EDAS uses a number of terms in its operation. Since conferences and journals each use their own terminology, EDAS tries to choose common terminology, but can naturally not match the nomenclature preferred by a particular conference or community. However, in almost all cases, these conference-specific entities can be mapped to EDAS elements. In some cases, there may be several reasonable choices. Chairs should contact EDAS Help for advice on the trade-offs.

For brevity, the descriptions below assume conferences rather than journals, but most of the concepts apply to both.

abstract
An abstract provides a short summary of the paper content. Abstracts appear in EDAS in two ways: as paper meta data and as separate files. Abstracts are typically no more than a few hundred words long and are meant to stand alone, e.g., typically do not contain citations. The separate abstract file is often longer, up to page long, and is sometimes called an extended abstract by conference organizers. Almost all papers have an abstract; EDAS allows conferences to enforce a minimum and maximum word count.
attendee proceedings
The attendee proceedings are provided to attendees, either online, on a USB memory stick or on a CD-ROM. The attendee proceedings includes papers that have been accepted and meet other criteria. (Either EDAS or the conference may prepare the attendee proceedings.) To be included in the attendee proceedings, PDF manuscripts are stamped with copyright and other information.
brochure
A brochure is a document handed to attendees. It may contain listings of conference programs, author lists and custom content, such as information about the venue or social activities.
(paper) category
A paper can be assigned to a category, either by the author, if configured, or the chair. Categories are defined by the conference and are optional. Categories are typically used to designate special types of papers such as poster presentations or student papers. A category can also define the number of pages permitted for a paper.
chair
Conference chairs manage the conference and generally have full control: for example, they can create tracks and sub-conferences, change all conference settings, upload manuscripts at any time, see all papers (other than papers they authored), assign reviewers, and notify authors. Permissions for chairs can be tailored in Conference:Configure, but most functions are always available to chairs.
CFP (call for papers, call for participation)
Call for papers are sent to mailing lists and interested individuals before the conference submission deadline to encourage submissions. Calls for participation are sent when the conference program has been finalized. EDAS supports sending CFPs via Conference:Send CFP, but limits the number of CFPs per conference. EDAS users can sign up to receive EDAS CFPs by broad topic area.
conference
A conference is the basic independent entity within EDAS. Each conference can have sub-conferences. To allow paper submissions, each conference must have at least one track. A conference is managed by one or more chairs.
conference banner
A conference banner is a rectangular image, in JPEG, GIF or PNG formats, used for the conference-related EDAS pages, the visa letter and the conference web page or attendee proceedings. The banner can be any size and is scaled to a reasonable size, but is typically about 100-150 pixels tall by 600-800 pixels wide. The banner often contains the conference logo, the name, a sponsor logo, the conference location and conference dates. The banner is provided by the conference.
The conference logo is a smaller, square or rectangular, image that is used to identify the conference on EDAS pages. The logo is provided by the conference.
conference program
The conference program lists conference sessions and events in chronological order. For online proceedings, it typically links to the paper manuscripts. Conference programs can contain a tabular summary, organized by time slots, rooms or tracks.
designated reviewer
A designated reviewer is a member of the TPC with somewhat restricted permissions compared to a regular member. See reviewer. For brevity, in TPC listings, the designated reviewer is abbreviated as simply a reviewer. Smaller conferences typically do not have designated reviewers, but the role makes it possible to assign one review type (e.g., regular reviews) to designated reviewers, and another one (e.g., meta reviews) only to TPC members.
eCF
IEEE electronic copyright function. Authors are directed to an IEEE web page and guided through filling out the IEEE copyright form. Once completed, eCF reports completion to EDAS and the completion is recorded. eCF copyright forms are not stored in EDAS and not available for download. eCF needs to be set up by EDAS, in cooperation with IEEE.
editor
Journals in EDAS use the term editor instead of TPC member.
event
Events are the basic logical units of attendee registration. Each event has one or more event registrations. For example, attending the main conference or a workshop may each be designated as one event, with each event having event registration options for specific categories of attendees.
event registration
Events have at least one event registration that allows to different different categories of attendees. For example, an event may have event registrations for society members that register early, society members that register late and students. Each event registration has a separate price. It may be restricted as to when it is available for registration, well as the category of attendee, such as students, it is available for. Event categories can also be restricted to authors or attendees from certain countries.
final paper
A manuscript that is ready to be stamped and included in the attendee proceedings is called the final manuscript or final paper. Traditionally, this has also been called the "camera-ready" paper, although EDAS does not use this terminology. This is usually one of the paper type options.
(paper) group
A group of papers, drawn from one or more tracks. A paper can only belong to one group at a time. Groups are generally invisible to authors. Paper groups can have zero or more group leaders. The typical use case for paper groups are discussions at larger TPC meetings, where each paper to be discussed is assigned to a group.
group leader
A group leader is responsible for a paper group. Depending on the permissions granted, group leaders may be able to see all reviews, assign reviewers and change the paper status for papers within their group. A group can have zero or more group leaders.
IEEE Xplore
The IEEE digital library. EDAS proceedings are uploaded to IEEE Xplore, using a special zip file format.
IEEE catalogue #
The IEEE catalogue number identifies the proceedings for IEEE. It is provided in the letter of acquisition (LoA).
ISBN
International Standard Book Number (ISBN) identifies the printed or electronic proceedings. If applicable, the LoA contains the number.
journal
Journals can either be on-going publications, with submissions occuring at irregular intervals, or special issues, with deadlines similar to conferences. EDAS treats journals similar to conferences, with a few terminology differences. Journals may use paper revisions if authors can update their paper after a review cycle.
LoA (letter of acquisition)
The IEEE letter of acquisition (LoA) describes the publishing parameters for a conference, such as the ISBN, the IEEE catalog number and the IEEE conference number. The IEEE conference number is needed to set up the IEEE electronic copyright function.
Markdown
Markdown is a mark-up language for text that allows to describe simple text formats such as bold, italics or links. Markdown can be used in email and visa letter templates.
meta review
A special kind of review form that typically summarizes other ("regular") reviews for a paper. Each paper typically only has one meta review, although this is a configuration setting and not required by EDAS.
milestone
For each conference, EDAS creates a set of milestones that track the lifecycle of a conference and provide deadlines for completing tasks related to conference setup and proceedings. Chairs and publication chairs are sent email reminders listing upcoming and overdue milestones. Milestones can be found in Conference:Milestones.
no-show paper
An accepted paper where the author did not present the paper at the conference. For IEEE conferences, no-show papers are not published in the IEEE Xplore digital library.
paper state
Each paper can be in one of four states: active, accepted, rejected or withdrawn. Certain operations on papers can only be performed for certain paper states. For example, reviews cannot be assigned to papers in the "withdrawn" state and only accepted papers can be assigned to a session and thus appear in the conference program.
paper status
The paper status designates the current status of the paper. Paper status values can be customized for each conference, i.e., a conference can have an arbitrary number of paper status values. Typically, a conference has at least the paper status values pending (a paper record with paper meta data has been created, but with no manuscript), active (a manuscript has been submitted and the paper is being reviewed), accepted, rejected and withdrawn (the paper is no longer being considered for publication and typically has not been reviewed). Some conferences use the no-show paper status that designates accepted papers where the author did not present the paper at the conference. Each paper status has one of the four paper states, i.e., active, accepted, rejected or withdrawn.
paper type
The type of manuscript or other paper-related document. For example, a typical paper may have a review manuscript and a final manuscript, as well as a presentation. An auxiliary manuscript may be used for a variety of purposes, such as for author explanations. Each paper type can be given an upload deadlines and can restrict for which paper status values authors can upload the manuscript. Each paper type also defines a set of format restrictions, e.g., page margins and page counts.
permissions
Permissions govern what various TPC and staff roles can do within EDAS. They are modified in Conference:Configure, Roles & permissions
proceedings
The "proceedings" describes the collection of papers, front and back matter that is either published, e.g., as a book, after the conference or submitted to IEEE Xplore or other digital libraries. Like the attendee proceedings, it contains papers and front matter, but it may omit papers that were marked no-show and thus may differ in page numbering from the attendee proceedings. The proceedings are typically prepared shortly after the conference has concluded.
publication chair
The publication chair role gives limited privileges to one or more people. Publication chairs are not part of the TPC and do not manage reviews and cannot change most conference settings. They can, however, upload manuscripts and create zip files for the proceedings.
review
A review is an evaluation of a paper. Papers are typically assigned several reviews. EDAS allows conferences to define more than one review form. A common model is that each paper is assigned three reviews and one meta review that summarizes the other reviews.
reviewer
The term "reviewer" is used in two ways. First, (designated) reviewers are invited and become members of the TPC, but typically cannot write meta reviews or assign additional reviews. The are usually assigned reviews automatically, based on their interests, just like TPC members. (The number of reviews for the role of reviewer and TPC member can be configured separately, as well as the types of reviews they are assigned.) The term "reviewer" is also used for the reviewer, whether primary or meta, of any paper. Reviewers for a paper do not need to be members of the TPC.
review form
The review form enumerates a set of review questions that reviewers use to evaluate the review paper. Conferences can have several different review forms, e.g., for the regular paper review and a meta review. Review questions can be text free form, or a numeric score drawn from a list, or a ranking.
review paper
The review paper (or review manuscript) is the paper manuscript used to evaluate (review) the paper and decide whether it will be part of the conference program and published in the proceedings.
review track
Some conferences allow papers to reside in two tracks at the same time, namely the track they were submitted to by the authors and the track they are reviewed in. The review track is chosen by the chair, not the author and remains invisible to the authors.
revision
Papers can have multiple revisions if the conference or journal has been configured for the revisions feature. Each revision has its own paper meta data such as paper title and abstract, reviews and paper status. Revisions are more common for journals than for conferences.
role
TPC members can have roles such as chair, group leader or track chair. A person can have multiple TPC roles, e.g., both TPC member and track chair. Typically, for people with multiple roles, these roles differ by track. For example, a person may be a regular TPC member for all tracks and a track chair for one track. The TPC member may perform an operation, such as assign reviews, if any of the roles grant that right for a particular paper.
session
A session is a group of papers that constitute a unit within the conference program. A session can be assigned to one or more tracks, although this is not common or necessary unless the conference program is organized by tracks. Sessions can take place in one or more rooms.
(paper) shepherd
A paper shepherd may be assigned to accepted papers to help the authors incorporate reviewer feedback into their final manuscript. Shepherds do not have to be TPC members. They do not have special privileges beyond being able to see the reviews for the papers they have been assigned to.
similarity checking
Similarity checking is used to check review papers to see if they are similar to other published papers. The similarity is scored from 0 to 100. A high similarity score may indicate that the paper content was plagiarized. The similarity report highlights which sentences or phrases are similar to what other papers. A high similarity score should be investigated by the conference chair. In many cases, it points to the authors' own work, such as a technical report or thesis. Alternatively, a paper may also contain quotes from standards or other papers. Only the chair can tell whether such quotes have been appropriately credited.
A sponsor is a technical or scientific society that supervises or manages a conference. Sometimes the term also refers to a financial supporter of a conference, which IEEE calls patrons.
stamping, stamped
PDF files, typically manuscripts and presentations, can be stamped with page headers and footers. For example, IEEE papers contain the IEEE copyright status on their first page. Stamped papers are kept as separate files from the accepted paper manuscript. There are typically two stamped papers for each accepted papers, one for the attendee proceedings and one for proceedings.
status
See paper status
sub-conference
A sub-conference is a conference entry in EDAS that is designated as being "below" another conference, the conference group. Sub-conferences can themselves have sub-conferences. Sub-conferences can inherit email templates, review forms and registration events. A conference chair can manage all sub-conferences, but the sub-conference chair can only manage his or her conference (and any sub-conferences "below" their conference.) For example, a large conference may consist of the main conference and a number of workshops and symposiums, each designated as a sub-conference of the main conference.
template
A template contains the text "skeleton" for the various emails that EDAS sends out, e.g., to invite TPC members or notify authors. Templates are also used to define the format of visa letters.
topic
Papers and TPC members may have one or more topics. Topic may be logically grouped into topic groups. Topics may be restricted to particular tracks, so that only papers or TPC members in that track can be assigned that topic. If not otherwise restricted, a topic applies to papers in all tracks or all TPC members. Authors typically designate topics for their papers and TPC members typically choose their topics of interest. Chairs can override these choices. Topics can also be used, typically in conjunction with topic groups, to label papers in other ways. For example, they may be used to designate student and industry papers. Each topic can designate whether it is visible to authors and TPC members.
topic group
A logical grouping of topics, used for displaying topics. A topic group can also restrict how many topics from that group an author can choose.
TPC
Technical program committee. It includes the designated reviewers, technical program committee members, group leaders, track chairs and chairs. The TPC can be assigned reviews automatically or manually, and has role-specific rights. These rights can be configured in Conference:Configure, "Permissions".
TPC member
The TPC member is the basic role within the TPC, without any of the special privileges granted to chairs, track chairs and group leaders. (Unfortunately, the terminology is confusing since group leaders, track chairs and chairs are also TPC members. In EDAS, the term member refers to the basic rank of TPC member.) TPC members can, if configured, assign reviewers to their papers or can simply write reviews.
track
A track is the organizational unit used to manage submissions for a conference. Thus, each conference has to have at least one track. Tracks can be added to conferences at any time. Tracks may have track chairs, but this is not required. Tracks can often be used to restrict other EDAS concepts, such as topics, TPC members, sessions or events. Often, a larger conference can be organized as either a group of sub-conferences, each with one or more tracks, or as a set of tracks with track chairs. Generally, sub-conferences are more independent, with each chair able to configure all settings independently of the master conference. All tracks within a conference share many of the conference settings, such as the conference date, location, email templates and review forms. Thus, it is best to set up sub-conferences if each is to have their own email templates, paper status values, review forms and largely non-overlapping TPCs. Tracks can be converted to sub-conferences and can be moved from one conference to another.
Each paper can only be in one track at a time, but can be reviewed as if it were in another track by designating a review track. Papers can be moved between tracks by the chairs.
track chair
A track chair manages one or more tracks. In the default setting, track chairs cannot change the conference parameters, but they can assign reviewers and change the paper status.
travel grant
Travel grants are financial grants provided to attendees to enable them to attend the conference. They are often restricted to students. EDAS allows conferences to manage travel grants by having applicants file their application and designate somebody to write a letter of recommendation. Often, the letter is written by the student's academic or PhD advisor. Travel grant chairs can manage applications and notify applicants whether they have won a grant or not.
visa letter
A visa letter is used by an attendee to acquire a travel visa to attend the conference. EDAS can generate PDF visa letters that use a template to create a letter customized with the author name, the paper title and the conference details. In EDAS, visa letters use a simple XML format to position logos, banners, scanned signatures and other elements. (The scanned signature is uploaded via Conference:Files.)
workshop
A workshop is typically a smaller conference-like event, i.e., with presentations, panel discussions and, less commonly, posters. Workshops typically have only one track, but have their own technical program committee and selection process. Workshops are often attached to larger conferences. EDAS does not distinguish conferences from workshops. For larger events, workshops are often organized as sub-conferences of the umbrella event in EDAS.