Submission Edit Rules
Understand when authors can and cannot edit their submissions, and how to control editing after acceptance
PaperFox automatically locks and unlocks a submission for editing based on its state in the review workflow. This page explains every rule, plus the one track setting chairs can use to customize post-acceptance behavior.
Who Can Edit
| Role | When They Can Edit |
|---|---|
| Submitting author | Whenever the submission is unlocked (see rules below) — this is the person who created the submission |
| Co-authors | Never — only the submitting author has edit access |
| Track chair | Always, regardless of state |
| Conference chair / creator | Always, regardless of state |
Co-authors who need a change must ask the submitting author or a track chair to make it for them.
When the Submission Is Locked
A submission is locked for authors (but still editable by chairs) in any of these cases:
| Condition | Effect | Recoverable? |
|---|---|---|
| Submission is withdrawn | Locked | Only by restoring from withdrawal |
| Decision: Reject | Locked permanently | No |
| Decision: Desk Reject | Locked permanently | No |
| Decision: Accept (default) | Locked | Yes — chair can enable post-accept editing per track |
| A reviewer has accepted an assignment in the current phase | Locked during active review | Unlocks automatically after a decision (revision or accept with setting on) |
| Revision deadline has passed for the current phase | Locked | Only by extending the deadline |
When the Submission Is Editable
A submission is editable by the submitting author when none of the above conditions apply. In practice this means:
- Before the submission deadline — authors can freely edit their submission
- After the submission deadline, before any reviewer accepts an assignment — still editable. The submission deadline controls when new submissions can be created, not when existing ones are frozen for review
- After a Major Revision or Minor Revision decision — editing reopens so authors can revise and resubmit (until the phase's revision deadline)
- After an Accept decision — only if the track has Allow Editing After Acceptance turned on (see below)
Allow Editing After Acceptance (Track Setting)
By default, authors of accepted submissions can keep editing — this is what most venues want, since acceptance is usually followed by a camera-ready or corrections phase. Turn Allow Editing After Acceptance off if your venue treats acceptance as final and you don't want any further changes.
Enable on a Track
- Go to Conferences in the sidebar, then click on your conference
- Click on the track you want to configure
- In the Review Management section, find "Allow Editing After Acceptance" and toggle it on or off
The setting takes effect immediately for every submission on this track. Rejections and revision decisions are unaffected — rejections stay locked, revisions stay editable. Only the Accept case is controlled by this toggle.
When to Enable It
Turn this on if your venue has any of these workflows:
- Camera-ready submissions — authors upload the final version after acceptance
- Post-acceptance corrections — authors need to fix typos, update affiliations, or adjust metadata before publication
- Shepherding — a chair or shepherd asks authors to make specific changes after acceptance
If your venue treats acceptance as final, leave it off.
Author list changes after acceptance
When this setting is on, authors can also add or remove co-authors from an accepted submission. Every edit is captured as a new submission version with the full author list snapshot, and a SUBMISSION_REVISE entry is written to the activity log (who revised, what authors were added or removed), so any change is fully auditable. If you need author-list changes to go through chair approval instead, turn the setting off and make the edits yourself as a track chair — you can always edit any submission regardless of this toggle.
Quick Reference: Decision Types
| Decision | Editable by Author? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| No decision yet | Yes (until a reviewer accepts) | The "reviewer accepted" trigger locks the submission mid-review |
| Major Revision | Yes | Until the phase's revision deadline |
| Minor Revision | Yes | Until the phase's revision deadline |
| Accept | Only with setting on | Controlled by Allow Editing After Acceptance |
| Reject | No | Permanent lock |
| Desk Reject | No | Permanent lock |
Default Behavior
The Allow Editing After Acceptance setting defaults to on for every new track. This matches the workflow of most academic venues, which run a camera-ready or corrections phase after acceptance. Chairs whose venue treats acceptance as final can toggle it off per track.