Please refer to the full list of the Policies and Guidelines, but here are the key points relevant for chairs:
Chairs must consider all submissions equally that come in before the deadline.
That is, you can’t decide to stop looking at submissions after you get 3 fantastic papers. Some chairs prefer to wait until all submissions have come in before reviewing them.
All submissions must come through the submissions portal.
If submitting through an online portal would pose an obstacle for anyone, you can submit it on their behalf through the portal – just make sure that you know their answers to the questions (such as comfort level with technology for the virtual sessions).
Chairs may not present a paper at sessions they chair.
Sessions need a chair to keep time and, if applicable, moderate questions and answers.
For the Virtual Annual Meeting, ASECS will repeat the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting format of 60-minute sessions; however, there will be 30 minute breaks in between all sessions, and the video rooms will stay open during that time. Tentatively, sessions will be scheduled 11am-4:30pm each day. We hope that this schedule will help prevent “Zoom fatigue” and offer flexibility for chairs and presenters.
Accepting Sessions in Stova Portal
You can watch a short video of how to accept (or decline) submissions in this short video here; written instructions are below. (Click on ‘cc’ to see the subtitles.)
Dear NAME, I’m pleased to share that I’ve accepted your submission “SUBMISSION NAME” for the session I’m chairing, “MY SESSION”. Please confirm by Sept. 27 that you’ll be taking part in the panel by replying to this email. Thanks so much,
CHAIR NAME
Instructions: Ready to accept (or decline) submissions?
Go to your Login Page for the portal and click on “Submissions”. Go the “Submissions to Review” section at the bottom of the page. Click on any submission.
If you’ve already started a review and clicked “save and continue later,” go to the small pencil icon on the top right to edit the review.
Make (or revise) your selections and score. Then check with the presenters to confirm that they will be presenting in your session (some people might have to choose between two). Feel free to use the language on the left as a model.
If you would like to request a second session, want to suggest submissions that should be considered for other sessions, or other notes, you can do that in the “Review Notes” section.
Once everyone has committed to your session, click “save and submit” on the review page and I’ll officially notify everyone of their status – whether it is an acceptance email or a “we couldn’t accommodate you this year” email.
You can watch a video of how to review submissions here; written instructions are below.
Click on arrows to the right to see a screenshot for each point. You can click on the circular arrow on the PDF if the image is not horizontal.
1. When submissions to your session come in, I will forward them to your “sessions” list. I will try to get that done with 24-36 hours; if you know someone has submitted an abstract and you don’t see it in that time frame, send me an email.
When you log in to the portal, you’ll see a tab for “submissions”. Click on it.
2. At the top of the screen you will see anything you have submitted under “My submissions”. At the bottom of the screen, you will see “Submissions to Review”. You should have a test submission from me in there that you can experiment with (if you don’t see it, let me know).
3. Click on the submission. You will see the information and abstract on the left of your screen, and the space for reviews on the right. You aren’t obligated to fill out anything in the form – it’s just for you. I’ll be asking you to submit your acceptances at a later date.
Click whether you have a conflict of interest in reviewing the submission (and let me know if you need someone else to review it instead of you).
You must write something in the “Review Notes” box in order to save the review; type n/a or similar if you don’t want to leave any notes. The submitter cannot see your notes; nor can your co-chair if you have one.
You must select a rating in order to save the review. The submitter cannot see the rating; your co-chair will see it, however.
4. Important: select “save and continue later”. You can come back and change or add comments or ratings (there will be a pencil icon in the top right corner to click on the screen the next time you look at it).
If you accidentally click “save and submit”, but want to be able to edit your review later, contact me.
