JWCMT: The Free Academic Conference Management Platform, Explained from Call for Papers to Proceedings

What JWCMT Is and the Problem It Solves for Conference Organisers

Most academic conferences in India are still run on a patchwork: a Google Form for abstracts, a spreadsheet of reviewers, a WhatsApp group for the committee, a bank transfer for fees and a certificate template someone edits by hand the night before. It works once. By the second edition the organisers have lost track of who reviewed what, which registrations were paid, and which accepted papers never sent a camera-ready file. A conference management platform replaces that patchwork with one record.

JWCMT (Journal Wave Conference Management & Tracking, jwcmt.org) is the conference management service of the Journey & Wisdom group, the publisher behind JMVRA. It runs an event end to end: the call for papers, submissions, reviewer allocation, decisions, registration, the schedule and the proceedings. Because it sits inside the same network as the group's journals and book platform, an accepted paper moves into publication without the metadata being typed again. The original JMVRA article on JWCMT describes it as a free platform for colleges, universities and research institutions, and that is the positioning this guide expands on.

The question is never whether a conference can be run on email and spreadsheets. It is whether anyone will be able to reconstruct what happened when a university, a reviewer or an indexing service asks six months later.

JWCMT Feature by Feature: What the Platform Covers

The capabilities below are the ones described on jwcmt.org and in the original JMVRA article. Nothing beyond them is claimed here; for anything specific to your event, contact the team at [email protected] or WhatsApp +91 91063 65667 to discuss your requirement.

The two features organisers value most after their first event are the ones they ignored before it: attendance records and automatic certificates. A certificate issued from attendance data is defensible when a participant's institution later asks whether they were present; a certificate issued from a name list is not.

Seminar, Workshop, National or International Conference: Which Setup Fits

JWCMT supports online, offline and hybrid events with multiple tracks, which means the same platform scales from a one-day departmental seminar to a multi-track international conference. The difference is in what you switch on.

Planning the Conference: Committee, Budget, Dates and Scope

The platform handles execution. Planning still has to be done by people, and the decisions below are the ones that go wrong most often when they are postponed.

Committee and roles

• A general chair who owns the dates and the budget.
• A programme chair who owns the CFP, the tracks, the reviewer pool and the decisions.
• Track chairs for each theme, each with ten to fifteen named reviewers.
• A registration and finance lead who reconciles payments to the accepted list.
• A publication lead who handles camera-ready files, proceedings and the journal MOU.
• A technical lead for the hybrid platform, if any sessions are online.

Budget lines to list before you set the fee

Venue, catering, keynote travel, printing, the hybrid streaming service, proceedings production and DOI registration, certificates and contingency. Set registration fees after the budget exists, not before, and publish separate categories (student, faculty, industry, international, listener) on the website from the first day. Collecting fees online through JWCMT gives you a transaction record for each category, which is what the finance office will ask for.

Scope and tracks

Three to six tracks with named chairs is typical for a national conference. A single "all areas of engineering and management" track produces reviewer mismatches and a programme nobody can navigate. Each track needs a one-paragraph description and a keyword list, because JWCMT allocates reviewers by track or keyword.

A Sixteen-Week Plan from Decision to Published Proceedings

The timeline below is a general schedule for a national conference with full papers; adjust the spacing for a larger event. Sixteen weeks is tight but workable on a platform that sends reminders for you.

1. Weeks 1 to 2

   Form the committee, fix the budget and dates, choose the publication route, and create the event on JWCMT with its website, tracks and important dates.

2. Weeks 2 to 3

   Publish the call for papers; recruit the reviewer pool by track and record each reviewer's keywords on the platform.

3. Weeks 3 to 8

   Submissions open. Desk-check each paper within days for scope, template and similarity (JWSCAN), then allocate two reviewers per paper.

4. Weeks 8 to 10

   Reviews due; reminders go out automatically; track chairs resolve split recommendations; decisions are sent on the published notification date.

5. Weeks 10 to 12

   Authors submit camera-ready files and register as presenters; registration is reconciled against the accepted list; the programme is built from registered papers only.

6. Weeks 12 to 14

   Keynotes confirmed, session chairs assigned, hybrid links tested, certificate templates approved, attendance mode configured.

7. Week 15

   The conference. Attendance recorded per session; certificates issued from attendance data; reviewer certificates issued.

8. Week 16 onward

   Accepted papers move to proceedings through JW Book or to a journal special issue; DOIs registered through JWDOI; the event report published on the site.

Writing a Call for Papers That Gets Good Submissions

The call for papers is the conference's most-read document and its most-copied one. Write it from scratch for your event, publish it on the JWCMT event site, and keep every date on it consistent with the platform's deadlines.

If the plan is a special issue in JMVRA or another network journal, agree it through the conference proposal process before the CFP is published, so that the charges, timeline and review requirements are in writing. Our guide on hosting a conference special issue covers the MOU and editorial responsibilities in detail.

The Reviewer Workflow: Allocation, Evaluation Forms and Decisions

Conference review is compressed journal review. The same principles apply: independent reviewers, a structured form, a recorded decision. What changes is the clock, and the platform exists to keep it.

Setting up reviewers

1. Recruit by track10 to 15 reviewers per track, recorded with keywords
2. Set the formrelevance, originality, method, clarity, recommendation
3. Allocate two per paperno reviewer from the author's institution
4. Deadline 10 to 14 daysreminders sent by the platform
5. Resolve and decidetrack chair breaks ties; decisions sent together

Two choices matter more than the rest. First, double-blind review needs anonymised files; put the instruction in the CFP and check it at the desk stage, because a reviewer who sees the author's name cannot un-see it. Second, decide in advance what happens with split recommendations (one accept, one reject). The usual rule is that the track chair reads the paper and both reports and decides, or invites a third reviewer if time allows. Write the rule down before it is needed.

Registration, Online Payment, Attendance and Certificates

These four functions are where organisers lose the most time after the review is over, and where JWCMT's integration pays off: each one draws on the record the previous step created.

Hybrid and online events

For hybrid conferences, keep one registration list with a mode field rather than two lists. Online presenters need the session link, the time in their time zone and a test slot a day before; put those three items in the acceptance email template. Attendance for online sessions should be recorded the same way as in-person attendance so that certificates are issued on one rule.

From Accepted Papers to Proceedings, DOIs and Journal Special Issues

The publication stage is where a conference earns lasting value for its authors, and where the Journey & Wisdom network's integration shows. Because JWCMT shares the network with the publication platforms, an accepted paper's title, authors, affiliations and abstract move into proceedings or journal publication without being re-keyed.

1. Camera-readyfinal files collected on the platform against each accepted paper
2. Route chosenproceedings volume, journal special issue, or both for different papers
3. Receiving platform's checkssimilarity and editorial checks still apply
4. DOI registrationthrough JWDOI on prefix 10.56975 with full metadata
5. Discoverymetadata to Crossref; deposit to OpenRGATE

Proceedings volume

A proceedings volume is a book: it needs an editor, a preface, an ISBN and a consistent layout. JW Book (jwbook.org) handles proceedings alongside monographs and edited volumes, including ISBN handling and production. Each paper in the volume can then carry a chapter-level DOI registered through JWDOI.

Journal special issue

Selected papers can also be published in a journal special issue, but only after the journal's own review. A conference acceptance is not a journal acceptance; the receiving journal applies its editorial and similarity checks, and authors usually need to extend the paper. For JMVRA, the route is the conference proceedings and special issue process, with the charges and timeline confirmed in writing before an MOU is signed. The JMVRA publication fee for regular papers is ₹971 for Indian authors and US$41 for international authors, payable only after acceptance; conference arrangements are agreed separately in the MOU.

Our organiser guide on publishing conference proceedings covers ISBN, DOI and metadata requirements step by step.

JWCMT vs EasyChair vs Microsoft CMT vs OpenConf: An Honest Comparison

Organisers searching for a free conference management system will meet three established names. All three are capable tools, and the comparison below is intended to help you pick, not to dismiss them. Check each vendor's current terms, since licence limits and prices change.

The honest summary: EasyChair and Microsoft CMT are excellent at submission and review, and large international conferences in computing rely on them. JWCMT's distinctive value is breadth for a smaller team: website, review, registration fees, attendance, certificates and the route to publication in one place, which is what a college or department running its first or fifth national conference actually needs.

Common Conference Mistakes and the Time They Cost

The failures below recur in conferences on every platform. The bar chart shows an illustrative split of where organiser hours go when the process is manual; it is a planning aid, not a measured dataset.

• Promising "Scopus-indexed proceedings" or "UGC-CARE journal publication". Indexing is decided by the database, and the UGC-CARE list has been discontinued, so neither promise can be kept.
• Publishing the CFP before the review model, dates and publication route are fixed.
• Allocating reviewers from the author's own institution, or allowing a track chair to review papers in their own track without disclosure.
• Accepting a paper without a similarity check, then discovering the plagiarism after the proceedings carry a DOI.
• Collecting fees to a personal account instead of the institution's account with a receipt for each payment.
• Issuing certificates to everyone who registered rather than everyone who attended.
• Scheduling papers whose presenters never registered, leaving empty slots on the day.
• Treating conference acceptance as journal acceptance and skipping the journal's review.
• Losing the review records after the event, so nobody can show the review happened.

Where Accepted Conference Papers Can Be Published: The Network Journals

When a conference committee wants selected papers to appear in a journal, the honest route is a journal that states its ISSN, its fee, its licence and its review process in the open, and that applies its own review to every conference paper it receives. The three journals of the Journey & Wisdom network meet that description and are the ones JWCMT connects to directly. Organisers can propose a special issue; individual authors can submit extended versions of their conference papers through the regular portal.

^* JMVRA’s 11.25 is a calculated metric based on citations from Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar. It is not an official Clarivate Journal Impact Factor (JCR). TIJER and JNRID details are as stated by their publisher. Full comparison: Our Journals.

For a conference special issue in JMVRA, start with the conference proposal form; the MOU records the agreed timeline, review requirements and charges before the call for papers names the journal.

Glossary: Conference Management Terms

How Journey & Wisdom Helps

JMVRA is published within the Journey & Wisdom group, which runs four shared services — similarity checking, journal management, DOI registration and conference management — and thirteen publication platforms. These are the ones that matter most for this guide. For anything not listed here, email [email protected] or message WhatsApp +91 91063 65667 to discuss your requirement.

JWCMT

Conference management & tracking

Runs a conference end to end — call for papers, submissions, reviewer allocation, decisions, registration, schedule and proceedings — and moves accepted papers into publication without re-typing.

jwcmt.org →

JWDOI

Crossref DOI registration

Registers Crossref DOIs and deposits article metadata, and gives journals a sponsored DOI prefix without joining Crossref directly — for journals, books, chapters and proceedings.

jwdoi.org →

JW Book

Book publication

Monographs, edited volumes, textbooks, proceedings and thesis-to-book projects, with ISBN handling and production.

jwbook.org →

JWSCAN

Plagiarism & similarity check

Checks a manuscript for similarity before submission with iThenticate (by Turnitin) and returns an overall similarity index with a source-by-source report editors can act on.

jwscan.org →

JWJMS

Journal management system

Runs the editorial workflow: online submission portal, author dashboard, desk screening, reviewer invitations and reminders, revision rounds, decisions, issue building and publication scheduling — with a full record of every step.

jwjms.org →

See every Journey & Wisdom product and platform · JW ecosystem map

How to run an academic conference on JWCMT: step by step

1. 1

   Form the committee and fix the budget

   Appoint a general chair, programme chair, track chairs, registration lead and publication lead; list every cost line before setting fees.

2. 2

   Choose the publication route

   Decide whether accepted papers go to a proceedings volume, a journal special issue or both, and agree any journal MOU before the CFP names the journal.

3. 3

   Create the event on JWCMT

   Enter the name, dates, mode (online, offline or hybrid), tracks, committee and important dates, and publish the conference website.

4. 4

   Publish the call for papers

   State tracks, paper types, template, every deadline, the review model, fee categories and the publication route honestly.

5. 5

   Build the reviewer pool

   Recruit ten to fifteen reviewers per track, record their keywords on the platform and agree the evaluation form.

6. 6

   Desk-check and allocate

   Check each submission for scope, template and similarity, then allocate two independent reviewers with a 10 to 14 day deadline and automatic reminders.

7. 7

   Decide and notify on the fixed date

   Track chairs resolve split recommendations; all decisions go out together from the dashboard with a record kept.

8. 8

   Open registration and collect fees online

   Link presenter registration to accepted papers, publish what each fee includes, and reconcile payments from the transaction record.

9. 9

   Build the programme from registered papers

   Schedule sessions, chairs and rooms only for papers with a registered presenter; test hybrid links in advance.

10. 10

    Record attendance and issue certificates

    Capture check-ins per session and generate e-certificates for presenters, attendees and reviewers from that data.

11. 11

    Move accepted papers to publication

    Collect camera-ready files, pass them to JW Book proceedings or a network journal special issue, and register DOIs through JWDOI.

12. 12

    Close with a report

    Publish the event report, archive the review and attendance records, and keep them for the next edition and for any later verification.

Frequently Asked Questions

Popular Searches on This Topic

The questions and phrases researchers and journal owners search for most on this subject — each one is answered in the sections above.

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Related Guides

Useful pages on JMVRA

• Original article: The free platform for academic conference management, JWCMT.org
• Propose a conference with JMVRA
• Conference proceedings and special issues
• JWDOI sponsored Crossref DOI membership
• Submit a paper to JMVRA