Balisage relies on peer reviewers to maintain the quality of conference and symposium content. Applications for the Balisage Peer Review Panel are due by 15 March 2009. To apply, fill out the Peer Review Panel Application form.

Balisage reviewers are asked to

• read between 3 and 6 COMPLETE PAPERS,
• rate the paper on criteria such as
  • Freshness or novelty of topic
  • Freshness or novelty of approach
  • Technical quality
  • Completeness and/or balance
  • Organization
  • Knowledge of field as reflected in submission
  • Interest
  • Importance
• recommend (to the conference committee) acceptance or rejection of the paper,
• suggest (to the authors of the paper) ways the paper could be improved

Many Balisage authors significantly revise their papers after reading the comments and suggestions of the peer reviewers, several have commented that a peer reviewer's comments were the most helpful advice they have received on a technical paper. (We know of several cases where peer reviewers have been invited to join the team and become authors on a paper, and one case where a peer reviewer was invited onto an author's thesis committee.)

Peer reviewing for Balisage is NOT a 10 minute task; it takes time and concentration. The rewards are intangible: the satisfaction of helping authors make their papers into the best papers they can be and of helping make Balisage the best highly technical conference on XML and other markup technologies. See the description of the Balisage Peer Review process for more details.

If you are interested in joining the Baisage 2009 Peer Review Panel please apply before 15 March 2009 using the Peer Review Panel Application form.

Click here to read more about Balisage: The Markup Conference 2009, or sign up for the conference announcement list.