The Book of Abstracts is a compact publication that bundles all accepted abstracts from a congress. It serves as a citable reference document, is often assigned a DOI, and is provided to participants as a PDF or in printed form.
Also known as: Conference proceedings, abstract book, proceedings (in the strict sense)
Format: PDF, print, indexed
Citable via: ISBN/ISSN, DOI, potentially PubMed listing
What is a Book of Abstracts?
The Book of Abstracts – often referred to as a conference volume – is the compact written documentation of all scientific contributions at a congress. Unlike full proceedings, it contains only the short summaries (abstracts), which are individually citable and – when carefully prepared – assigned a DOI, making them permanently referenceable.
Creation is based directly on abstract management : Once the accepted contributions are finalized, the volume is generated from the original data.
Typical structure
- Foreword by the congress presidency
- Program Overview including daily schedule and session structure
- Table of Contents by sessions, tracks, or thematic blocks
- Abstracts in standardized formatting (title, authors, affiliations, text, keywords if applicable, funding acknowledgments)
- Author Index with references to the respective contribution numbers
- Subject Index / Keywords
- Sponsor and Exhibitor Directory
- Imprint with ISBN/ISSN, DOI, and citation suggestion
Creation Process
- Data Export of all accepted abstracts from the abstract management system. Converia provides support with data formats for typesetting software.
- Layout Template customized to the event design
- Automatic Generation including table of contents, indices, and cross-references
- Editing for consistent spelling, formula notation, and citation rules
- Review cycle with authors as needed (especially for print publications)
- Final approval by the program committee
- Publication as a PDF (preliminary version before the event, final version after), optionally with DOI assignment and listing in databases (PubMed, ResearchGate)
Print or digital?
- Digital (PDF): The current standard, searchable, low cost, fast distribution, easy to update if corrections are needed
- Print: Still traditional in some scientific communities, prestigious, heavy, and expensive; often only in limited editions for speakers and guests of honor
- Hybrid: Digital for everyone, printed only on request – print-on-demand process
Best practices
- Decide early on whether the Book of Abstracts will be assigned a DOI – DOI registration requires lead time
- Communicate a standardized formatting brief as early as the Call for Papers (character counts, structural requirements)
- Only provide corrections in documented versions; never make silent updates
- Ensure persistent URLs for the online version
- Clarify licensing issues: Will the work be published Open Access, or does the organizer hold the copyright?
Book of Abstracts in Converia
Converia automatically provides all accepted submissions for the Book of Abstracts, making further processing easy.
Turn accepted abstracts into a citable publication
With Converia, you can generate your Book of Abstracts at the click of a button—no more manually consolidating hundreds of Word documents.
- Abstract Management – Abstracts / Program / Speakers
- Call for Papers (CfP) – Abstracts / Program / Speakers
- Scheduling – Abstracts / Program / Speakers
Generate a searchable PDF with a table of contents, indices, and your own branding from accepted abstracts at the click of a button.