Guideline for Referees
Reviewer Responsibilities
As a reviewer, you are expected to hold the following responsibilities:
Double blind.
The SLADS review process follows a double-blind protocol. The identities of both authors and reviewers remain confidential. You must refrain from any actions that could compromise this anonymity, including actively attempting to discover authors' identities for submissions under your review.
Open Reviewing.
Once all reviews for a submission have been submitted, they will become publicly visible (while maintaining anonymity). Both the authors' response to your review and any subsequent discussion will also be immediately visible. You are required to actively engage with the authors until the issues you have raised for discussion have been sufficiently explored.
Review deadline.
SLADS maintains a commitment to rapid review turnaround. Accordingly, reviewers must submit their evaluations within 6 weeks of their assignment. Following a two-week discussion period with authors after all reviews are submitted, each reviewer may then submit their final decision recommendation to the associate editor.
Post-review discussion.
The critical discussion period with authors begins immediately upon submission of your review. During this phase, you should actively engage with the authors by promptly addressing their clarification requests and providing acknowledgment of all revisions made to their submission.
Official Recommendation
Two weeks after all reviews have been submitted, reviewers may submit their official recommendations to the associate editor.
Your decision recommendation (Accept, Accept with Minor Revisions, or Reject) should reflect your initial assessment and subsequent discussion with the authors, regardless of whether you ultimately recommend acceptance.
The associate editor will monitor the discussion process, consult the reviewers' feedback and recommendations, and evaluate the submission. When making the final decision, they will also assess and rate your review.
Annual Quota: The standard annual quota is set at 6 papers, though this can be adjusted via the OpenReview console. You may also temporarily mark yourself as unavailable for periods of illness, vacation, or work leave through the same interface.
Review Process Timeline
To ensure timely publication, we request that reviewers complete their assessment within 6 weeks of accepting a review invitation.
Review Invitation
You receive a review invitation via email with manuscript details and abstract.
Response Expected
Please accept or decline the review invitation based on your expertise and availability.
Review Submission
Complete your review using our online system and submit your evaluation and comments.
Post-review discussion
Please engage with the authors by addressing their clarification requests and providing acknowledgment of all revisions made to their submission.
Important: If you cannot complete the review within the requested time, please notify the editorial office immediately so we can find an alternative reviewer.
Ethical Guidelines
As a referee, you are expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards:
- Maintain confidentiality - do not share or discuss the manuscript with others
- Declare any conflicts of interest (personal, financial, professional, or academic)
- Do not use knowledge of the work before its publication to advance your own research
- Provide objective, unbiased assessments regardless of author origin, gender, or affiliation
- Alert the editor if you suspect plagiarism, duplication, or data fabrication
Conflict of Interest: You are responsible for maintaining current affiliation and education/career history information in your OpenReview profile to ensure proper enforcement of our conflict of interest policy. Under this policy, we consider in conflict any individual or institution with which you have shared a collaboration within the past three years. If you have recently collaborated with the authors, are a close personal friend, or have a competitive relationship that might affect your judgment, please decline the review invitation and notify the editor.