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Indian Conference-Abstracting Database (ICon-AD) 

ICon-AD is a growing database of abstracts of papers presented at conferences held in India. The ICon-AD was conceived keeping the status of Indian conferences and publication trends in mind. It is observed that not all conference organizers publish the conference proceedings during the conference or post-conference. But publishing conference papers holds importance because conferences always focus on the ongoing or futuristic trends of a particular domain.In this view, the ICon-AD was launched as to bring the abstracts of each paper presented at conferences on one platform. It aims to archive all the abstracts of the papers received from the conference organizers. The beta version of the project launched in January, 2014, has archived 1220 abstracts of 1597 authors (till 1st Feb. 2015). The pilot study on the project highlights processes related to archival and dissemination of conference abstracts, facts, figures, utilities, processes involved and limitations and opportunities for ICon-AD.

Project Launch

ICon-AD is one of the not-for-profit initiatives of Library and Information Centre of Nagindas Khandwala College (NKC), Mumbai (affiliated to University of Mumbai). The Library has been promoting open access movement especially among the teaching fraternity and research scholars. The ICon-AD and short-term certificate course (COIST) for research scholars (www.cosit.weebly.com) are its lead initiatives to propagate the same.

The ICon-AD comprises abstracts of papers presented at various conferences organised by Indian colleges, universities, corporate firms, government agencies etc. It aims to archive all the abstracts received by Indian organisers of conferences. It also acts as a connecting platform between organizing institutes, authors and readers.As the database is a beta version, efforts are being made to make it a full-pledge abstracting database of conference abstracts.

Features and Utilities


 * ICon-AD is a single-window for abstracts submitted to the Indian organisers of conferences.
 * Readers can read, refer, cite, share link and download hundreds of abstracts.
 * It acts as an institutional repository of the conference organsiers to share, archive and access their old conference abstracts. Also, it can be one of the best practices of the contributing institute and the same may be appreciated by UGC-NAAC or AICTE or similar/any regulatory body.
 * The database acts as a link between reader and author of the abstracts and connects them for further sharing of information or intellectual discussion.
 * The themes/sub themes of the abstracts enhance the popularity of the organizer/s, authors and their theme of the papers.The authors and their abstracts may receive citations (in view of the above point (d)).

ICon-AD Portal

An official portal of ICon-AD was launched in January, 2014. The portal links the ICon-AD database (see Figure-1). The portal comprises the features of the database, guidelines for contributor of abstracts, frequently asked questions, list of conference organizers and Project Volunteers who helped share the abstracts of their institutes, contact details of the host, brochures of the project and application form to join the database.

Guidelines for Contributors

The host has set certain guidelines for its contributors for submission of abstracts. (i) ICon-AD allows conference organizers to share the (conference) abstracts of any domain. Before submitting the abstracts, the contributor needs to ensure that each abstract contains the title of the paper followed by name of the author/s, their affiliation, employer details, e-mail ID, body of abstract followed by at least three keywords. (ii) The word limit of each abstract should be 300-400 words. (iii) After verifying these, the submitter needs to add all the conference abstracts in a single MS-Word file and send the same by e-mail or in the form of CD-ROM.Hard copy (printed) of the abstracts is not acceptable.(iv) Along with the abstracts, submission of duly filled-in Permission to Archive Abstracts (PAA) is a must.The organizer may also send the copy of a conference brochure/pamphlet/proceeding along with the abstracts and PAA.

Project Volunteers

The person associated with the organizer of the conference, as a faculty or administrator or researcher, can become the ICon-AD Project Volunteer. He/she need to coordinate with the institute and host (ICon-AD team)and share the old conference abstracts. The name and affiliation of such Volunteer is added on the ICon-AD’ sportal (see Figure-1). The Volunteer also gets Certificate (of appreciation) from ICon-AD team for sharing the abstracts and thus propagating the open access movement indirectly. A registered Volunteer is also expected to create awareness about the utilities of the project among their colleagues and peers. The Volunteer may also help in getting the abstract of any conference/s organised by other academic institutes by orienting them to the features and utilities of the project.