Overview of the Review Process
Contributed Paper Review Process
All first authors submitting a paper for publication in the PERC Proceedings are expected to make themselves available to participate in the double-confidential peer review process by reviewing up to three papers. Co-authors are also expected to make themselves available to review up to two papers.
Choosing Referees: After all PERC manuscripts have been received, the editorial team will assign reviewers to each manuscript and send notification to these referees to commence their review. The pool of peer reviewers is made up of all authors listed on papers submitted to be peer reviewed. Additional reviewers from the PER community who have not submitted a paper may be asked to review as the need arises. Papers submitted are typically assigned to three peer reviewers; while an effort is made to connect papers to reviewers with similar areas of expertise, the nature of the reviewer pool means that this may not always be the case. No paper will be reviewed by more than one novice reviewer, including undergraduate students. Authors are reminded that both first authors and co-authors, as noted above, are required to participate in the peer review process if needed. Authors are expected to provide lists of potential conflicts of interest to exclude from consideration for reviewing their manuscript, and may also provide the names of potential reviewers that, for reasons of potential bias or fear of discrimination, should also be excluded from assignment to the manuscript. Authors, as noted above, may also request to be removed from consideration from being a reviewer, if there is an argument that such a decision is in the best interest of the Proceedings.
Referee Decisions: After reading the manuscript and reviewing based on the above criteria, each referee makes a recommendation to the editorial team to publish the manuscript or not. After referees send their recommendations to the editorial team, the editorial team will make a decision about whether the paper is accepted to be published in the Proceedings or not. These decisions will be sent out approximately two weeks after reviews are due. Once a paper is accepted, the authors will be given the reviewer reports and a short amount of time to make the necessary revisions before submitting a final version of the paper.
The typical acceptance rate of contributed papers in the PERC Proceedings is between 70% and 80%.
Authors should keep in mind that, because of the short time between the PER Conference and the publication of the PERC Proceedings, papers requiring substantial or content-based revisions that would necessitate a re-review CANNOT be accepted. Thus, authors should ensure that the paper they submit is readable, follows a logical progression, is without spelling and grammatical issues and that the research behind it is sound.
Authors are directed to the "Policies and Practices" page (via this link) for more detailed information on the specific policies implemented in the review process.
Overview of Author Appeals
If an author feels that a mistake has been made in the review process, they may contact the Editor for clarification or appeal, but in all cases, the Editors have the final decision on the acceptance or rejection of papers. Authors desiring an appeal should review the policies on the "Policies and Procedures" page (via this link) for more information on how to submit an appeal and the nature of the appeal process.