Session Organizer Instructions: Technical Paper Review Process

  1. Congratulations, you have reached the peer review stage of organizing an SAE session. The judgment basis rating and scoring are important in determining if a paper should be published by SAE. Please note: each paper offer must be scored by at least 3 reviewers (you as the organizer can be included in the 3-5 reviews, but you cannot review your own paper). These scores are used in determining inclusion in SAE Transactions, award programs and quality measures for the SAE Engineering Meetings Board.

  2. At this point you should already have determined which abstracts you wish to consider for inclusion in your session and contacted each primary author to invite the draft manuscript. If not, please refer to the Organizer Resource area (Receiving/Soliciting Abstracts) or contact your SAE staff representative to complete this step.

  3. Once you receive the draft manuscript from the author, recruit at least 3 qualified reviewers to evaluate the paper's technical merit and content. At no time should the reviewers' identities be revealed to an author.

  4. The judgment basis rating and scoring of draft manuscripts must be completed using the on-line evaluation function. If a reviewer does not have access to the internet, please contact your SAE staff representative for assistance. SAE will provide you with the on-line evaluation URL and a meeting-specific password to access the Technical Paper on-line system. Once you have recruited the reviewers for a paper, forward the draft manuscript to each reviewer along with the paper offer number, URL and the password. The reviewer will be required to have these to log on to the website and evaluate the paper. A sample letter for your use can be found in the Organizer Resource area (Reviewing Draft Manuscripts/Oral Only Presentations).

  5. By clicking on the 'Organizer Resources' link from your meeting's home page, you will find a link for your session containing the judgment basis ratings, scores and comments for each manuscript you have distributed for review. This information is for your use in determining the review status and working with authors to improve their manuscripts. Again, do not ever reveal the identities of reviewers to an author. This information will also assist you in making a determination to approve or disapprove a paper for publication. Remember, SAE must have your approval (submitted online) in order to publish a paper. You may begin accessing these review results as soon as the first review for a paper in your session is submitted.

  6. Upon examination of the Paper Evaluation Report, you will determine the course of action for each paper offer. You are to notify authors of approval, disapproval or any modifications required to improve the manuscript. Please note: If a reviewer has rated the manuscript, 'Approved if modified', you must send the revised manuscript back to the reviewer for final scoring. Each paper offer in your session must have at least 3 sets of scores from reviewers.

  7. Once you have collected enough judgment basis ratings and scores to make a determination for a particular paper offer, you must click the 'Paper Evaluation Report' link, and then the button for 'Organizer Approval Form.' If a paper is disapproved for publication, you must notify the author and SAE staff, and include rationale for disapproval.
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