Policies and Practices
The following are some of the general practices and policies applied to reviewers of the PERC Proceedings:
- First authors with no co-authorships on other papers will be assigned up to 3 papers.
- First authors with one or more additional co-authorships may be assigned up to 3 papers.
- A co-author on a single paper will be assigned up to 2 papers.
- Co-authors on 2-3 papers will be assigned up to 2 papers. Co-authors on 4+ papers may be assigned additional papers.
- The editors may additionally request a review from PER community members that did not contribute a paper to the PERC Proceedings. When possible, these reviewers will be selected from PERC attendees that submitted an abstract but did not contribute a paper.
- Although the editors typically have over 98% of assigned reviews returned, a few last-minute review assignments are needed each year. Individuals contributing to an invited paper otherwise not included above may be asked to contribute to this portion of the peer review process.
Peer Review Assent: Upon submission, authors will be presented with the following statement, to which they will be required to assent before the manuscript can be accepted for review:
- “I agree, on behalf of both myself and my co-authors, to participate in the double-confidential peer review process. I understand that first authors may be assigned to review up to three manuscripts and that co-authors may be assigned to review up to two manuscripts. If I or my co-authors are assigned papers to review, I understand that it is each author’s responsibility to submit a review or a report of potential of conflict-of-interest by the review deadline of [date]. I understand that delinquency in submitting a review on the part of ANY author on this paper is grounds for the paper to be removed from consideration for publication in the PERC Proceedings. I also understand that, if one of the authors on this paper wishes to be relieved of their peer-review responsibilities, a request must be submitted directly to the PERC Proceedings Editorial Team by [date].
Co-authors will be sent the following statement upon receipt of a manuscript, addressing their participation in the peer review process:
- “A manuscript has been submitted on which you are listed as a co-author. As a co-author, you are required to make yourself available to participate in the peer review process, and may be assigned up to two papers to review. If you are assigned papers to review, it is your responsibility to submit a review or a report of potential conflict of interest by the review deadline of [date]. Delinquency in submitting a review on the part of ANY author assigned papers to review is grounds for that author’s paper(s) to be removed from consideration for publication in PERC Proceedings. If you wish to be relieved of your peer-review responsibilities (for example due to being out-of-field for PER), a request must be sent directly to the PERC Proceedings Editorial Team by [date] with a justification for removal from peer review assignment consideration. If the editors do not receive such a request by [date], you may be assigned up to two papers to review.
What happens if someone can't review and notifies the editors?
First authors are required to make themselves available to review, as assigned, up to three papers; co-authors are required to make themselves available to review, as assigned, up to two papers. If an author is assigned reviews by the editorial team, failure to complete these reviews by the review deadline is grounds for the dismissal of the author’s paper(s), regardless of whether the author is a first author or co-author. Authors may request to transfer or to be relieved of their referee responsibilities; such requests should be directed to the editorial team and will be considered if there is an argument that such a decision is in the best interest of the Proceedings.
If an author cannot fulfill their responsibility to review, the reviewer should immediately inform the Editor so that a replacement can be found.
What happens if someone doesn't submit their reviews and has not contacted the editors?
If the person is a first author and does not submit their reviews after repeated requests by the Editor, their paper will be withdrawn from further consideration and their name will be placed on a list of those authors who have not complied with the requirements of submitting paper to the annual PERC Proceedings.
If the person is a secondary author, their name will be placed on a list of those authors who have not complied with the requirements of submitting paper to the annual PERC Proceedings.
Authors whose names are placed on the list for non-compliance will be flagged if they are listed as a first or secondary author on a future paper and sent an e-mail indicating that if they fail to participate as expected during this cycle of peer review that they will be unable to submit papers to annual PERC Proceedings for a period of two years. Continued non-compliance will result in a banning of an individual from submitting any future papers.
