Call for Program Committee Volunteers for VIS 2025
As the new Overall Papers Chairs (OPCs) for VIS 2025, we—Niklas Elmqvist, Holger Theisel, and Melanie Tory, along with our OPC Assistant Petra Specht—are excited to begin preparations for next year’s conference. Following the significant steps taken to increase transparency in the VIS Full Papers program last year (detailed in our “The Road to VIS 2024” blog series), we anticipate a more focused set of updates this year, highlighting only new initiatives and particularly important matters.
One of our first priorities is to announce the opening of volunteer applications for the VIS Full Papers Program Committee (PC). While preparations for VIS 2025 are already well underway, we need your expertise and dedication to make this conference a success.
The VIS 2025 Papers Chairs Committee (PCC) will carefully evaluate all volunteers while considering several key factors. At a minimum, PC members must have
- A Ph.D. degree (or equivalent);
- Published at least one full paper at VIS (preferably within the last five years); and
- Reviewed at least one full paper for VIS (preferably within the last five years).
Additional factors that will influence selection include
- Publication record at VIS and related venues;
- Reviewing experience at VIS and related venues;
- Academic qualifications in our field;
- Previous PC experience for related venues; and
- Areas of expertise.
Please note that while volunteering does not guarantee a position on the program committee, we deeply value and carefully consider all volunteers.
Serving as a PC member represents a significant commitment; much more work than that of a regular reviewer. Before volunteering, please carefully consider whether you can accommodate the workload, particularly during the summary review period, which requires substantial effort within a short, fixed timeframe. Key responsibilities include:
- Conflict management: Managing conflicts of interests is a crucial aspect of maintaining the integrity of our review process. PC members should
- Bid on all paper abstracts;
- Carefully identify and declare all conflicts of interest with paper authors (recent co-authors as well as current and former advisors/advisees);
- Complete all conflict declarations between abstract and full paper deadline; and
- Maintain strict confidentiality throughout the process.
- Submission management: All PC members will be asked to serve as Primary or Secondary reviewer for 4-6 papers:
- Recruit at least one expert reviewer per paper they serve as Primary;
- Ensure timely submission of high-quality reviews; and
- Find replacement reviewers when necessary.
- Reviewing: All PC members review papers and are expected to model best review practices:
- Write their own high-quality reviews of all assigned papers;
- Monitor and ensure quality of external reviews; and
- Lead and/or participate in the reviewer discussion for each paper.
- Summary Review: Primaries will be asked to write a summary review for each paper:
- Write summary reviews capturing all reviewers’ assessments;
- Suggest an initial recommendation for each paper they are managing; and
- Complete summary reviews within approximately one week after the review deadline.
The volunteering period closes on December 20, 2024. Please go to the following form to volunteer: Link