Ethics Chair Handbook
Current Chairs
| Name | Affiliation | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Karën Fort | Université de Lorraine / LORIA | karen.fort@loria.fr |
| Björn Ross | University of Edinburgh | b.ross@ed.ac.uk |
Overview of Responsibilities
The Ethics Chairs ensure that submissions raising potential ethical issues are identified, reviewed by qualified ethics reviewers, and that Program Chairs receive clear, timely recommendations. They also cultivate and maintain a standing pool of expert ethics reviewers for future *CL conferences and liaise with ACL Rolling Review (ARR) ethics chairs to keep policies aligned.
The following are the main responsibilities of the Ethics Chairs:
1. Strategic Planning & Cross‑Committee Coordination
2. Ethics Reviewer Pool Management
3. Ethics Review Work‑flow Execution
4. Post‑Review Reporting & Community Guidance
Breakdown of Responsibilities
1. Strategic Planning & Cross‑Committee Coordination
The first responsibility aligns the ethics process with the overall conference timeline and the ARR pipeline. Proactive coordination prevents last‑minute bottlenecks.
| Task | Start | Deadline | Dependency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact ARR Ethics Chairs & Previous Conference Ethics Chairs | ASAP | Jul 2024 | – | (1) Establish shared policy & share reviewer lists with ARR Ethics Chair; (2) Ask for input/advice from previous year's Ethics Chairs. |
| Draft Detailed Ethics Timeline & Confirm with Program Chairs | Dec 2024 | Dec 2024 | Program Chair timeline available | Use conference Call for Paper dates to back‑plan ethics milestones. |
2. Ethics Reviewer Pool Management
This responsibility is concerned with maintaining a diverse, engaged reviewer pool, which is critical for fast turn‑around.
| Task | Start | Deadline | Dependency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recruit New Ethics Reviewers | Dec 2024 | Feb 2025 | – | Aim for ≥150 active reviewers across topics. |
| Add New Reviewers to OpenReview | Dec 2024 | Feb 2025 | OpenReview access | Coordinate with OpenReview support for bulk upload. |
| Re‑confirm Existing Reviewers’ Availability | Dec 2024 | Feb 2025 | – | Collect via short form. |
| Send Role‑specific Guidance to Reviewers | Feb 2025 | Feb 2025 | Reviewer list finalised | Link to ACL Ethics FAQ & ARR policy. |
3. Ethics Review Work‑flow Execution
This responsibility runs in parallel with the ARR cycle that feeds ACL 2025. All ethics reviews must finish before Area Chair final decisions (early May 2025) so that recommendations can be actioned.
| Task | Start | Deadline | Dependency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen ARR Submissions Flagged for Ethics | April 2025 | April 2025 | ARR checklists completed | Target ≤48h triage. |
| Assign Ethics Reviewers & Communicate Expectations | April 2025 | April 2025 | Reviewer pool finalized | (1) 2 reviewers per paper where possible; (2) ARR guidelines for Ethics Reviewing are available here. |
| Chase Missing Ethics Reviews | May 2025 | May 2025 | Review deadline has passed | Automated reminders + personal pings. |
| Forward Recommendations to Program Chairs & Area Chairs | May 2025 | May 2025 | Reviews completed | Gives PCs ≥48h before notification (May 15th 2025). |
4. Post‑Review Reporting & Community Guidance
This responsibility concerns organizing information learnt during the course of the conference in order to aid future conference chairs and disseminate information regarding ethics reviewing to the wider community.
| Task | Start | Deadline | Dependency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compile Ethics‑review Statistics & lessons | May 2025 | June 2025 | Reviews complete | Prepare 1‑page report for ACL Exec & public blog. |
| Maintain Reviewer Database for Next Conference | June 2025 | July 2025 | – | Export to secure Google Sheet; share with ACL Ethics Board. |