The best Oxford Abstracts alternative for abstract management and peer reviews
Published on 22 Nov 2024 · Updated on 15 Sept 2026
Oxford Abstracts is a UK platform for abstract submissions and peer review that academic conferences have used since 2004. Organizers who compare it with Fourwaves usually want the same submission and review depth plus the parts Oxford Abstracts leaves to other tools like an event mobile app. Unlike oxford abstracts, Fourwaves includes the event website builder and the conference program for free in all plans.
Fourwaves is conference management software for academic conferences: abstract submissions, peer review, registration, event website, program and conference app in one platform, built for researchers at universities, scientific societies and research networks. It runs abstract management on its own or with the rest of the conference, for in-person, hybrid and virtual events, from a 30-abstract research day to a 2,000-submission multi-track congress.
Disclosure: Fourwaves wrote this comparison. Facts about Oxford Abstracts were checked on its website in September 2026.
Abstract management & peer-review
Fourwaves enables an easy submission process, management and abstract review.
Authors can submit their work through a user-friendly interface, while reviewers can assess and rate the content of the abstract efficiently.
Fourwaves is as easy for submitters as it is for conference organizers. You can customize your abstract submission form with custom fields such as affiliations, authors name, type of presentation, field of study, and more.
Contrary to Oxford Abstracts, the abstract management feature is integrated with an all-in-one tool you can use for your entire event management, including an event website, registrations, and more.
Peer review
The Fourwaves platform has a powerful peer review module, offering a user-friendly experience for reviewers.
They have easy access to their submissions, and organizers can decide what scores or feedback will be shared with submitters.
Reviewers can provide feedback and scores, and event organizers can easily make decisions based on the reviews.
Start with abstracts, add registration when you need it
Fourwaves runs the call for abstracts and peer review on their own: organizers publish a submission form, assign reviewers, record decisions, notify authors and export the book of abstracts without opening registration or collecting payments. The free plan covers 25 submissions per event, and paid plans are flat annual prices published on the pricing page, so a review committee can adopt Fourwaves for the call for abstracts while registration stays elsewhere for that edition.
Fourwaves differs at the next edition: every module reads the same event data, so adding registration and payments, the conference program, the conference app and the event website happens on the same account, with no migration of submissions or reviewers, and the previous edition stays online as a clone-ready template. The Geological Association of Canada has run about 500 abstract submissions and 800 participants on one Fourwaves event each year since 2022 (customer story). With Oxford Abstracts, registration and the website live in other tools, and event data access is guaranteed for one year after the event.
Fourwaves and Oxford Abstracts at a glance
Facts checked in September 2026 on both websites. In short, Fourwaves includes the event website, registration and payments and a free attendee mobile app, and keeps past events online indefinitely; Oxford Abstracts focuses on submissions and review, sells a symposium add-on, and guarantees event data access for one year.
| Criterion | Fourwaves | Oxford Abstracts |
| Abstract submissions and peer review | Custom forms with conditional logic, single or double-blind review, automatic reviewer assignment with conflict detection, per-track committees. | Configurable forms, single or double-blind review, conflict of interest and late-review management. |
| Symposium submissions | Session proposals collected through conditional logic in the submission form. | Paid symposium add-on for symposia with their own sub-abstracts. |
| Event website | Included with every plan, bilingual EN and FR. | Not offered; submissions link out from an external site. |
| Registration and payments | Included, through the organizer’s own payment gateway, with invoices and refunds. | Not its core; most organizers pair it with another tool. |
| Free plan | Free plan with 25 submissions per year across your events and unlimited registrations. | Free tier for small events. |
| Pricing model | Flat annual plans published online, no per-registrant fee. | Per event with add-ons, published online. |
| Attendee mobile app | Free iOS and Android conference app on every plan: program, personal agenda, posters and slides, participant list, offline. | No mobile app. |
| Past events | Event websites and data stay online indefinitely; events are cloned for the next edition. | Event data access guaranteed for one year after the event. |
Virtual poster presentation
If you host a virtual conference with a poster session, Fourwaves provides the best virtual poster presentation tool.
Each poster presentation has its own video conversation of up to 12 participants. Presenters don’t even have to share their screens, they can present their posters with a nifty laser pointer, and zoom in and out of the poster very easily.
Attendees can go from one poster presentation to another organically and you can easily see how many people are currently in each poster presentation.
Not only can you use this feature for poster presentations, but you can also use it as booths for exhibitors or sponsors, or simply have multiple workshops or small sessions at the same time.
Oxford Abstracts does have a poster hall, but no breakout rooms or native video conversations. If you want to add a video meeting, you need to send Zoom links to your attendees, which can be quite cumbersome.
Custom event website
With Fourwaves, you get a customizable event website with every plan.
Whether it is for a symposium, annual meeting or in-person event, conference organizers can customize the website to showcase the right information; speakers, venue, topic, etc.
You can even have a white labeled website if you’re not comfortable with having the Fourwaves brand showcased.
Access to past events
Particularly if you have annual events, you’ll be glad to know that Fourwaves event websites can stay live indefinitely. Allowing you to always have access to the content, data, and schedule of past events. You can also easily clone your events, which is quite a time saver.
Oxford Abstracts on the other hand doesn’t have event websites, and you can’t keep your event content or data for more than a year.
Registrations & payments
Participants can register to your event and pay via the event website very easily.
You can customize your form so that participants can choose their registration type, specify their affiliation, field of study, meal option, or any other information you might need. You can then easily see and filter this information in your user dashboard.
Participants can pay directly in a few clicks, you can add early bird discounts, tax rules and coupon codes as well.
Event data
Fourwaves provide insights into abstract submissions, reviews, registrants and more. You can see your event performance at a glance.
You can easily filter submissions and registrations by type, name, status and any other custom field you may need. From there, you can generate ready to print name tags, an abstract booklet and more, through a beautiful modern interface.
Fourwaves also enables unlimited users to your account, so you can have as many collaborators, reviewers or organizers as needed, no extra charge.
Communication
The platform offers tools for event communication, including emails and live chat to keep all stakeholders informed.
You can use fourwaves email feature to send emails to all participants, submitters, reviewers, and you can easily add variables such as “name” or “submission title” that will be automatically filled with the right information for each email sent. It’s also very easy to add email attachments if needed.
Made by scientists, for scientists
Fourwaves was created by bioinformatics PhD students to solve event management issues they encountered.
The idea stemmed from PhD students involved in organizing conferences and evolved to a mature company with thousands of customers around the world. Fourwaves always has the academic community in mind. Each new feature is created to help scientists and chairs with their scientific event management.
Fourwaves also created a research fund as this is a core part of our DNA. In collaboration with the University of Sherbrooke, they established the Fourwaves Climate Change Research Fund to support graduate students focusing on climate change studies, fostering faster innovation and research in this domain.
Where Oxford Abstracts is the better fit
Oxford Abstracts is the better fit for a conference whose call for abstracts is organized around symposia: its paid symposium add-on lets a convener submit a symposium and collect the sub-abstracts inside it, which Fourwaves handles today through conditional logic in the submission form rather than a dedicated module. Organizers who only ever need the submission and review step, and already have registration and a website elsewhere, will also find its per-event pricing straightforward.
Pricing
Fourwaves has one of the best value for money for academic event management.
Conclusion
While the Oxford Abstracts system has been a reliable choice for abstract management and peer reviews, the changing landscape of event management and academia has given rise to several alternatives for conference organizers and scientists.
Fourwaves stands out as a comprehensive and user-friendly solution, offering a wide range of features, superb customer support, and more to simplify event organization for the academic community.
Compared to Oxford Abstracts, Fourwaves offers a few compelling advantages such as;
- Better user experience, perfect for first time conference organizers.
- A complete solution for scientific events
- A powerful virtual poster session tool
- Better networking and communication possibilities
- A customizable & complete event website
- Access to past events, content and data
If you want a complete tool that’ll help you manage your abstracts, but also, your whole event, Fourwaves is the right alternative for you.
