Early Bird Research Paper Submission and Review Process
The Early Bird research paper review process is a form of mentoring, principally for new researchers. However, anyone is eligible to make use of it. Past conferences have experienced a higher acceptance rate for papers which have gone through the Early Bird review process.
Early Bird research papers must meet the requirements as set out for MERGA research papers and must be received by the Early Bird due date (i.e. the closing date that is about six weeks earlier than the Main Round).
All authors must follow the information provided in the Submission Template and Author Guidelines (and provide a completed Publication Agreement when requested) detailed on the Submission page.
Early Bird papers should be uploaded as per the instructions on the conference website after which they are circulated to one of the MERGA review panels for formative academic peer review. Feedback from peer review is also provided online.
There are two possible outcomes of the reviewing process:
- The reviewers may require relatively minor revisions. In such cases papers should be corrected according to the peer review feedback and resubmitted to the Main Round of reviewing, together with the a signed Publication Agreement. These resubmissions will be evaluated by the Editorial Team who make the final decision whether the paper is accepted for publication as well as presentation at the conference.
- A paper may be rejected in its current form. In this case, authors have the opportunity to rewrite the paper (major revision) in light of the feedback provided by the reviewers, and resubmit it to the Main Round. It will then be circulated for peer review with all the other papers submitted at that time.
Authors are notified of the outcome of the Early Bird Research Paper review process as soon as possible (usually within a month, and in time for resubmission). Emails are sent to authors to indicate (1) minor revision required; or (2) major revision required; with a link to the feedback.