Transforming Scientific Events with Information Management: The Case of the Virtual Health Convention Center

Abstract

Introduction: The Virtual Health Convention Center is dedicated to offering services related to scientific events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the province of Cienfuegos has promoted several virtual activities, with the aim of maintaining the scientific momentum in the region.Objective: This study aims to characterize the scientific events carried out through the Virtual Health Convention Center.Methods: An observational, descriptive, quantitative-qualitative, cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out. Six scientific events were examined in their entirety. The variables considered included: the scientific events held, the design and style of presentation of the papers, the category of the event according to its scope, modality and type, the central theme and year of the event, the number of papers presented, the participants, the comments and authors, the origin of the participants, and the types of research. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis.Results: Six events were held that addressed highly relevant topics. The CovidCien2021 event stood out with 592 participants (49.04%). The province of Cienfuegos stood out with 496 delegates (41.09%). The most common research had three authors, with 104 papers (27.80%). The CovidCien2021 event also stood out with 174 researches (46.52%); bibliographic reviews were the most predominant. A total of 3293 comments were registered. A unique design was adopted for the submission of accepted papers on the event platforms.Conclusions: The use of virtual environments for the development of scientific activities has increased in popularity. These offer a higher rate of participation and presentation of papers, as well as the implementation of a unique and distinctive design in their development.