offers an online list of all participants in which you can access the profiles of other participants.
Conference Administrator: Someone who can manage every aspect of ConfTool, including settings, user and participant management, submissions and reviews, conference program scheduling, bulk e-mails, and data import and export. The administrator is usually also one of the conference organizers.
Conference Assistant (Assist): An administrative user with access to all users, participants and payment details. Conference Assistants have no access to submissions or reviews and cannot access the settings of ConfTool.
Conference Chair (ConfChair): An administrative user with access to all users, all submissions and all reviews. Conference Chairs have no access to the payment details of the participant-registration module and cannot access the main settings.
Conference Organizer: Someone whom participants contact for more information about a conference. The conference organizer and their e-mail contact details are defined on the "Main Setup" page, available from the "Settings" page.
Conference Program / Conference Agenda: Compiled from the accepted submissions. ConfTool automatically generates an overview and a detailed agenda, which can serve as the basis for the program booklet, the conference website, or a browsable copy of the program.
Conference Proceedings: The publication in which the accepted submissions of a conference are published.
Conference Sessions: Conferences are frequently divided into thematic sessions in which several presentations on a common topic are given. In ConfTool, sessions serve to structure the conference program.
Conference Topic: A specific area of expertise or study within a conference. Reviewers are associated with conference topics based on their fields of study, so they receive the submissions most relevant to them.
Conference Track: A specific field of study for a conference. Examples might include "Biology: Revolutionary Evolution", "Physiology of Bipedal Mammals" and "Developing Applications of Research Technology". Administrative users can create tracks specific to their conference; contributors can view and select them. See also Sub-Conference / Conference Track.
Configuration (Setup): ConfTool can be configured for the specific needs of an event – including user interface, functions, user rights, allocation of topics, and more.
Confirmation for Participation: A confirmation letter generated automatically once someone has registered for a conference; it contains, among other things, participant-specific data.
Conflict of Interest (CoI): If a reviewer was involved in the research of a submission or knows the authors very well, their objectivity is usually limited. In this case they should state a conflict of interest and not review the relevant submission.
Contribution: See Submission.

D

Deadline: A deadline defines the end of a phase. Once a deadline has been reached, the corresponding function of the system (for example, the option to submit proposals) is automatically deactivated.

E

E-Commerce Gateway: A service that allows direct billing via credit card and other payment methods. For credit-card billing, a contract with an acquiring bank is also required – usually the provider of such a service. E-Commerce Gateways charge setup, monthly and transaction fees. For ConfTool Pro there are connection modules for different gateways, for example Braintree, Saferpay, Skrill and PayPal.
Event Layout: The user interface of ConfTool can be adjusted to the layout of your event website (logos, colours, terminology, etc.).
Experts: See Reviewer.
Export Function (Data Export): With the export function, data can be exported from the ConfTool database and further processed with office applications. Formats: XML, Excel, CSV.

F

File Type: A specific file format in which submissions are accepted in ConfTool. For example, users may submit MS Word files (.doc or .docx), PDF files (.pdf) or images (e.g. .png or .jpg). Default file types can be defined; in the Pro version, specific file types can be defined for each upload category.
Filter Function: All system lists can be filtered by various criteria, e.g. search words or features such as type of submission or acceptance status.
Final Version / Camera-Ready Copy: The final version of a submission, for which the presenting author can be selected (if applicable).
Front Desk / Registration / Student Volunteer (SV): Someone who performs conference registration tasks but has no access to the submitted contributions and only limited access to financial/payment details.
Full Paper: The full, detailed form of a submission. In contrast, a short version or summary of a contribution is often termed an abstract.

H

HTML Format: The formatting language used to create web pages.

I

Identity Data: Personal data provided when applying to participate in an event, e.g. first name, last name and address (see also Profile). The data is used, among other things, for the name badge, the participant list and the community system.
Import Function (Data Import): User details can be imported into the ConfTool database. For example, reviewers and program committee members can be transferred into the system from an Excel list.

L

Localization: Adjustment of a system to the requirements of a language. It includes the translation of the system and the formats for numbers, currencies and dates, as well as the mailing-address format.
Log-In (User Registration): Logging in with a password to a session in order to enter or change personal data, contributions and/or reviews.
Log-Out: Ending a session with ConfTool to prevent unauthorised access to your personal data.

M

Meta-Reviewer (Expert-Reviewer): A reviewer who has access to the reviews of their co-reviewers. Meta-reviewers can also be allowed to see who submitted the other reviews, in order to intervene in the review process.

O

Online Editor (WYSIWYG Editor): A simple text-processing tool inside the web browser. Formatting such as bold or italic is possible; it can be used for submitting abstracts. Data is stored in HTML format.
Online Forum: A discussion platform for the program committee, in which debatable submissions can be discussed online after the review process. It serves as a decision aid for the chairs.
Online Participant List: See Community System.
Overview Lists: All data in the system – such as users, contributions and participants – can be accessed as an overview list, where you can navigate, filter and search the data.

P

Panel (Podium Discussion): A form of event for conference sessions. On a panel, experts discuss a topic (often with differing points of view); the audience can ask questions.
Participant: Someone who has registered for conference participation. To apply to participate in an event, users register in the system and enter their personal data, payment details, etc.
Participant Registration: See Registration.
Participant Statistics: Overview of participant groups, the booked options and amounts.
Participant Status: Indicated during the first step of the registration for an event. Examples: Normal, Member (a membership number can be entered in a separate box), Student. Participation costs and the options available on the registration form frequently depend on the participant status.
Payment: Incoming payment of a participant. Payments are either processed automatically (via PayPal or credit card with an E-Commerce Gateway) or entered manually (for cheques and bank transfers). Payments should be checked in both cases, because many payment methods can be cancelled for various reasons. For instance, credit-card payments can be cancelled up to 60 days later if the client objects to a payment.
Payment Confirmation: Received automatically by the participant via e-mail when the payment is saved in ConfTool.
Payment Methods: Participants can choose the method of payment, e.g. credit card, online banking or PayPal.
Phases: The preparation of a conference can be divided into multiple phases. A possible schedule is:

submission of contributions,

bidding of potential reviewers for the contributions,

allocation of contributions to reviewers,

review of the contributions,

discussion about acceptance and rejection by the program committee,

PC meeting with decision on status,

announcement of results,

submission of the final version, and

registration to participate.

You can find a full overview on the Conference Preparation Phases page.
Poster: A form of submission; usually comprises an abstract of one or two pages.
Presenter: The person who presents a contribution at the conference. Although not compulsory, the submitting author of a contribution is often also the presenter.
Profile: Personal data of a ConfTool user, entered during registration. Photos can also be provided, for example for the community system.
Program Committee (PC, Steering Committee, Conveners): The executive board of the event, responsible for the academic program of the conference. The PC is usually made up of the chairs and the reviewers. In the PC meeting, they decide on the acceptance and rejection of submissions. Some conferences also have additional reviewers who are not members of the program committee.

Q

Quick Links: Shortcuts in ConfTool that give quick access to the most important functions.

R

Registration for Participation (Phase): The phase in which users register for conference activities (i.e. for conference participation). During registration, users fill in their personal data and their preferred booking and payment options. Once successfully registered, participants automatically receive a confirmation and can print their invoice.
Review: A reviewer's evaluation of a submission, with a recommendation to the program committee as to whether the submission should be accepted for the event. Usually at least two experts review a submission; based on the results, the chair decides on the acceptance status.
Reviewer / Expert: Someone who can inspect and evaluate the submissions assigned to them by a chair. Reviewers can "bid" for certain submissions, i.e. apply to review them. The reviewer role is granted by conference administrators or chairs.
Reviewing: Users registered as reviewers in ConfTool inspect and download the submissions allocated to them and submit their evaluation.
Reviewing (Phase): The conference phase in which reviewers review and rate the conference submissions.
Rights: Define and limit the actions a user can perform.
Roles / User Status: Every user in ConfTool has a certain role or user status. Some roles result from a user's own actions or from an invitation (Author: has submitted a contribution; Participant: has registered to attend; Reviewer: reviews contributions), while administrative roles such as Chair, Assistant or Administrator are assigned by the conference organizers. The role determines the user's access rights.

S

Search Function: You can set filters and search for terms in all overview lists.
Server Time: The system clock of the server on which ConfTool is hosted. In ConfTool Pro, a different time zone can be set for each conference, and the corresponding deadlines apply. The server clock can be adjusted on the "Main Setup" page, accessible from the "Settings" page.
Session: See Conference Sessions.
Session Overview: An abstract or short description of a conference session.
Short Paper / Abstract: The short form of a contribution or a summary.
SSL Certificate (HTTPS Transfer): With an SSL certificate, the secure transfer of data between a web browser and a website is ensured, so that the transferred data cannot be intercepted or manipulated by third parties. Certificates are usually issued by certificate authorities that guarantee the identity of the server provider.
Student Volunteer (SV): People (usually students) who carry out helping tasks during the organisation and course of the conference for a certain amount of time. In return, volunteer helpers can attend the conference free of charge.
Sub-Conference / Conference Track (Network, Stream): Some conferences have sub-events / strands / tracks with a separate review process, specific topics and dedicated chairs. This requires the ConfTool Pro Track-Chair Module. Track chairs only have access to the submissions of their own track.
Submission / Contribution / Proposal: A contribution that an author submits for reviewing to a conference in ConfTool. A submission can be, for instance, a full paper, an abstract or a poster.
Submission Phase: The conference phase in which users can submit and upload contributions to be reviewed and considered for the conference program.
Submissions List: Chairs have access to all submitted contributions of the conference (or only their own track). A reviewer sees a list of the submissions assigned to them for review.
Submissions, Maximum Number: Reviewers can state a maximum number of submissions they are willing to review.
Summary: See Abstract.

T

Topics: Authors can indicate suitable topics when submitting a contribution, and reviewers can choose their academic focus from the same topics. The allocation of submissions to reviewers can be based on matching topics.
Track: See Conference Track.
Track-Chair Module: An additional module for ConfTool Pro that allows allocating chairs, reviewers and topics to sub-conferences of an event (e.g. tracks, streams or workshops). Chairs only get access to the submissions and reviews of their own tracks, not to those of other chairs.
Tutorial: A form of event for conference sessions. Tutorials often take place in the run-up to the actual conference: an expert speaks on a (current) issue. Tutorials usually last longer than a normal lecture and often cost an additional fee.
Type of Submission: With ConfTool you can administer different types of submitted contributions, for example abstracts (short submissions), full papers, posters and workshop contributions.

U

Unicode: A standardised encoding for characters, with which any symbol of the known written languages can be displayed. It is increasingly the standard for the web, e-mail and all other data.
User Account: After registration, every person who registers with ConfTool automatically creates their own user account. Here they can manage their data and submissions and register for conference participation. User accounts are password-protected, and only persons authorised by the organizer have access to this data.
User Profile: Personal data of a user, including their user status / user role. All users create their own profile when setting up their user account.
User Status: See Roles.

W

Web Form: A form that can be filled out in a web browser (e.g. Firefox, Safari or Chrome).
Workshops: A form of event for conference sessions, usually led by experts on a specific topic. Participants submit their own contribution; the topic is worked through together with all participants, talks are given and new findings are discussed. A workshop usually runs for half a day or a full day.

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