About Fourwaves | Case study | Pricing structure and policies | Get started
The Federation is pleased to offer its member associations an abstract management software, Fourwaves, which supports call-for-papers and abstract administration. The service may be used when holding your association conference at Congress but is also available throughout the year and for non-Congress activities. Read on to learn more and to get in touch about using the software for your association.
About Fourwaves
Fourwaves is an academic event software that simplifies your abstract submission experience with a user-friendly platform designed to streamline the collection, review, and online publication of your materials. Using Fourwaves, you can:
- Create a full event website and submission form for your association’s conference or journal submissions;
- Fully customize your submission form;
- Create a schedule for your conference that can then be shared with your attendees (mobile friendly);
- Communicate with individuals who submit their work to your conference or journal;
- Easily manage your peer-reviews;
- Allow for submissions of pre-recorded videos; and,
- Create, manage, and publish your submission and conference schedule website in both French and English by easily toggling between chosen languages.
This tool helps your association work collaboratively, stay organized, communicate with your members more easily and efficiently, and, perhaps most importantly, allow you to save time on what can often be a daunting administrative task.
Associations do not need to be holding their conference at Congress to take advantage of this service.
Onboarding and support
Fourwaves provides onboarding and ongoing support for associations using the platform, to ensure you get the most out the service, including:
- An onboarding meeting with a Fourwaves software developer to get you familiar with the software;
- Access to an unlimited number of support touchpoints with the Fourwaves development team via e-mail and live chat to support you as you create and manage your call-for-papers;
- One check-in for every call-for-papers or event published; and
- Access to a bilingual knowledge base.
Case study: How the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) uses Fourwaves
Planning a conference can be overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. This year, the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA) used Fourwaves to coordinate their annual conference and abstract management. Dive into a breakdown of their event website below, and explore their Fourwaves website for yourself!
Fourwaves’ website building offers you a homepage that's clean, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate. Add your own welcome messaging, key event details, and enable quick access to presentations, conference fees, and schedules. No coding or web team required—just customizable templates and drag-and-drop tools designed for associations like yours.
With hundreds of sessions and speakers, CSA needed a clear way to organize their packed list of programming. Fourwaves let them to build an interactive, searchable schedule that attendees can filter by session title, topic, date, language, or format. The mobile-responsive layout makes it easy to access on the go, and action those last-minute changes.
Each presentation submitted to CSA’s call-for-papers is reviewed and published in a consistent format, with presenter bios, abstracts, and session details all in one place. This not only supports attendee planning and discovery—it also adds long-term value by giving the research a professional, accessible home.
CSA’s participant list showcases the names and affiliations of those attending, helping members connect, plan ahead, and foster community. Built-in privacy controls give attendees the choice to opt in or out of public listings, so engagement is both respectful and intentional.
CSA uses Fourwaves to clearly display registration policies, refund timelines, and fee breakdowns on one easy-to-navigate page. This minimizes confusion for attendees and cuts down on admin back-and forth during the busy lead-up to the conferences and events.
Pricing structure and policies
When opting into the service, you can select a package and price point that meets your needs. Packages are priced by number of submissions anticipated. A service charge is processed upon enrolling. Additional charges will apply for submissions that exceed your current package allocation (an additional $1.00 for each submission).
The price per package is based on the maximum number of submissions. This means that even if you receive fewer submissions than the maximum indicated in your package, your association is still charged your regular package fee.
Transaction fees may apply if your association will be collecting payments through the platform.
| Base price | Number of submissions accepted | Price per submission (maximum) | Total | Price per submission (if you exceed number of anticipated submissions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Package 1 | $100 | 1-50 | $4.75 | $337.50 | $5.75 |
Package 2 | $100 | 51-100 | $4.50 | $550.00 | $5.50 |
Package 3 | $100 | 101-250 | $4.25 | $1,162.50 | $5.25 |
Package 4 | $100 | 251-500 | $4.00 | $2,100 | $5 |
Package 5 | $100 | 500-1000 | $3.75 | $3,850 | $4.75 |
Package 6 | $100 | 1000-1500 | $3.50 | $5,350 | $4.50 |
Fourwaves will be a component included in several of the support packages the Federation will be offering scholarly associations for their 2026 conferences. Packages will be available soon, so click on the links below to book your spot at the next live demonstration on September 18 or watch a pre-recorded demo and find out how Fourwaves can help you plan the year ahead.
Get started
If your association is interested in learning more or enrolling in the Federation’s abstract management software, you can watch a demonstration of the platform or come to a live demonstration.
Sign up for a live demonstration
Please email us at membership@federationhss.ca for any questions and to confirm your interest in opting in. Please note we would need confirmation of your use of the service at least four (4) weeks before the start of your call for papers.