In reviewing abstracts for the Annual Symposia on Arabic Linguistics, reviewers are asked to base their ranking of abstracts in accordance with the degree to which an abstract conforms to the format and content requirements outlined in the guidelines for writing abstracts.
Reviewers are asked to rank each abstract on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Each abstract is assigned a number (1-5) calculated as an average of numbers each abstract is given by the reviewers. Reviewers may recluse themselves from reviewing and ranking an abstract if they have a reason to do so. (The author may be their student, for example, or the topic too unfamiliar, etc.)
We also highly encourage reviewers to write comments, questions, or suggestions on the content of an abstract, even if only in the form of brief notes. Such notes would benefit the authors as they work on their presentations, or as they plan to submit abstracts for future ALS symposia. Comments are always helpful whether the ranking of an abstract is high or low.
Criteria for acceptance depend on the average ranking of the abstract in relation to others.
- Abstracts with an average less than 3 are rejected.
- Those with an average of 4 or above are accepted.
- Those with 3 may be accepted depending on availability of additional time slots on the program schedule and on topic and/or relevance to the thematic organization of the program.