Allow different kinds of topics for the categorization of submissions (Topic Groups)

We want to split topics into two different categories. The first category should refer to the different main themes of the conference, while the second category should reflect all specific topics.

We are organizing a conference with contributors from five different countries, who can submit their papers in their respective languages. We need an option in order for the authors to be able to state the language in which their paper is submitted so that we can assign reviewers accordingly.

How can we do this in ConfTool?

(A German version of this article is available.)

The most convenient option for these purposes is to enable topic groups.

Let's take the language and topic selection as an example. You will use two topic groups: One which pertains to the language of the submission and another to give the authors the possibility to choose the most appropriate conference topics for their contribution (see image 1).

Please proceed as follows:
1. First, activate the function for topic groups. Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Paper and Abstract Submission
... and activate the "Expert Settings" on the bottom of the page (Cogwheel Icon).
The page will reload. For the option "Activate Topic Groups", which now appears, change the setting to "Yes" and save your settings (see image 2).

2. Now go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Topics Groups
Please create two topic groups and call them for instance "Languages" and "Topics".
Use the option "Selection Mode" to define limitations for the number of topics that can be chosen by authors within this topic group.

3. Then please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Topics
Create topics and, while doing so, assign them to the corresponding topic group.

4. Please note that you also have to enable topic groups for each submission type:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
Scroll down to "Topics" and select "Topic Groups" in the select box (see image 3).

5. Don’t forget to enable the phase in which reviewers can select their priority topics:
"Select Priority Topics" is not shown to reviewers

Please test your new settings!

Kindly also be referred to this entry if you should encounter problems during the set-up and testing:
No topic offered when trying to submit a paper

Hints:

• You could also think about submission formats to create two different kinds of selections for the authors. However, only topics can be used for both authors and reviewers.
• You could also think about using topics together with a list of predefined keywords.
• Reviewers can neither choose submission formats nor keywords.
• In case your conference has a large number of topics, we can create a modified input form for authors and reviewers in which topics will be displayed in two or three columns.

Alternatively, you can simply insert visual separators or headings that will distinguish different topic groups from one another.
This option is especially useful if you want to define a maximum of topics across all topic clusters (and not for each group separately).

In this case, do not enable topic groups (see above).

Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Topics
… and in order to create a heading, simply create or edit a topic as usual.
For the option "Style / Display Method of Topic" however, choose the setting "Heading (not selectable by author)". You can define different kinds of headings when you activate the expert settings on the bottom of the page (see image 1).

You can always change the order of topics and also the topic entries that serve as headings when you click on "Change order of topics" on this page (see image 2):
Overview => Settings => Manage Topics

Authors will see headings on the submission form (likewise, Reviewers will see those on the list of priority topics) that they will not be able to choose (see image 3).