Rebuttal and Discussion Phase

"Rebuttal" is a text that the authors write to argue against the reviewers. Discussion period is an option the system has for reviewers to exchange messages. These options are optional and the idea is that after the reviewers finish the reviews the authors can look at the reviews and write a text (rebuttal) trying to defend their article against the reviews. After the author writes the rebuttal the reviewers can look, discuss by system exchanging messages that may be anonymous, and then try to have consensus (that is the discussion period). This is the procedure followed by some chairs but it is also possible, for example, to use the discussion period for reviewers to discuss reviews between them without a "rebuttal".

The authors of the discussion messages are the reviewers, but the messages are not identified. It is possible to show the identity of the other reviewers, but not of who was exactly the author of the messages. The person can always sign the message, but if she does not want it, it can be anonymous. Of course, in the case of an article that has only 2 reviewers, they will know who wrote it, but for 3 or more reviewers they will never know which of the others wrote the message, even if they know the identity of others.

In summary what happens is:

The chairs open the reviews between the reviewers (anonymous or not);
Chairs open the discussion;
Reviewers discuss whether they find it necessary (through messages) and the chairs can follow the messages;
Reviewers may change their reviews during this time if they reach a consensus through discussions.

At the time the discussion period is open the reviewers are not notified automatically, the event chair must advise the reviewers that it is possible to discuss the reviews. This can be done in two different ways:

By sending an email through the Events I'm Chairing > Administrate Event > People > Send email interface to all reviewers of all articles indicating that it is possible to discuss peer reviews if they find it necessary;
By sending an initial discussion message on articles that have conflicting reviews. Articles with conflicting reviews can be identified through the Span information available as a filter at Events I'm Chairing > Administrate Event > Submissions. To enable the Rebuttal and the Discussion, just go to: