Reviewers are appointed/reappointed within six months after the Synod Presidential election. Once a president is elected/re-elected, he will appoint reviewers. Appointees will receive a letter asking them to become a reviewer; after the reviewer confirms with phone and best email address for contact, then information is distributed to the Coordinators (for the LCMS in general and at CPH). The Coordinator will send you instructions on the role of the doctrinal reviewer as well as training materials for using the electronic doctrinal review (EDR). Following this, the reviewer will receive an e-mail invitation which will give the reviewer access to create an account. Assignments are sent via e-mail, inquiring about availability to review a submission.
You have been asked to review Sample Submission To accept or decline this assignment, click here: http://www.lcmsdr.org/assignments/1. Review requested by: 3/27/2013 (14 days from now) Audiences: Intermediate / Middle Grades Categories: Church History Notes for reviewer: None specified Please be aware that the material you receive has not been through our copy editing and proofreading processes. Consequently, you may notice spelling errors, grammatical errors, syntax problems, punctuation issues, and other errors within the text; all of these issues will be addressed later. Please disregard copy editing and proofreading related issues as you do your review.
You will have immediate access to the submission and the Coordinator receives an e-mail stating such (whether you accept or decline).
The Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all of your information is kept confidential, as well as the author’s information, and that of the editor.
Please be aware that the material you receive has not been through our copy editing and proofreading processes. Consequently, you may notice spelling errors, grammatical errors, syntax problems, punctuation issues, and other errors within the text; all of these issues will be addressed later. Please disregard copy editing and proofreading related issues as you do your review.
Definitely. Keep in mind that the "job" of the reviewer is to check for doctrinal content, however, all comments are taken into consideration. Should you want to congratulate the editor on a fine submission, or state that perhaps the submission would better serve a different age group – something along that line, you are free to comment.
It’s your call as to which "grade" you choose, and whether your suggestions/comments must be made, or they are just that, suggestions/comments which you think may clarify something within, or make it read better for the group it is written for. If this is not clear, or you still have a question, please call the Coordinator. The grading system is shown at the end of these FAQs.
YES, the editor most definitely reads all suggestions for improvement; many times a reviewer’s comments/suggestions are very helpful! If you check "Suggestions," the editor takes those into account and may or may not use any, some, or all of the suggestions. If you check "Revise" "Inadequate, misleading, ambiguous, and/or lacking in doctrinal clarity", changes must be made to the submission and returned to you (the original reviewer) for approval.
The submission must be returned to the original reviewer in order to ensure consistency.
*Where changes appear to be necessary the reviewer(s) shall submit a thorough and clearly written documented critique that shall be made available to the author
the sponsoring group and the publisher. The documentation provided by the reviewer(s) shall provide a thorough and detailed explanation with all appropriate biblical and
confessional references used to support the opinion offered.
LCMS Bylaw 1.9.2 (f); Handbook p. 42
In order to keep the process flowing smoothly, we ask that you accept or decline within three days of the assignment. If you need to decline, there is a space for you to give a reason (you need not share anything of a personal matter), such as "going on vacation, try again in a few weeks," or "I have taken on another assignment and am not available until (said date)." It is certainly understandable that things happen that may prevent you from accepting a submission; please keep in mind that the Coordinator is the only person that will see what you share.
When the submission does not fit into your schedule, click on the "Decline" button; however, in the notes section, please state that you are available only for a short review. If a short submission is available to be reviewed, then you may receive that assignment, based upon your stated availability.
Should this happen, please contact the Coordinator immediately to discuss options. Depending upon the review deadline, and how far you have already reviewed in the submission, it will be decided whether or not you should continue, or the submission should be re-assigned. (Most times the Coordinator will need to contact the Editor in order to make a decision).
In that case, please contact the Coordinator as soon as possible to explain the situation. The reviewer and Coordinator will decide if it is better to re-assign the submission, or perhaps give a little more time for the review to happen.
Please contact the Coordinator to let them know your new address. Even though doctrinal review submissions are handled online, there are times when items or information need to be mailed to the reviewer by postal service.
Should you wish to continue as a reviewer, you must immediately contact the Coordinator to inform him/her of the change. Your old address will be deleted and you will receive a new "invitation" to join the EDR process as a reviewer.
You can reset your password from the Sign in page. Once there, click Forgot your password?, enter your email address, and click "Send me reset password instructions". You should then receive an email with a link labeled "Change my password". Follow that link and enter your new password.