Managing Submissions
This guide explains how to view, filter, and act on paper submissions in your conference. You need the Organizer or Co-Organizer role (or any role with
VIEW_ALL_SUBMISSIONS permission) to access these features.1. Accessing the Submissions Table
- Open your conference from the dashboard.
- In the conference navigation, go to Manage → Submissions.
You will see a table listing all submissions made to your conference. The table data is cached and shows a "last updated" timestamp in the top right. Use the Refresh button to force a data sync if you need the latest state.
2. Submission Table Features
Status Tabs
The tabs at the top of the table group submissions by their current status. Each tab shows a count pill of submissions in that state:
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| All | Every submission (all statuses combined) |
| Pending | Submitted but no reviewer assigned yet |
| Under Review | At least one reviewer assigned (Round 1) |
| Round N | Submissions in a specific review round (appears when multi-round reviewing is active) |
| Awaiting Author | Author must upload a revised version |
| Accepted | Organizer made a final accept decision |
| Rejected | Organizer made a final reject decision |
| Withdrawn | Author withdrew the submission |
Clicking a tab resets all filters and returns to page 1.
Filtering
The toolbar (above the table columns) provides several filters. Available filters change per tab:
| Filter | Appears on |
|---|---|
| Topic multi-select popover | All tabs |
| Status multi-select popover | All tab, Pending, Under Review, Awaiting Author, Rejected |
| All Reviews In / Review Pending / Unassigned toggle buttons | Under Review and Round N tabs |
| Has COI toggle button | Most tabs (not Pending) |
A Clear ghost button appears at the far right of the toolbar whenever any filter is active. It resets all active filters at once.
Search
The search box lets you search by submission title, submission number (e.g.
SUB-042), author name, author email, author affiliation, or topic name. Results update as you type.Refresh and Cache
The table data is cached server-side. The timestamp "Last updated N minutes ago" is shown next to the Refresh button. Click Refresh to pull the latest data from the database and reload the page.
Export to CSV
Click Export to download a CSV of all submissions currently visible in the table (respecting your active tab and filters). If you have rows selected, only the selected rows are exported.
The CSV includes: submission number, title, authors, corresponding author, corresponding email, affiliation, topics, status, file uploaded, file version, reviewers assigned, reviews submitted, average score, submitted date, and last updated date. Non-ASCII characters (Indonesian names, accented letters) are handled correctly for Excel.
3. Submission Statuses Explained
Confychair supports a two-stage (abstract-first) submission flow and multi-round review. Statuses are grouped by phase:
Abstract phase (only visible if your conference has an abstract deadline):
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Author saved a draft but has not submitted. Drafts are hidden from the main table. |
| Abstract Submitted | Author submitted an abstract. Waiting for your decision. |
| Abstract Accepted | You accepted the abstract. Author can now submit their full paper. |
| Abstract Rejected | You rejected the abstract. |
| Abstract Revision Required | You requested the author revise their abstract. |
Paper phase:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Submitted | Full paper submitted, no reviewer assigned yet. |
| Under Review | At least one reviewer assigned. |
| Awaiting Author | You requested a revision. Author must upload a new version. |
| Correction Required | Minor corrections requested after acceptance. |
| Accepted | Final accept decision. Author has been notified. |
| Rejected | Final reject decision. Author has been notified. |
Note: Authors see only their own submissions and current status. They cannot see other authors' submissions or reviewer comments unless you choose to share scores.
4. Viewing a Submission in Detail
Click the submission title in the table to open the submission detail sheet on the right side of the screen.
The detail sheet shows:
- Submission number (e.g. SUB-042) and status badge
- Title and submission date
- Topics/tracks as tags
- Authors list — names (with salutation and suffix), affiliations, corresponding author marker, and email verification status
- Assigned reviewers — name, email, and review status (Submitted / Pending) per reviewer
- Manuscript — the uploaded file with a Preview PDF button and a Download button. File size is shown.
5. Making a Decision
Change a submission's status from inside the submission row's Actions menu (three-dot icon on the right of the row).
Available status transitions depend on the current status and tab. The bulk status change dialog (see Section 6) provides a full list of all possible target statuses grouped by phase (Abstract phase and Paper phase).
Note: Authors receive an automatic email and push notification when a decision is saved. Use this carefully — each status change triggers a new notification.
6. Bulk Actions
Select multiple submissions using the checkboxes at the left of each row. The checkbox in the column header selects all rows on the current page. Once rows are selected, a bulk action bar appears at the bottom of the table.
Available bulk actions:
| Action | Who can use it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Change Status | Organizers with MANAGE_SUBMISSIONS | Opens a dialog to set all selected submissions to the same status (abstract or paper phase statuses). |
| Auto-Assign | Organizers with MANAGE_SUBMISSIONS | Opens the Auto-Assign dialog to assign reviewers to all selected submissions at once (see Section 7). Only appears if there are reviewers in the conference. |
| Issue Document | Organizers with MANAGE_SUBMISSIONS | Opens a bulk document issuance dialog to generate certificates or letters for all selected submissions. Only appears if document templates exist. |
| Delete | System admins only | Permanently deletes the selected submissions. |
Row selection is automatically cleared after a tab change or after a successful bulk action.
7. Assigning Reviewers from the Submissions Table
You can assign reviewers to individual submissions directly from this page without going to the Reviewers page.
- Find the submission in the table.
- Click the Assign Reviewers button (shown in the reviewer column, or via the Actions menu).
- The Assign Reviewer sheet opens on the right side.
In the Assign Reviewer sheet:
- Currently assigned reviewers are listed at the top, each showing their name, workload (number of papers), and a per-assignment due date you can edit inline.
- Available reviewers are shown below, sorted by topic match score (how many of the submission's topics overlap with the reviewer's declared expertise) then by workload.
- A COI warning badge appears next to any reviewer who has a conflict of interest with this submission's authors.
- Search reviewers by name, expertise, or affiliation.
- Click Assign on any reviewer to add them. Click Unassign to remove an existing assignment.
- Suggest N reviewers auto-selects the top-ranked reviewers (by topic match and workload) and assigns them in one click.
The minimum reviewers target (configured in conference settings) is shown as a guide. The system will warn if you go below this number, but it will not block you.
For bulk auto-assign across multiple submissions at once, use the Auto-Assign bulk action (see Section 6).
8. Withdraw and Reactivate
Organizers with
MANAGE_SUBMISSIONS can withdraw any submission. Withdrawn submissions move to the Withdrawn tab and are no longer considered for review.If a submission was withdrawn in error, use Reactivate from the Actions menu to restore it to its previous status.