Auto Assign
Match reviewers to papers by expertise with one click. A readiness list checks everything before the start; the run then prepares the matching data and suggests reviewers for every paper on its own. Nothing is approved until you approve it in Assignments & Progress.
Purpose
Auto Assign matches your reviewers to your papers by expertise and suggests reviewers for every paper. It runs in two steps:
- Prepare matching data. It reads every paper and every reviewer profile, scores every paper and reviewer pair, and checks for conflicts of interest.
- Suggest reviewers. It picks reviewers for every paper within your assignment rules, spreading the load fairly. Each paper gets the number of reviewers set for its category (for example Full Paper 3, Short Paper 2, Demo 1), and only the reviewers you chose take part.
Once started it runs to the end by itself: it never stops to ask you anything. Every check that could stop it is in the Readiness list above the start button, and the choices it needs are options you select before you start.
Auto Assign stops at suggestions. It approves nothing, and no reviewer hears about it, until you approve the suggestions in Assignments & Progress.
When you use it
After the submission deadline, once your reviewers have accepted their invitations and filled in their expertise. It can also run by itself on a schedule, 24 hours after the submission deadline. The Scheduled line at the top of the card shows when.
Walkthrough
- 1
Open Review → Reviewer Assignment → Auto Assign.
- 2
Read the Readiness list. A red cross blocks the start until you fix it; an amber triangle is a warning; a blue note is for your information. The reviewer count includes only members whose Reviews Papers is On in Committee. Use Edit rules, Open Committee or Show names next to an item to act on it.
- 3
Select the options you want. Lower the minimum score if needed so every paper gets reviewers appears when the minimum match score may leave papers without reviewers.
- 4
Open Reviewers in Auto Assign to choose who takes part. Deselect the reviewers to leave out (search, filter by role, Select all or Select none), then click Save selection. Each row shows how many papers the reviewer already has.
- 5
Check the Rules sentence (reviewers per paper, papers per reviewer, minimum match score). Open Assignment rules to change them. Under Reviewers per paper by category, type the number for each paper category; leave a category blank to use the Target, or type 0 for a category that needs no reviewers (Auto Assign leaves its papers out and they never count as short). Saving checks the readiness list again. The most papers per reviewer is shown read only with where it comes from: it is Max Papers Per Reviewer in Settings, Review Config (or the Multi-Program's or the conference's). It applies to every reviewer except those with their own Max Papers in Committee, which Auto Assign uses instead (and adds up in the capacity check). A member's total counts every paper they review in this program, whatever its type.
- 6
Click Start Auto Assign. Each step shows its status: Waiting, Running (with counts and the time so far), Done, Needs attention or Failed. Keep the page open until it finishes; you can look at the other tabs meanwhile.
- 7
When it ends, a status window sums it up: how many reviewers were suggested, how many approved assignments were kept, how many papers are still short and how many reviews are missing, why (for example, no reviewer has room left under Papers per reviewer) and what to change, with the numbers worked out from your papers and reviewers: for example "Raise Max papers per reviewer from 8 to about 10", "Lower the minimum match score from 0.30 to 0.22", or which papers to assign in Manual Assign because too few reviewers have a match score for them. Papers that are no longer in review (drafts, withdrawn, accepted or rejected) are left out of Auto Assign and never counted as short. Click Review and approve to go to the suggestions, or Close.
- 8
Below the steps, read the full result: the counts, a table by category (reviewers wanted, average got, papers complete) and, when some papers have fewer reviewers than wanted, a list of those papers by number and title with how many reviewers each has (for example 1 of 3). Papers below the fewest come first. Click Assign on a paper, or Assign all in Manual Assign, to fill them by hand. Then click Review and approve in Assignments & Progress. The list opens on the papers with suggestions, where you approve them one by one or with Assign All Suggested (top right).
Tips
Click the ? on the Auto Assign tab for a short guide: what a run does, running it again, why it may suggest nothing and how to get better results.
You do not need to clear the results first. A new run replaces every suggestion you have not approved; approved assignments, invitations waiting for the reviewer and finished reviews are kept and count toward the numbers. With nothing changed, a new run gives the same suggestions. To get different ones, change the input: the Assignment rules (reviewers per paper, papers per reviewer, minimum match score), who takes part in Reviewers in Auto Assign, the category numbers, or the reviewers' profiles and bids. A member whose Reviews Papers is Off is never suggested, even when the matching data was prepared before the switch.
No papers waiting for reviewers. Auto Assign runs on papers in Submitted or Review status; papers that already have a decision (Accepted, Rejected, Revision) are left out. No reviewers yet. Invite reviewers in Committee, or assign by hand in Manual Assign. No reviewer takes part in Auto Assign. Select some reviewers in Reviewers in Auto Assign. Auto Assign is already running. Wait for it to end. Not enough reviewer capacity. The papers need more reviews than the reviewers can take; raise the papers per reviewer or add reviewers. Each reviewer must get at least N papers but the papers cannot take that many; lower the fewest papers per reviewer.
Only N of M papers have enough reviewers at the minimum score. Lower the minimum score in the rules, or select Lower the minimum score if needed. Before any scores exist the same option is offered unchecked; if you leave it and no assignment fits, Step 2 ends as Failed.
Reviewers with no expertise in their profile can only be matched on topics, and papers with no abstract get weak scores; you can still start. Invited reviewers who have not accepted are left out until they accept. If the submission deadline has not passed, papers submitted later are not included: run Auto Assign again after the deadline. Approved assignments are always kept when you run it again.
A failed step stops the run there; the later step stays Waiting and the button reads Start Auto Assign again. Reading papers or reviewer profiles failed: nothing was changed, start again. Scoring or the conflict check failed: start again (a failed conflict check never lets suggestions ignore a conflict). No assignment fits these rules: lower the minimums or the minimum match score, or select the minimum score option, then start again. Some profiles could not be read, some papers got fewer reviewers than the rules ask for (the papers are listed under the result; assign them in Manual Assign) or some suggestions could not be saved end the step as Needs attention.
When a run stops while you watch, a message box opens saying which step stopped, why in plain words, and what to do next. Approved assignments are always kept. If it says the matching service is missing a permission, the problem is on the AirBalloon side, not in your papers, reviewers or rules: starting again stops at the same place until it is fixed, so contact support@airballoon.ai with the program name and the detail the box gives, and use Manual Assign meanwhile.
A part never waits forever. If its status cannot be read for a while, the step fails with a message and you can start again; scoring, the conflict check and suggesting reviewers wait at most about 12 minutes for their counts to settle.
Reviewers you leave out are not suggested by Auto Assign, but they keep their match scores, can still bid, and can still be assigned by hand in Manual Assign. Their approved assignments still count. Reviewers who join later take part unless you deselect them. In Assignments & Progress they carry the tag Left out of Auto Assign.
Each paper is filled up to its own number, never past it. When reviewers run out, every paper still gets at least the Fewest (or its own number when that is lower), and the readiness list warns before you start. Assignment View and Edit shows each paper as 2 of 3, and Needs reviewers lists the papers below their own number. A new program's Target starts from Minimum reviews per paper in Settings → Review Config. Only papers are matched; abstracts and proposals are decided by the chairs.
Advanced keeps the single parts: Prepare matching data alone, Recompute all embeddings, and each part on its own. It also explains what the scores mean. A suggestion you decline in Assignments & Progress is never suggested again.
Reviewer bidding is turned off in the PC Console for now, so Auto Assign never waits for bids and suggests reviewers by expertise and conflicts.