Volunteering to review
Sign up to review for a conference's programs and workshops, from its Portal or its public Sign Up as a Reviewer link, and track each sign-up until a program chair approves it.
Purpose
The Reviewer page, opened from a conference's Portal, lets you volunteer to review for that conference without waiting for an invitation. You choose the programs you want to review for, sub-programs and workshops included. Each program's chair then approves or declines your sign-up.
When you use it
- A conference in your field has put out a call for reviewers.
- You want to join the program committee of a workshop or track you know well.
- You submitted a paper and want to review for other programs at the same conference.
Walkthrough
- 1
Open All Conferences, find the conference, and click Portal on its card.
- 2
Click the Reviewer tile. If an organizer sent you a Sign Up as a Reviewer link (
/c/<conference>/reviewer), open it instead. It shows the same list, and you can look through it without an account. - 3
The Select Programs list shows every program still accepting reviewers, each shown by its acronym and full name, in sections as in the Leadership Console's Programs tab: Programs lists every top level program, Multi-Programs included, then each Multi-Program (such as Workshops) has its own section listing its sub-programs. A paused Multi-Program keeps its section for its running sub-programs but is not in the Programs list itself. The arrow left of a section title folds or opens it. To find one quickly, type in Search programs and workshops: the list narrows as you type, and you can pick a suggestion. Select each program you want to review for.
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Click Continue, at the bottom right of the list, which also shows how many programs you have selected. If you aren't signed in, the button reads Sign in to continue and first asks for your professional email: reviewers use a university or company address. A personal address (Gmail, Yahoo, …) or an unrecognized one gets a warning; enter your work address or cancel. Once it is recognized, Continue opens Sign In with your email filled in when you already have an account, or Sign Up when you don't. Already have an AirBalloon account under a personal email? Use Sign in with it in that box instead, so your papers and roles stay in one account. After you sign in or create an account you return to the page with your programs still selected, and go straight on to the next step.
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Reviewer profile. Chairs decide from your profile, so a sign up needs a complete reviewer profile. If yours is complete this step is skipped. Otherwise a checklist shows what is missing, with the fields to fill in right there:
- Personal Profile, in this order: first and last name, organization, title or position with country beside it, at least one research interest, and education history. For Research interests, type a keyword and end it with a comma, semicolon or period (or press Enter); click × on a keyword to remove it. Education history needs at least one entry with its Degree and Institution; the first entry can't be removed, and Add education adds each further degree. Major, Minor and country are optional. It is the same list as in Settings, where the major is called Department.
- Reviewer Profile: at least one expertise area, given by its name. The first area is ready to fill in and can't be removed; Add expertise area, under the last area, adds the next one. Areas and education entries are numbered (Area 1, Area 2, …) once there is more than one. A scholarly record (an ORCID, Google Scholar or DBLP link, or an imported publication) is optional but helps chairs judge your sign up. An expertise statement, the years and keywords of an area, and relations and conflicts can be added later in Edit Profile.
Click Save and continue. If a required field is still empty, it is outlined in red with a note underneath saying what is missing, and the page scrolls to the first one. Everything is saved to your User Profile.
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Confirm. Check the programs, the summary of your profile and your professional email. If you signed in with a personal address and have no confirmed professional email, a box asks for your university or company email: enter it and open the confirmation link sent to it. Sign up stays off until then, and your sign up is recorded with that address. If you signed in with a university or company address but your professional email is not validated, you can still sign up: each program's chairs then get an email asking them to check your profile before deciding. Add a note to the program chairs if you like, and click Sign up. Your sign up is recorded only now.
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You get a confirmation three ways: an email to your professional email (your sign in email if you did not give one), a notification in the bell, and the same message in Webmail. It lists the programs you signed up for and is sent on behalf of the conference committee.
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Each program you signed up for now shows Awaiting approval. When a chair approves your sign-up you are added to that program's reviewer list and get a notification, and the program shows On committee. Until then you can click Withdraw to take the sign-up back.
Tips
The Reviewer page has a Copy public link button. Use it to pass the public Sign Up as a Reviewer page on to colleagues.
Nothing is sent until you click Sign up on the Confirm step. If you stop halfway, your profile shows a Continue sign up banner that brings you back with your programs and note restored (in the same browser, for 30 days).
Chairs approve reviewers from their profiles, and the expertise areas and statement also drive paper assignment once you are approved. A complete profile is checked again when you click Sign up.
You can't select a program where you are already on the committee, already have an invitation pending, or are already in the chair's candidate pool. The badge next to the program shows which applies. Programs that are closed or inactive are not listed.