Abstain versus recuse: what's the difference?

In some cases, a reviewer may need to be excused from evaluating an application—for example, due to a conflict of interest, an existing relationship with the applicant, or because they are also an applicant and should not review their own work.

There are two ways to prevent a reviewer from scoring an application:

• Abstain – initiated by the reviewer
• Recuse – initiated by the grant manager

Abstain

When a Scoring score set is in use, reviewers can choose to abstain from scoring a particular application if the option is enabled in the score set.

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Reviewing > Settings > Score sets
2. Open the 'Display' tab
3. Select the Reviewers may abstain checkbox
4. Click Save at the bottom of the page

When this is enabled, reviewers will see an option to Abstain from reviewing with each application.

Ticking this box removes the ability to enter scores for that application. Abstaining reviewers are excluded from average score calculations since they did not submit a score.

Recuse

A program manager can remove a reviewer from one or more applications using recusal. Reviewers are not notified when they are recused, and recused applications do not appear in their reviewing list.

Recusing a reviewer does not prevent manual or random assignments from being created. If a recused application is reassigned, it will still appear as Recused in Reviewing > Settings > Assignments and will remain hidden from the reviewer.

Recusal via an application:

This method only recuses the reviewer in the selected score set. 

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Applications 
2. Click on the application name and open the 'Reviewing' tab
3. In the score set matrix, click on the overflow menu beside the reviewer's name
4. Click Recuse 

Recusal via assignments:

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Reviewing > Settings > Assignments
2. Search for the reviewer you wish to recuse
3. Select the checkboxes for the relevant application
4. Open the Action drop-down and select Recuse

Global recusal

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Applications
2. Click the application name
3. Open the 'Reviewing' tab
4. Under 'Recusals', click Recuse a reviewer
5. Enter the reviewer's name and click Recuse

The reviewer will remain active for all other assigned applications.

If a reviewer is recused after scoring, their score becomes a stray score and is excluded from average calculations.

Good to know

• Abstain is controlled by reviewers; Recuse is controlled by grant managers.
• Recused reviewers are not notified and cannot see affected applications.
• Recusal only impacts the selected applications or score sets.
• Stray scores from recused reviewers are ignored in averages.
• Use the advanced search filter to quickly manage multiple recusals at once.