Submission Process Clarification

[sfuchs]

I think I understand the submission process, but hoped for some clarification to make sure I'm understanding it completely. (Also, I'm working on my presentation for the PKP 09 conference, and I'd hate to get it wrong in front of a crowd of OCS super users!)
Most of the conferences that I've worked with have a workflow similar to the following:
1) submit a two-page abstract as a separate file
2) abstract gets peer reviewed, and either accepted and rejected
3) some time before the conference, the author is asked to upload a paper or presentation
If I choose the the "abstract and proposal together" workflow, then the authors can upload their two-page abstract, but are unable to upload their paper unless the Director asks the author for revisions. And if that happens, then the submission is moved from the "Presentations" section (where it's displayed on the web site), and moved back to the "In Review" section, where it is no longer listed as an accepted abstract.
What I've ended up doing is just uploading the final papers manually, provided I can get ahold of them, so as not to remove the abstract from the "Presentations" page.
Are there any other alternatives? Any chance that future releases of OCS might allow a separate upload?
Thanks!
Sara Fuchs
Digital Initiatives Librarian
Georgia Institute of Technology

[jmacgreg]

Hi Sara,

Looking forward to meeting at the conference!

Which version of OCS are you using? IIRC, if you choose "Abstract and Proposal together", the submission process will consist of four stages: Start, where the author signs off/confirms checklist items etc; Enter Metadata, where the abstract among other things is collected; Upload Submission, where they can upload their full paper; and then Confirmation. When you say "upload their two-page abstract", do you mean uploading an actual file? There is an abstract field in Step 2 that should be used for abstracts, but if you're talking a 2-page abstract the field might not be big enough.

Cheers,
James

[sfuchs]

Hi James,
Thanks for the reply! We're using 2.1.1.2, and I'm afraid the two-page abstract is almost always a separate file (with figures, footnotes, citations, etc.), that just won't translate to a text box. So I've been using the "Abstract and Proposal together" submission option, so the file does get submitted. But before the conference, our Conference Director would like the author to upload a paper, which will get archived in the online proceedings. But it seems that once you've used the file upload option, you don't get another, unless you ask for revisions, removing the submission from the Presentations page.
Thanks!
Sara Fuchs
Digital Initiatives Librarian
Georgia Institute of Technology

[jmacgreg]

Hi Sara,

Apologies for not getting back to you earlier -- the conference took our full attention. Hopefully you tracked one of us down to answer this question -- but if not, I'll add that the author can return to their submission summary page and upload a new revision of their submission file at any time except when the submission is actively being reviewed.

Cheers,
James

[sfuchs]

Hi James,
Actually, what I'm looking for is a submission process that's more like "abstract and proposal together, followed by presentation." This would allow the organizers of the conference to ask for a two-page file abstract, while I can ask authors to submit their final papers and/or presentations for archiving. (The way the software works currently, I collect the final presentations separately, and upload them as galleys into OCS.) Can I get an idea of how difficult it would be to achieve something like this? (We have some programmers on staff, and I'd love it if we could contribute back. Is this even a doable idea?)
Great conference, by the way! I know there was some talk about creating a larger OCS community of users, and I'd be curious if any other users encountered the same workflow issues that I've had.
(And you're right - I should have just cornered someone during the conference. After a few beers at the Railway, who knows what I could have gotten out of the programmers!)
Best regards,
Sara Fuchs

[jmacgreg]

Hi Sara,

Hrm ... I still think a reasonable workaround is to use the 'abstract and proposal together' option; request that the author initially upload the two-page abstract on submission; and then request the full paper be uploaded in its stead after acceptance. Unless I'm missing something -- is there any reason why the two-page abstract would need to be physically separate from the presentation file itself?

Cheers,
James

[jmacgreg]

And actually, I thought of another issue of course -- if you do what I mention above, you'll essentially be asking authors to upload an abstract while still requesting that they add a text abstract to the submission field.

Another workaround would be to enable Supplementary File uploads, and to require an extended abstract be uploaded as one. You can enable supplementary file uploads for both abstract and presentation upload stages, so you can still solicit them alongside the abstract proper; but of course this won't solve the issue of asking for two abstracts. With a bit of coding, you could remove the Abstract field from Submission Step 2, and rename the Supplementary File step to something like Abstract Upload or somesuch; if your team needs any pointers on this, just let us know!

Cheers,
James

[sfuchs]

Hi James,
Thanks for your patience (seriously, you guys are always really helpful and polite on this board!). The supplementary file is indeed a good workaround, with one caveat. The author isn't prompted to upload a supplementary file - the author fills out the first page (1. Start) and the second page (2. Enter Metadata), and then they're done.
In order to upload a supplementary file, the author needs to click Active Submissions on the Submission Complete page, click the title of the submission, and then click Add a Supplementary File, which isn't very intuitive.
So (and last question, I swear, for a while at least)...is there a way to incorporate the Supplementary File option on the second page? It only ever shows up after an author is asked to upload the primary file. (In fact, I didn't actually realize that authors could upload supplementary files without uploading a primary file first, simply because you're not given that option.)
Thanks again!
Sara Fuchs
Digital Initiatives Librarian
Georgia Institute of Technology

[jmacgreg]

Hi Sara,

Always happy to help.

If you have supplementary files enabled (in Scheduled Conference Setup Step 2.1 -- check the "Supplementary files can be submitted with abstracts and presentations" link) your authors should then be able to upload supplementary files on submission. There's one problem: They'll be asked for a lot of extraneous metadata that you probably don't need. You can hide all that stuff by editing the templates/submission/suppFile.tpl file, IIRC.

I'll also note that I believe the submission process received a fair bit of work from 2.1.1->2.1.2, and you may not be able to do exactly what I suggest above (or maybe you can, but instructions may be slightly different); if you are in the position to upgrade you may want to do so.

Cheers,
James