Allow reviewers to state conflict of interest (COI)

We want to give reviewers the possibility to state conflicts of interest for papers assigned to them before they enter a review.

(A German version of this article is available.)

There are two ways to let reviewers state a possible conflict of interest.

The first option is called “bidding function”; the second is the "refuse reviewing" option, see next post below, please.

To activate the bidding function, please go to
Overview => Settings => Conference Phases and Deadlines
and set and activate the phase for “Bidding: reviewers can bid for submitted contributions” (see image 1).

The bidding function allows reviewers to state which papers they want to review, which they are neutral to and which impose a conflict of interest (see image 2).

You should enable the phase shortly before the committee assigns papers to reviewers. Don’t forget to inform the reviewers about this phase via bulk e-mail.

For a visual representation of the bidding phase, take a look at a project outline here (image 1 on the linked site):
Submission Configuration Example – A Medium-Size Natural Sciences Conference

The second possibility is to activate the option to let reviewers refuse a review assigned to them.

Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Setting for Paper Reviewing
And set in the section “Review Options” the option “Do Reviewers have the Option to Refuse Reviewing a Submission?” to “Yes”.

Please be reminded that this might facilitate the process of refusal if reviewers spot a conflict of interest.
However, it might also lead to a significant number of reviews being refused on other grounds and can result in more work for the organizers reassigning submissions to new reviewers (see image 1).

This function allows reviewers not only to refuse to review a paper assigned to them (see image 2), they can also choose from a preset reason including a personal statement to corroborate the reason given (see image 3).

For more detailed information about the "Refuse Reviewing" option, please refer to:
Allow reviewers to refuse reviewing a paper assigned to them