Hi,

I'm new here (PhD in Engineering). Currently 2nd year.

I've started to get some results so i wrote an abstract and submitted to a (slightly above average) conference in my area.It got accepted (yay), but i'm wondering what this means in terms of paper acceptance? Does having an abstract accepted increase the chance of having the full paper accepted? Do you even need to submit an abstract at all? Can i submit other work to the conference without submitting an abstract?

I know i'm probably just worrying while i should be writing, but i've never known any conferences to do abstract submission first in my area so i'm wondering how it effects everything else? if that makes sense?

Thanks for any insight ^^

The usual protocol is that you write an abstract for a conference. If it gets accepted, it basically means you will present a paper at the conference based on your abstract. So your paper is already accepted so to speak. Yes you do need to submit an abstract- it is usually the only way you are accepted to present. And no, you can't submit other work to the conference, at least not in my field. I've never known conferences to do it any other way than ask for an abstract first, to judge the worth of your paper on that topic.

So by getting the abstract accepted, I'm already past the difficult part of the review process? (as long as my paper matches my abstract, that is).

That cheers me up as my last paper was rejected (no abstract submission there)! So knowing this makes me feel (somewhat) better!

======= Date Modified 30 Nov 2012 08:11:46 =======
Firstly, congrats on getting your abstract accepted!

I am not sure about the Engineering field, but in my field (Clinical Sciences), having an abstract accepted by a conference does not mean that your entire paper is accepted. True, you present at the conference and your abstract does get published in the Proceedings, but the entire paper is another issue. Moreover, it does not mean that your (full) paper is past the (dreaded) review process. Abstract publication is different from a paper publication as (I imagine) an abstract is not scrutinized as thoroughly as a paper, and from my experience, the former is comparatively easier to get published than the latter.

Anyway, good luck!