double-bind? -- abstract review

[Sibelan Forrester]

At 5:06 PM -0500 1/7/03, Vladimir Bilenkin wrote to SEELANGS:
>I wonder what exactly "double-blind peer review" means,
>two anonymous readers?  [...]

Every submitted abstract is sent to two reviewers -- the system is
"double-blind" because the abstract referees don't know the name of
the abstract author, and the author does not know the names of the
referees, though the complete list of abstract referees for a certain
year's conference is always printed in that AATSEEL conference
program book.  (This just in case anyone hasn't heard the term before
in this context, or else thinks, based on acquaintance with many
Slavists, that "double-blind" must mean "both myopic and
astigmatic.")  ("Double-bind" is very nice too.)

In my experience, a division head may choose for convenience or
effectiveness to edit comments from two referees into a single
response sent to the abstract's author.  It also happens that a
referee may send a reaction to an abstract ("Accept."  "Revise and
resubmit.") without more extensive comments to pass on to the
abstract author -- especially when recommending for acceptance.
Either of these cases might make it appear that only one person had
reviewed an abstract.  It sometimes happens that three people review
an abstract -- if the first two referees disagree widely, or if the
topic seems to demand the attention of a wider range of perspectives
or disciplinary specialization in order to judge it properly -- and
the division head reads every abstract in his or her division
(Pedagogy, for example) and may fold a couple of his or her own
comments into the mix when replying to the abstract author.  But
there are always at least two readers.

For more information on submitting an abstract or the abstract
reviewing process, see the relevant section of the program book, or
explore the AATSEEL web page.

Sibelan


Sibelan Forrester
(in hat of member of AATSEEL Program Committee)

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