Manually Assign Reviewers

Review Assignment Process

Track chairs are responsible for assigning submissions to reviewers to ensure thorough and fair evaluation of all papers.

1. Accessing Review Assignments

1. Log in to your PaperFox account
2. Go to your conference dashboard

3. Navigate to your assigned track
4. Click "Review Assignments"

Navigate to your track's assignment page to manage reviewer assignments for all submissions.

2. Phase Selection and Deadline Management

Choose Phase:

• Use the phase dropdown to select which submission phase to manage
• Each phase may have different review requirements and deadlines
• Switch between phases to manage assignments across different review rounds

Review Deadline:

• View the current review deadline for the selected phase
• Click "Update" to modify the deadline if needed
• All reviewers will be notified of deadline changes

3. Assignment Overview

The assignment interface displays:

• Submissions list - All papers submitted to your track for the selected phase
• Reviewer pool - Available reviewers for your track
• Assignment status - Shows for each submission:
  • Number of reviewers currently assigned
  • Review completion status (Pending, Completed)
  • Reviewer names and their progress
• Review requirements - Number of reviews needed per paper

4. Conflict of Interest Enforcement

COI rules are enforced automatically — if you try to assign a reviewer who has a conflict with a paper's authors, the assignment will be blocked. Three rules are checked: self-conflict, co-author conflict, and declared conflict.

See Conflict of Interest Enforcement for full details on how COI works across all assignment paths.

5. Assigning Reviewers to Submissions

1. Select a submission from the left panel to view its current assignments
2. Assigned reviewers appear at the top of the right panel, highlighted in blue with their assignment status (pending, accepted, or declined). Unassigned reviewers are listed below.
3. Choose additional reviewers from the list based on expertise and workload
4. Confirm assignments — COI conflicts are checked automatically

6. Managing Assignment Workload

Balance Reviewer Load:

• Monitor how many papers each reviewer has been assigned
• Distribute assignments evenly across your reviewer pool
• Respect maximum papers per reviewer limits set in track configuration

Track Assignment Progress:

• Review assignment completion status for all submissions
• Identify submissions that still need reviewer assignments
• Ensure all papers meet the minimum review requirements

7. Notification Process

After making assignments:

• Reviewers receive automatic email notifications about their assignments
• Notifications include submission details and review deadlines
• Track chairs can monitor notification delivery status

8. Review Progress Matrix

Click "Review Progress Matrix" to access a visual overview of review completion across all submissions, with options to export data and send reminders.

See Review Progress Matrix for full details.