Two-phase review process: How to review abstracts and full papers?

We do have a call for abstracts first, do a double-blind review of all abstracts and then ask the authors
of accepted abstracts to submit their full papers. Later the full papers will also be reviewed in a
double-blind peer review process. Only submissions are accepted that pass both reviews.
Finally authors can upload their final version (which is not peer reviewed again).

How can we handle this procedure with ConfTool Pro?

(A German version of this article is available.)

If you have several independent peer reviews phases for your submission process,
it is advisable to create a submission type for each of the submission phases.

Example:
1. Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
... and create the submission types:
    - Abstracts
    - Full Papers
Please keep the settings for the options "Abstract", "Extra Check Box?" and "Extra Text Field?" the same for all tracks in order to avoid inconsistencies.

2. It might be advisable to create a new acceptance status "Accepted Abstract".
Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Acceptance Status
Click on the status "Accepted", then click on the button "Copy as New Acceptance Status" and name the new status accordingly.

3. Now enable submission for abstracts only (simply disable the submission type "Full Paper" in the section "Alternative Deadlines of This Type / Track" via the option "Submission Enabled?" (see image 1).

4. Ask your authors to submit the abstracts, assign them to the reviewers and decide about acceptance after the reviewing process has been completed.

5. Then contact us and we will copy / convert the accepted "Abstracts" to the second submission type "Full Paper".
We will be very grateful if you inform us about it in time.
If you need to copy single papers later, please have a look at: Two-phase reviewing process: How to convert late abstract submissions to full papers manually

6. Disable the submission type "Abstracts" (only Abstracts!) in the section "Alternative Deadlines of This Type / Track" via the option "Submission Enabled?" (see image 1).
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks

7. Please now activate the submission type "Full Paper", but keep the submission phase for "full papers" closed (For the option "Alternative Submission Deadline for New Contributions" choose the setting "Disable new submissions for this submission type / track") and set an alternative "Alternative Deadline for Uploads (Full Paper Submissions)" for "full papers", so that the authors cannot create new submissions but can only upload new files (see image 2).
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks

8. You can define extra options to allow authors to update their initial submission details during the upload of the full paper.
Please call the page:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Paper and Abstract Submission
... and activate the expert settings on the bottom of the page.
You will find a new section "General Settings for Upload Form (Upload Updates)" in which you can activate several options, e.g. allow authors to enter or edit the abstract, or edit authors and organizations.

9. Inform the authors by bulk e-mail about the outcome of the abstract reviewing process and about the next steps / deadlines. They can now use the link "Upload File(s)" to submit their full paper (see image 3).

10. After the "Full Paper" upload deadlines have expired, assign new reviewers, contact them and finally decide about acceptance of full papers once all reviews are in.
For this purpose, create a new acceptance status by copying the status "Accepted" and call it e.g. "Accepted Full Paper: This full paper has been accepted".
Overview => Settings => Manage Acceptance Status

11. You can also use a "final upload" for the full papers.
This would allow authors to upload new files in which feedback of the reviewers is considered.
Please use the function "final upload / camera ready copy" for this purpose.
Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
... and scroll down to the section "Settings for Final Uploads". For the option "Number of Files to Be Uploaded for the Final Version per Contribution" set the required number of final uploads.
Please note that only authors of accepted contributions are allowed to do a final upload and that the final upload phase has to be activated in "Phases and Deadlines".

You can find more information on this topic here: Final upload – how to keep same paper ID for final version