Shadow PCMSR 2022

Call for Shadow PC Participation

In order to train the next generation of program committee (PC) members and to expose early-career researchers (PhD students, postdocs, new faculty members, and industry practitioners) to the review process of the technical track, MSR 2022 is organizing a Shadow PC. A Shadow PC provides an opportunity for early-career researchers who are interested in being embedded in the community. This opportunity allows future PC members to learn first-hand about the peer-review process and gain experience as a reviewer and learn from the senior researchers on how to write a good review. The Shadow PC will provide reviews on a subset of submissions to the technical track of the conference (The authors will opt-in for their paper to be reviewed by the Shadow PC).

The Shadow PC will function much like an independent version of the regular PC of the technical track. Shadow PC members will only have access to the Shadow PC reviews of the papers they are assigned with, and will not be aware of the papers’ reviewing status or reviews in the technical track nor any other data such as relative rankings. They will have to abide by the same rules and restrictions applicable to regular PC members. This includes, but is not limited to, conflict of interests, double-blind reviews, and rules against discussing the papers outside of the PC context, or using in any way results from reviewed papers before such papers have been published. Shadow PC members must review their assigned papers themselves without delegating or including any external members in the review. Reviews of the shadow PC will be shared with the authors of the submissions after the regular review process has concluded.

Why join a shadow PC?

Serving on a shadow PC is an excellent opportunity for early-career researchers (PhD students, postdocs, new faculty members, and industry practitioners) to be recognized and gain experience in community service, i.e., program committee practices. It is also worthwhile for a number of reasons, including:

• Getting to know how a PC is run and how it operates;
• Being mentored by Shadow PC advisors (i.e., the experienced PC members);
• Gaining experience reviewing papers and understanding the challenges faced by reviewers reading multiple papers which may not always be in their area of expertise;
• Submitting high-quality reviews makes one a more likely candidate for future PCs of the technical track of MSR.
• Getting to see both strong and weak papers at the submission stage;
• Discovering what it takes to publish a paper in a reputable conference, such as MSR;
• Having a chance to read top-notch papers in your area of expertise before they are published;
• Networking with other early-career researchers who are also selected to the shadow PC and senior researchers (i.e., Shadow PC advisors)
• Participating in a one-day workshop where experienced reviewers provide advice on how to ethically review papers as well as the dos and don’ts of the reviewing process

What is required of Shadow PC members?

Shadow PC members must commit themselves to write their own detailed and rigorous reviews for papers assigned to them by the allotted deadline. This timely review commitment is essential to the good functioning of the Shadow PC. Candidates who might be unable to fulfil their reviewing duties should refrain from applying. Shadow PC members will be expected to review a load of 2-3 papers per member, submit on-time reviews, and participate in the online discussion of their assigned papers.

Shadow PC members must follow the ethical standards of peer review, respect the anonymity of the review process and not share which papers they have reviewed or solicit sub-reviews. Shadow PC members who do not adhere to the ethical standards of peer-review will be excluded from the process. The timeline of the shadow PC is provided below.

Who can participate in the Shadow PC?

Shadow PC is open to PhD students, post-docs, new faculty members and industry practitioners working in software engineering research who have not yet served as a program committee of the technical research track (or the main track) of the international SE conferences (e.g., ICSE, FSE, ASE, MSR, ICSME, SANER). If more applications are received than there is room, we will select the Shadow PC members based on research experience and motivation for joining the Shadow PC. The Shadow PC selection process will also strive to ensure diversity.

How to apply?

If you are interested in participating, please complete the online application form for MSR 2022 Shadow PC by December 1, 2021, AoE. In case you cannot access the form, please email the Shadow PC chairs with the following subject: “MSR 2021 Shadow PC Application” (without quotes). We will then email you a form to fill out, which you can send to us by email.

Important Dates

AoE: Anywhere on Earth

• Shadow PC Self-Nomination Close: 1 December 2021 AoE
• Announcement of Shadow PC members: January 10, 2021 AoE
• Paper Bidding: February 1 - 7, 2022 AoE
• Assignment of papers to Shadow PC members: February 10, 2022
• Deadline for submitting reviews: March 7, 2022
• Online Discussions & feedback by Shadow PC mentors: March 8 - 15, 2022
• Release shadow PC Reviews to the Authors: March 16, 2022 AoE