Submission Management is the art and science of collecting and managing any kind of submissions. Traditionally, submissions were collected offline i.e. in the form of 'hard' paper files or folders. However, with the recent penetration of Internet in almost every sphere of life, there has been a steady shift towards collecting electronic submissions as compared to hard copies of submissions. The Internet has also facilitated a change in the perception towards the deliverables or contents of a submission. As a result of this, submitting audio and video files, pictures and presentations in addition to standard text, word and pdf-like documents has become common in the last few years.
Managing submissions may include evaluating submissions and providing feedback to submitters, accepting or rejecting submissions or requesting submitters to make a re-submission. In some cases, a panel of experts may also be requested to assist in the evaluation of submissions by reviewing or judging them.
Common scenarios
Academics
It is a common practice for teachers, professors and teaching assistants to get assignments and projects submitted by students, either electronically or otherwise. These assignments are graded and the students are given feedback on whatever they submitted and how can they improve it. In institutes where academic submissions are done electronically, there generally is a system (usually a web-based one) in place to assist in the collection and management of submissions.
Call-for-paper (academic) conferences
In call-for-paper or academic conferences, prospective presenters are usually asked to submit a short abstract of their presentation or research work, which is reviewed before being accepted for the conference. Some conferences require researchers to submit a full paper of about 6–15 pages, which is peer reviewed by members of the conference's program committee and/or external reviewers chosen by them.
Competitions and contests
Most competitions and contests held world over usually have an initial screening round in which they accept nominations or entries from prospective participants. After all the nominations and entries have been received, the organizers of the competition or contest evaluate and shortlist the required number of entries on the basis of certain parameters set by them, notify the participants whose entries have been shortlisted and invite them to participate in further rounds of the competition or contest. Those whose entries were not shortlisted may also be given feedback by the organizers with a reason for the rejection and tips for improvement.
College events and fests
Student bodies in colleges and universities usually organize various inter-college and intra-college events and fests on an annual and/or semester basis. These events and fests are usually made up of several big and small competitions and contests, each of which generally follow a procedure as explained in the paragraph above.
Pharmaceuticals industry
Regulatory submissions in the pharmaceutical–biotechnology and medical device industry comprise documents and data that are submitted to a regulatory agency to gain approval to market new drugs, biologics and devices but also when modifications are introduced in registered data (variations). The documentation represents years of research and includes multi-disciplinary information (including preclinical and clinical data) regarding the safety and efficacy of a compound. The regulatory process varies from country to country and involves numerous interactions between the submitting company (sponsor) and the regulatory authority (agency). Many regulatory agencies accept electronic submissions in conjunction with or in lieu of submitting paper.
Human resources
Human resource departments collect résumés and CVs as a part of processing job applications. Applicants submit their résumés either via email, on the website of their prospective employer or on employment websites that help connect job seekers and employers.
Contemporary art
In contemporary art, curators often select and interpret works of art created by various artists. Before the popularity of the Internet, this was often done in person but these days some curators prefer artists submitting pictures of their work over email or by other electronic means for an initial screening. If the curator likes a particular work of art, he may electronically communicate his desire to work with the artist after verifying that the picture is indeed of his work.