This page describes the roles of Grader, Primary Reviewer, and Secondary Reviewer during JWST Discussion Panel Meetings.  For each proposal you have been assigned, you will have one of these roles.

During preliminary grading, every proposal is assigned to a subset of panelists. All assigned panelists are Graders. Of these, one panelist will be designated Primary Reviewer and one will be designated Secondary Reviewer.

SPD Panel Managers try to distribute the assignments equally among panelists. Some panelists may seem to have a Primary/Secondary workload that is heaver than others, but this is mostly due to the latter having some of their assigned Primary/Secondary proposals triaged. 

During the Panel Meeting, only a subset of proposals will be discussed. All un-conflicted panelists will discuss and grade a proposal. The primary/secondary reviewer assignments remain the same.

Grader

A Grader reads a proposal, enters a numerical score during preliminary grading, and contributes to discussion in Panel Meeting.

Before the Panel Meeting

During the preliminary grading phase, Graders will read each proposal they have been assigned, evaluate the proposal against the scoring rubric, and enter a numerical grade.

As you read each proposal for preliminary grading, use the “Shared Remarks” section in SPIRIT to write down your comments on the proposal. This information will be used by the Primary and Secondary Reviewers at the time of writing the feedback comments, and is particularly useful in the case the proposal is triaged and not discussed during the meeting. 

During preliminary grading, panelists are not assigned to read every proposal in the panel, only a subset of them. Only the assignments will be visible in the SPIRIT review tool. So you should read and grade every proposal you see.

During the Panel Meeting

Also during this stage, you should note your comments in the “Remarks” section in SPIRIT, while the discussion of each proposal is still fresh in your mind. The Primary and Secondary Reviewers will use this information to write the feedback comments of their assigned proposals. 

Primary Reviewer

The Primary Review leads discussion during panel meeting and writes proposal feedback comments.

Before the Panel Meeting

During preliminary grading, into addition to being a Grader, the Primary Reviewer should prepare discussion notes including a summary of the proposal and the identified strengths and weaknesses for use during the Panel Meeting.

During the Panel Meeting

The panel Chair will ask the Primary Reviewer to give a brief overview of a proposal to kick off the discussion.

The Primary Reviewer will also be responsible for writing feedback comments on the proposal that capture the salient points of the discussion, with assistance from the Secondary Reviewer.

After the Panel Meeting

Primary Reviewers write feedback comments for all of their assigned proposals, including proposals that were triaged, again with the assistance of the Secondary Reviewer.

Secondary Reviewer

The Secondary Reviewer supports discussion during panel meeting and assists with proposal feedback comments.

Before the Panel Meeting

During preliminary grading, into addition to being a Grader, the Secondary Reviewer should prepare discussion notes including the identified strengths and weaknesses for use during the Panel Meeting.

During the Panel Meeting

During the panel meeting, the panel Chair will ask the secondary reviewer for supplementary comments after the primary reviewer has summarized the proposal.

The Secondary Reviewer assists the Primary Reviewer in writing feedback comments on the proposal that capture the salient points of the discussion.

After the Panel Meeting

Secondary Reviewers assist the Primary Reviewers in writing feedback comments for all of their assigned proposals, including proposals that were triaged.

Next: Triage Process and Discussion List