It would be great if the plugin generates the Author Panel output as a Loop-Like and not Login/Signup code. I mean something like :
<?php
/*
Template Name: Author panel
*/
get_header(); ?>
<div><?php if (function_exists('article_directory_author_panel')) article_directory_author_panel(); ?></div>
<?php get_sidebar();
get_footer();
?>
Also some WordPress like hooks for adding and saving extra fields on the submission form.