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Assign submissions to reviewers

This article explains how to assign submissions to reviewers

Step 1: Go to the Submissions table

In your event dashboard, go to Submission > Submissions.
Select the submissions you wish to assign using the checkboxes.

Submissions table with an arrow on the select-all checkbox and the Filters button highlighted

Tip: Use filters to narrow down the list of submissions to a specific topic if you want to assign them to reviewers specialized in that topic.

Then click Assign reviewers.

Four submissions selected in the Submissions table with the Assign reviewers button highlighted

The Assign reviewers window has three steps: Reviewers, Assignment method and Confirmation.

Step 2: Select reviewers

Choose the reviewers you’d like to assign to the selected submissions, then click Next.

Assign reviewers window at the Reviewers step with a search bar and reviewer checkboxes

Step 3: Choose the assignment method

Manual
Use this option when you want full control over which reviewers are assigned to which submissions.

All selected reviewers will be assigned to all selected submissions.
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Automated
Use this option to quickly distribute the submissions among the selected reviewers.

Reviewers are assigned automatically until the target number of reviews per submission is reached.

The Review settings card shows the rules that apply to the method you selected:

  • Target: the number of reviews each submission should receive with the automated method.

  • Track matching: how the automated method pairs reviewers with submissions based on their tracks. This line only appears when your plan includes tracks management.

  • Workload limit: the maximum number of reviews a reviewer can be assigned, or Not limited. It applies to both methods, so it is the only rule shown for Manual: a reviewer who reached the limit is skipped.

These rules are configured once, in Peer review > Form > Settings, under Reviewer assignment. Click Edit in the card to open that page. See Customize reviews for the details of each setting.

Assignment method step with Automated selected, the Review settings card and the notify checkbox

In the example below, the Reviewer assignment section of the form settings targets 2 reviews per submission, limits each reviewer to 6 reviews and has Try to match selected.

Reviewer assignment section of the review form settings

Step 4: Notify reviewers (optional)

On the same step, Notify reviewers by email is checked by default. Keep it checked to notify reviewers right after assigning them, or uncheck it to notify them later.
The email will tell each reviewer how many submissions were assigned and include a link to access their reviews.

Tip: You can always notify reviewers later when all assignments are done.
To do so, go to Peer review > Reviews, select all reviews, and send a mass email to the reviewers.

Step 5: Confirm the assignment

Click Next. The Confirmation step tells you how many reviews will be assigned to how many reviewers, and warns you if some submissions can't be assigned because of existing assignments, conflicts of interest or the reviewer workload limit.

Click Save to assign the submissions.

Change or undo an assignment

Can I reassign a submission to other reviewers?
​Assign reviewers only adds reviewers. It does not remove reviewers who are already assigned. If you select a submission and choose other reviewers, the new reviewers are added to the existing ones.

To replace a reviewer, delete the review first, then assign the submission again:

  1. Go to Peer review > Reviews.

  2. Search for the reviewer by name or email, or filter the table.

  3. Select the reviews you want to remove.

  4. Click Delete.

  5. Type DELETE to confirm, then click Delete.

  6. Go to Submission > Submissions, select the submissions, and click Assign reviewers again.

Deleting a review does not delete the submission. It only removes that reviewer's assignment.

Warning: If the reviewer already completed the review, deleting it also removes that evaluation.

This is also how you undo a random assignment. Delete the reviews you don't want, then assign again.

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