IEEE conference guide for ConfTool Pro

This page offers a guide for IEEE conferences that are organized with ConfTool Pro.
It addresses the following two questions:

• What should organizers consider if using the ConfTool system?
• Which hints and recommendations should organizers give to their authors? What should authors consider?
  You can find a template below for the information that you can provide to your authors.
  The text in red has to be replaced with your conference-specific data.

(A German version of this article is available.)

As an organizer who wants to organize an IEEE conference with ConfTool Pro you need to follow a step-by-step process:

• Your conference must be reviewed and approved by IEEE before you can promote IEEE sponsorship or use the IEEE brand.
  After your conference is approved, your conference will be listed on the IEEE Conference Search and IEEE Call for Papers.
• Complete and submit the IEEE Conference Publication Form. This form is your request to submit your conference papers to the IEEE Conference Publication Program (CPP) and the IEEE Xplore digital library.
• Read and approve the Letter of Acquisition (LoA), which is sent to you after the Conference Publications Form has been received and approved by IEEE. You must approve the LoA for your content to be processed for posting to IEEE Xplore.
• The Letter of Acquisition includes a Copyright Clearance Code Notice.
  Please share this copyright notice with all authors so that they can include it on their final papers, which are submitted to the conference.
  
  Authors need to add the copyright notice to the bottom of the first page of their final paper in the footer.
  This step should be completed before creating the PDF of their final paper.
  
  For help in communicating this information to your authors, you can download this IEEE template.
• Authors need to use IEEE PDF eXpress for verifying the PDF file of their paper for IEEE-compliance before submission.
  Papers that are not IEEE-compliant will neither be included in the proceedings nor published.
  
  IEEE PDF eXpress is an author tool that assists IEEE conference organizers in obtaining IEEE Xplore-compatible PDFs from their authors. Authors need to create a new IEEE PDF eXpress account and need to know the Conference ID from you as conference organizer.
  
  Follow this step-by-step manual to make sure that all documents that you receive will pass IEEE requirements for publication. Please test it in advance.
  
  Please enable the final upload phase in ConfTool and chose the filter pdf(ieee) as file type for PDF files, which verifies if the files have been validated with IEEE eXpress before.
  
  • You can enable the final upload phase here:
    Overview => Settings => Conference Phases and Deadlines
    Please set the deadline(s) accordingly: Deactivate the phase for "Submission and upload of contributions" and activate the phase for "Final upload of accepted contributions (camera-ready copies)" (see Image 1).
  • You can define the file formats for paper uploads here:
    Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Paper and Abstract Submission
    Scroll down to "Supported file types" and enter the allowed file extensions separated by commas:
    
    • pdf(ieee) will only allow the upload of PDF files that were IEEE eXpress validated. You can also combine this with a maximum number of pages only. Example: pdf(ieee:10) for PDF files with up to 10 pages.
    • If you also want to define a minimum number of pages, please use a range definition with pdf(a-z), where a is the minimum and z the maximum number of pages.
      Example: pdf(ieee:5-10) for files that have to be IEEE eXpress validated with a at least 5 and up to 10 pages. The upload of other files will be rejected by the ConfTool system.
    
    Please take a look at this entry for more detailed information:
    https://www.conftool.net/ctforum/index.php/topic,126.0.html#msg278
• IEEE policy requires that all authors intending to publish their papers in the IEEE Xplore digital library must provide a transfer of copyright. The Electronic Copyright Form (eCF) needs to be completed for transferring ownership rights of the intellectual property to IEEE. A brief process will guide authors to the appropriate form, which is signed by typing in their names and clicking on a "Submit" button.
  
  With ConfTool Pro you have the option to use the IEEE electronic copyright form for managing the transfer of copyright to IEEE automatically. Authors will be directed from ConfTool to the IEEE eCF system, and the status of this process will be stored automatically in your ConfTool system.
  
  To make the IEEE electronic copyright form available to your authors, you need to enable the copyright form in ConfTool in the "Main Settings for Abstract and Paper Submission":
  Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Abstract and Paper Submission
  
  In the section "Electronic Copyright Form?" you are able to choose the IEEE copyright form. Please note that an IEEE "Publication Title" and the "Art Source Code" are required. You have to apply for these codes at the IEEE Copyright Support Team by e-mail (the e-mail address is available in the same section). Please submit the "POST URL" of your ConfTool Installation and the "Update URL" to the IEEE copyright form team. After receipt of the "Publication Title" and the "Art Source Code", please enter these data into the required fields (see Image 2).
  
  Please do not forget to activate the corresponding phase here:
  Overview => Settings => Conference Phases and Deadlines
  Go to the section "Electronic Copyright Form Confirmation", enable the module and set a start and end date.
  
  Please take a look at this entry for a more detailed description of the IEEE electronic copyright form process with ConfTool Pro:
  https://www.conftool.net/ctforum/index.php/topic,262.0.html#msg594
  
  We advise you to test your settings with a dummy paper.
  
  Important: Unfortunately, the IEEE copyright system does not reliably send confirmation messages to the ConfTool system for every signed copyright form. Therefore, it is advisable to compare the list of signed forms in the IEEE system with the data in the ConfTool system. The organizers can easily confirm outstanding copyright confirmations in ConfTool manually. Please go to the paper details, select “Electronic Copyright Form” in the section “Actions” and then click on the link “Confirm IEEE Copyright Status in ConfTool Only” at the bottom of that page (see Image 3).

As an author who wants to publish a paper for an IEEE conference that is organized with ConfTool Pro, you need to follow these submission instructions for camera-ready papers:


Step 1: Prepare your revised manuscript

Address the reviewer’s comments as best as you can and polish your manuscript.

Step 2: IEEE copyright notice (copyright example)

Add the IEEE copyright notice on the bottom of the first page of your paper before creating the PDF of your final paper. (Copyright Notice options with proper ISBN/ISSN as provided in the IEEE Letter of Acquisition):

• For papers in which all authors are employed by the US government, the copyright notice is:
  U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright
• For papers in which all authors are employed by a Crown government (UK, Canada, and Australia), the copyright notice is:
  LoA-ISBN/ISS/$31.00 ©ConferenceYear Crown
• For papers in which all authors are employed by the European Union, the copyright notice is:
  LoA-ISBN/ISSN/$31.00©ConferenceYear European Union
• For all other papers the copyright notice is:
  LoA-ISBN/ISSN/$31.00 ©ConferenceYear IEEE

Step 3: IEEE Xplore-compatible PDF generation

The final paper must be converted into PDF with settings compliant with the requirements of the IEEE Xplore digital library. Please use the IEEE PDF eXpress web tool for this purpose. PDF files generated in a different way might not be IEEE-compliant and will neither be included in the proceedings nor published.

The instructions to generate an IEEE Xplore-compatible PDF file using the IEEE PDF eXpress web tool are listed below.

• Go to the PDF eXpress web site.
• If you don’t already hold an account, please create a new IEEE PDF eXpress account by clicking on the "New Users - Click here" link.
• Enter the following conference ID: ConferenceID (please replace!).
• Continue to enter information as prompted. You will receive an e-mail confirming the successful creation of your account.
• After logging in, please upload the source files of your camera-ready paper for conversion (e.g. DOC, DOCX, TEX and so on). Alternatively you can also just check the compliance of your generated PDF file.
• After a few minutes, you will receive the IEEE Xplore-compatible PDF version of your paper by e-mail.
• Technical support via e-mail is available if you experience trouble in creating your PDF: pdfsupport@ieee.org
• IMPORTANT: Once you have completed all steps on the PDF eXpress web site, return to the ConfTool installation of your Conference to submit your final, Xplore-compatible PDF(s) (see Step 5 below).

Step 4: IEEE electronic copyright form submission

To include your accepted paper in both the conference proceedings volume and the IEEE Xplore digital library, one of the authors must fill in and sign the IEEE electronic copyright form. The IEEE copyright form can be filled in online easily through ConfTool. Please follow these steps:

• Log in to your ConfTool account.
• Go to Overview => Your Submissions and click on the title of your accepted paper.
• Check that the paper title and the list of authors are correct and correspond EXACTLY to those of the final paper (NOTE: without the correct title and the complete list of authors with the right affiliations, the IEEE electronic copyright form is void and the paper cannot be included in the conference proceedings volume). Either update the paper details correspondingly (if possible) or contact the organizers and ask them to do this for you.
• Use the link “Electronic Copyright Form” on the right (see Image 1).
• Press the button on the bottom right on the next page (see Image 2).
• You will be directed to the IEEE web site for electronic copyright form submission (see Image 3).
• Follow the instructions on the screen and reply to all questions.
• At the end of this procedure, the online IEEE electronic copyright form will be displayed. Please enter the current date and write your name at the bottom of the Copyright Transfer Form and finally submit it.
• Please make sure that you press the "Done" button at the end of the IEEE signing process, otherwise your signature might not be confirmed in ConfTool (see Image 4).
• After completing this process, you will receive a confirmation from IEEE.  The submission will be marked as signed in ConfTool.

Step 5: Final paper submission

Please log in to ConfTool and upload the PDF validated by IEEE PDF eXpress before the final upload deadline ends:

• Go to Overview => Your Submissions and click on the title of your accepted paper.
• Use the link “Final Upload” on the right to upload your final validated PDF.