The History of the SIGCSE Submission and Review Software: From Paper to the Cloud?

The submission and review process for the SIGCSE Symposium has evolved dramatically over the last half-century, reflecting changing expectations among SIGCSE members and advancing capabilities of technology. For almost 30 years, postal mail provided the vehicle for both paper submissions and reviews, and logistical constraints prevented the involvement of reviewers outside North America. Initial electronic submission and review options experimented with new technology and opened reviewing to SIGCSE members internationally. With growing experience, the home-grown submission and review system included new capabilities and could be expanded to additional conferences. Recently, cloud-based software has evolved to provide strong support for professional conferences. Over the years, the scale of the submission and reviewing process also has increased dramatically. In 1968, 18 papers were accepted from "over 40" submissions, whereas 161 papers were accepted from 459 submissions in 2018. This scale of activity impacts the overall process, and the software systems have required substantial alterations. Throughout, the focus of the submission and review system has remained the same: a fair, peer-reviewed system with a large number of volunteer reviewers, a quick turnaround of all reviews, and ease of use for all the stakeholders - contributors, attendees, reviewers, meta-reviewers, conference leaders, and system administrators. This article explores the evolution of the SIGCSE submission and review system, focusing on the last twenty years. Each phase of development highlights interactions among stakeholder interests, technological capabilities, and logistical requirements for handling the scope of papers submitted