The urgency for better conference infrastructure has never been greater. Today's research challenges—from pandemic response to climate adaptation to AI safety—demand rapid knowledge exchange that can't wait for 18-month journal publication cycles. Conference presentations allow researchers to test ideas, gather feedback, and forge collaborations while findings are still emerging. Yet the platforms managing this critical knowledge exchange often rely on workflows designed for a slower era. As research accelerates and conference submission volumes grow, administrators need tools that match the speed of discovery itself.
This means conference platforms aren't just event logistics software. They are an important piece of research infrastructure for managing cutting-edge work that hasn't been validated by peer review yet but needs to be discoverable, discussable, and connected to the scholars driving it forward.
ScholarOne Conferences manages abstract submissions, peer review, scheduling, and presentations for research conferences where the latest ideas get their first public airing. In 2026, we're focused on making those tools more reliable, more intelligent, and more connected to the publishing ecosystem. Here's what we're building:
- We're modernizing ScholarOne Conferences' core technology to deliver faster performance, improved reliability, and better integration capabilities for your conference management needs. This investment in our technical foundation ensures we can continue delivering the innovative features and integrations you depend on.
- We're introducing AI features designed to eliminate the tedious groundwork that consumes conference administrators' time. First up is AI support to create sessions, which reduces hours of manual abstract sorting to minutes by intelligently grouping submissions by theme, methodology, and research area—while administrators retain full control over final session composition. We’re also exploring editorial support enhanced by AI to accelerate initial paper screening by flagging formatting issues, completeness checks, and potential scope mismatches, allowing your team to focus on substantive evaluation rather than administrative triage. We're beta testing these features with conferences now to refine the balance between automation and human oversight, ensuring they integrate smoothly into your existing workflows and deliver measurable time savings.