A review round is one stage of review in a space, such as a first read or final judging pass. Rounds set when reviewers can work, whether review is blind, and, through bucket assignment rules, who reviews each submission.
Prerequisites
- At least one review bucket and one review team must already exist in the space. Without them, the round form has no bucket to assign and no team to choose.
- You need
submissions:user:review-rounds:*or the Submissions Administrator policy to create or edit rounds. - When abstracts are enabled for an event, reviews are required too. If you have not set up rounds and buckets yet, staff may not be able to save edits to an abstract until that review structure exists. Set up at least one round and bucket first.
Where to Find It
Go to Spaces › Setup › Reviews › Rounds to see every round in the space, listed in display order. Select the create button, or select a round’s row, to open its settings.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name: | Any text | Empty | Shows the round’s name wherever the round appears |
| Round Status: | Not Yet Open / Open / Closed | Not Yet Open | Controls whether reviewers can submit or edit reviews in this round right now |
| Display Order: | A number | 10 | Controls where the round appears in lists |
| Bucket Assignments | One block per bucket in the space | — | Sets the review team for each bucket and how reviewers are chosen; see Reviewer Assignment Strategies |
| Allow reviewers to decline reviews | On/Off | Off | Controls whether reviewers see a decline option in the Portal; see Reviewer Decline Reasons |
| Stop accepting reviews for this round after a certain date/time | On/Off, then a date and time | Off | Sets a deadline for the round |
| Blind review setting | On/Off | Off | Hides the submitter’s identity from reviewers on this round’s pages |
| Hide submission titles | On/Off | Off | Hides submission titles from reviewers on this round’s pages |
| Override review form | On/Off, then a form | Off (uses the space’s review form) | Uses a different review form for this round only |
| Override page layout | On/Off, then a layout | Off (uses the space’s layout) | Uses a different source-record layout for reviewers in this round only. This controls which fields reviewers see, not every field on the source record. For example, the abstract number is fixed for internal and edit views, so you cannot add it to the reviewer-facing experience with this setting |
| Override Reviewer Notification Settings | On/Off, then a switch and email | Off (uses the space’s notification settings) | Gives this round its own reviewer notification email, or turns notification off for this round only |
When you turn on an override setting, choose the form, layout, or email underneath it before you save. Rhythm will not save the round when an override is on and its required selection is blank.
Round Status: A Switch, Not a Sequence
Round status is a setting you choose, not a workflow with required steps. You can move a round between Not Yet Open, Open, and Closed in any order, at any time. You can even move a closed round back to Not Yet Open after reviewers have already submitted reviews in it. Rhythm records status changes only in the round’s general last-modified information, not as a separate history of who changed the status or when.
Opening a new round does not move submissions or reviews into it. Existing reviews do not carry forward automatically just because a later round becomes Open. To get a submission reviewed in a later round, either change that submission’s Review Round in its Review Information by hand or by bulk update, or configure bucket assignment rules so submissions are assigned to a round based on conditions you set. Each process can use its own advancement criteria, because Rhythm does not decide this automatically based on round dates or bucket rules.
Tip
A person can review a submission only when both conditions are true: the submission’s current round is Open, and that person is assigned through the team covering the submission’s bucket in that round. If either condition is missing, reviewing is blocked, even when the other condition is correct. If someone cannot submit a review, check both the round’s status and their team assignment before assuming one is the problem.
Warning
Changing a round’s status takes effect as soon as you save, with no confirmation. If you close a round, reviewers immediately lose the ability to submit or edit reviews in it.
Deadlines
A deadline gives reviewers a date and time after which the round should stop accepting reviews. The deadline does not change the round’s stored status, so a round that was Open before its deadline still shows as Open afterward. Treat the deadline and round status as separate settings.
Blind Rounds and Hidden Titles
Turn on the blind review setting to hide each submitter’s identity from reviewers on this round’s pages. Turn on hidden titles to hide submission titles from reviewers. Both settings apply to the whole round, so you cannot make one bucket blind and another bucket not blind within the same round.
Reviewers per Submission and Decline Reasons
Set the number of reviewers each submission needs, and whether reviewers may decline, in each bucket assignment within the round. These are not whole-round settings. See Reviewer Assignment Strategies for how reviewers are chosen, and Reviewer Decline Reasons for how to narrow the decline reasons this round’s reviewers may choose from.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Every bucket and team a round assigns must belong to the same space as the round. If you choose a bucket or team from a different space, Rhythm refuses the save.
- A round cannot include the same bucket in two different bucket assignments.
- Reordering rounds only changes where they appear in lists. It does not change which round new submissions start in. Set the starting round separately in Review Settings for a Space.
Warning
Saving a review bucket rewrites every round’s entry for that bucket and replaces the reviewer-assignment strategy on the round with a plain assignment to the bucket’s chosen team. If you set up round-robin assignment, a minimum reviewer count, or a custom assignment function for a bucket, re-check those settings on the round after anyone edits that bucket. See Reviewer Assignment Strategies for the full detail.
Change Impact and How to Revert
Changes to a round take effect for reviewers as soon as you save, including changes to its status, form, layout, notification, or bucket assignments. There is no separate publish step and no confirmation. If two staff members edit the same round at the same time, the later save overwrites the earlier one without warning. To revert a change, edit the round again and restore the earlier values. There is no undo.
Permissions
Creating, editing, reordering, and deleting rounds all use submissions:user:review-rounds:*. A Submissions read-only user cannot reach the rounds pages at all.
Validation and Errors
If you leave out a round’s name, try to save without an identifier, or assign the same bucket twice, Rhythm refuses the save with a message naming the problem. For a duplicate bucket, the message is “Each element of bucket_assignments must have a unique bucket_id”. If you choose a bucket or team from another space, Rhythm refuses the save with a message naming the bucket or team and the space it belongs to instead.