How to let authors sign an electronic copyright form

We want to publish the accepted papers of our conference. For this reason the rights of intellectual property need to be transferred to the organizers.

How can we allow authors to sign our copyright form online?

(A German version of this article is available.)

With ConfTool Pro you have the option to use an online copyright form during different phases of the submission process:

• Authors can be asked to sign the copyright form during initial submission, on the first upload form, after the submission has been accepted or during the final upload of accepted papers.
• For each of these options, authors can confirm the copyright terms either by selecting a check box or by entering their first and last name together with the current date.

To select the required mode, please go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Paper and Abstract Submission

In the section "Electronic Copyright Form?" you are able to select from a number of choices:

• Options including "Sign copyright form by clicking a checkbox" will produce a checkbox that authors simply have to check (see image 1).
• Options including "Sign copyright form by entering the author's name will prompt the author to enter his / her first and last name and the current date (see image 2).
• "Show additional signature page for all accepted submissions" will produce a link to a separate copyright form on the "Your Submissions" page of the author (see image 3). This link will be shown for accepted submissions only.
• "Show on FIRST upload form" (for this option to appear, please enable the expert settings on the bottom oft he page by clicking on "Expert Settings Disabled" or the cogwheel) will show the copyright form embedded in the first, separate upload page (see image 4).
• "Show on FINAL upload form" will show the copyright form embedded in the final upload page which is also accessed via the "Your Submissions" page (see image 5).
• "Show on form for new submissions" will produce an extra copyright section on the form for new submissions (see image 6).

In "Conference Phases and Deadlines" you have to enable the corresponding module and set a start and end date. To do so, please go to:
Overview => Settings => Conference Phases and Deadlines
Scroll down to the section titled "Electronic Copyright Form Confirmation" (see Image 7).

For each submission type or conference track respectively, the copyright form has to be activated. Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
Choose a conference track or type of submission and click on the corresponding button to edit. Scroll down to the section titled "Further Settings" at the bottom of the page and check the box "Electronic Copyright Form" (see Image 8 ).


Hints:

• To make the link to the separate copyright form available to your authors, their submissions need to have an acceptance status that identifies them to be presented (e.g. "Accepted"). This is not required when you use any of the "Show on form for new submissions" options.
• The copyright form supports several additional codes not documented below the field, like {person_firstname},{person_address}, and {person_zip} to add data about the submitting author and {contribution_presenters} to list the presenters of the submission. If you need additional information, please contact us.
• For information regarding the electronic IEEE copyright form, please take a look at this entry:
  How to activate the electronic IEEE copyright form for submissions