Review Procedure, The Official (Real)

A Guide To The Article Reviews Procedure

Author: Aaron Rice
Date: 1997/01/26
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The following is a guide to the Project Galactic Guide review procedure, and the tasks to be performed by the Review Coordinator [1].

The Review Process

Reviews are coordinated by the Review Coordinator. His/Her job is to receive articles from the editors, which he/she will then place "on review" at the next chosen date. During this time, articles are checked for grammar, punctuation, spelling, and any other problems, such as copyright infringement. Reviews should generally be held once every few weeks and should last for between seven and ten days.

Articles for review should be posted, by the Review Coordinator only, on the alt.galactic-guide newsgroup, and the review web pages at http://megadodo.com/review/. Official review postings should be indicated by an emboldened title introduction, such as 'ARTICLE FOR REVIEW: ...'. Once the articles have been posted, the Review Coordinator should notify the mailing list of reviewers, including the Quality Committee (defined below).

As review comments arrive, the Review Coordinator should add these comments to the respective web pages on which the review articles are stored. Once the review period is over, the Coordinator should contact the article authors about any changes that could/should be made to their articles. If only small [2] changes are required, these can be made by the Review Coordinator without consultation. Large changes are generally additions to the article, such as new paragraphs, and fundamental changes to structure.

When articles have been unconditionally approved after review, or have been corrected after the article was "approved with comments", the Review Coordinator should post them to the Librarian. If no review comments have been made after the specified "review end" date, the Review Coordinator may extend the review session.

It is the Review Coordinator's job to make sure that the Review Status page is maintained throughout this process, making sure that the passage of articles in the process is clear. The structure and presentation of the page will also be subject to the page guidelines laid down by the Megadodo Webmaster.

If any articles require rewrites, the Review Coordinator should make sure these are taken care of. Very large changes should be conducted with an editor, and therefore these articles should be referred back for editing. Smaller changes should be managed by the Coordinator.

The Quality Committee

The Quality Committee is loosely formed from several regular reviewers, ideally about five of them, who will conduct reviews upon all, or most, of the articles available for review. Review comments should be submitted to the article's author, and the Review Coordinator.

Independent Reviewers

Anyone who reads the articles for review in the newsgroup or on the web pages can submit review comments at any time. Comments should be mailed to the author and the review coordinator, and to the newsgroup.

Summary of Review Coordinator's Tasks

The following is a summary of the tasks the Review Coordinator must undertake:

1. Receive article from editor and send receipt, then update the web page;
2. Post articles to newsgroup for review, then update the web page (articles may also be posted on other relevant newsgroups);
3. Convert and put article up for review on web pages;
4. Tell review committee there is something to review;
5. Store review comments from the newsgroup;
6. Add review comments to the Web pages (optional, but recommended);
7. Correct articles by:
   1. Receiving corrections to article from authors;
   2. Contacting authors to question about changes; or
   3. Making final edit according to review suggestions; and
8. Keep an eye out for authors who forgot to rewrite their articles after review rejection.

Contact

The Review Coordinator can be contacted at review@megadodo.com. Please contact this address if you want to be added to the review mailing list (the Quality Committee). The current Review Coordinator, as of 10 February 1997, is Aaron Rice.

[1]	Full title: Review Coordinator and Chairman of the Quality Committee. Seems formal, but it is essentially his position.
[2]	Basically, just word shuffling, changing, correction, and other minor alterations. Also, if reviewers have been in no doubt as to a change that must be made, it can also be made without consultation.

See also

• Format And Style Policy, The Official Project Galactic Guide
• FAQ, PGG