A review round is one pass of reviews within a review process. Each round has its own review form, blind review setting, and assignment rules that decide which abstracts go to which reviewers when you open the round.
Prerequisites
You need access to the event in the Events Console. Before you can save a round, the event needs at least one active review web form to choose from.
Where to Find It
Open the event, then go to Setup › Abstracts › Review Rounds. This page shows every round defined for the event's processes.
- Create Abstract Review Round opens a blank round form.
- Open a round from the list to change its settings, including its assignment rules.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Any text | Empty | Required |
| ID: | Suggested, upper case | Suggested from the name, prefixed with the process once you choose one | Required |
| Status: | Active, Inactive | Active | Controls whether the round is offered |
| Review Processes: | The event's processes | Empty | Required. Connects the round to one process |
| Display Order: | A number | Empty | Does not change where the round appears in the rounds list |
| Select the Review Form: | Your Rhythm account's active review web forms | Empty | Required. Sets the form reviewers complete for this round |
| Enable Blind Review | On, off | Off | Hides authors from this round's reviewers wherever the Portal review pages use this setting |
| Review Assignment Rules (a table of rules) | At least one | None | Decides which abstracts each rule's targets review when you open the round |
Tip
If you turn Enable Blind Review on or off after the round is open, reviewers see the change the next time they open a review page. A reviewer who already opened a page under the previous setting has already seen whatever the page showed at that time.
Assignment Rules
Each rule has a name, conditions based on the abstract's own fields, such as its type or a custom field, and one or more targets who receive a review when an abstract matches. Add Assignment Rule opens the dialog for one rule, and the edit icon on an existing rule reopens it.
| Target Type | What You Choose | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Contact | One Rolodex contact | Assigns a review to that person |
| Committee | One committee, optionally narrowed to one position within it | Assigns a review to every matching member of the committee |
Rhythm matches rules in the order they appear in the table. Rhythm marks the last rule in the list Catch-all, so write your most specific rules first and end with a broad rule for anything the earlier rules do not match. Use the up and down arrows on each row to reorder rules; each rule keeps its identifier, and its position moves with it.
Warning
You cannot save a rule unless it has a name and at least one target with its type chosen. Removing a rule from the table happens immediately, with no confirmation. If you remove one by mistake, cancel the round form without saving to get it back.
Opening a Round
Opening a round applies its assignment rules and creates a review for each matched target. From the rounds list, choose Open Round, pick the process, and choose a round that has never been opened. The dialog also shows which round of that process is currently open, if any.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Opening is refused with a message that the round has no assignment rules | The round you chose has no rules yet | Add at least one assignment rule to the round before opening it |
| The dialog offers no round to open | Every round of the chosen process has already been opened, or the process has none | Create a new round, or reopen using a round that's still never opened |
| Reviews were created under a different abstract type than you expected | A process serving several abstract types sends only the first active type to the opening step | Split abstract types across separate processes if each needs its own round-opening |
Warning
Opening a round is a one-way action for that round. There is no undo, and a round that is already open, closed, or failed cannot be opened again. If you need to run the same rules a second time, create a new round.
Dependencies and Precedence
- A round belongs to one review process, which supplies the administrators who oversee it and the emails reviewers and submitters receive.
- The committees and positions a rule targets, and any contact it names directly, come from your Rhythm account's committee and contact records. If a round still names one of those records, Rhythm refuses to delete it until you remove it from the round.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Cloning an event does not copy its review rounds or processes, so set both up again for the cloned event. Deleting a round also deletes every review made in it. There is no confirmation dialog beyond the delete action itself, so confirm you have the right round before deleting.
Permissions
You need access to the event in the Events Console to create, edit, delete, or open its review rounds.
Validation and Errors
- A round needs a name, a process, and a review form before you can save it.
- A rule needs a name and at least one target with a type chosen. If either is missing, saving is refused inside the rule dialog.
- Deleting a round is refused while a dependent record, such as the review form, committee, or position it names, still exists and is itself protected from deletion elsewhere.