Electronic Submission and Electronic Submission and Reviewing MethodologyReviewing Methodology

Hooman Momen

Editor

Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Electronic Management of Electronic Management of JournalsJournalsOn line SubmissionOn Line TrackingOn line Peer reviewOn line EditingOn line LayoutOn line Publication

Choosing a systemChoosing a system

Reliability of the vendor– size, Internet redundancy, mirrored data

storage, data archivingUser friendlinessSupport service

– 24 hours– time zones

Degree of customization allowed

Primary featuresPrimary features Browser-based

– accessible from all places and at all times Automated notification

– email to editors, reviewers, authors notifying articles to be reviewed, reviews or edited

Tracking/ logging events Reviewing Reminders Reporting and Statistics

Submission of manuscriptsSubmission of manuscripts

Automated submission– provides templates/instructions for submission, converts

and uploads content from authors

Which formats accepted? Manuscript (with any embedded tables and figures):

Word, WordPerfect, PDF Figures: GIF, TIF, EPS, JPEG

Can authors suggest and exclude reviewers ? Can authors review and proof output before

formal submission ?

Peer-ReviewPeer-Review

Is it possible for reviewers to accept/decline online ?

Is complete confidentiality of review process preserved ?

Can partial reviews be saved for completion later ?

Keyword- assisted reviewer selection

Other featuresOther features

Ability to sort articles in queues Ability to search for articles Ability to track manuscripts in post-acceptance

stages Ability to bill authors for services and features External bibliographic and sequence database

links Publish ahead of print capabilities

Automatic virus scan of author submissions

PricingPricingIs software sold as stand alone

application?If rented

– Is there a per manuscript charge?– What are the licencing conditions?– What are the hardware requirements?

How much customization is included?How much training is included?

Principal SystemsPrincipal Systems

Manuscript CentralEditorial ManagerBench>Press eJournal Press

Manuscript Central

Developed by ScholarOne, VA, USAUsed by over 500 journalsMajor customers

– Blackwell– Springer– Taylor and Francis– Wiley

http://www.scholarone.com/products_manuscriptcentral.html

Editorial ManagerEditorial Manager

Developed by Aries Systems Corporation, MA, USA

Used by about 225 journalsMajor customers

– Elsevier– Kluwer Academic

http://www.editorialmanager.com/

Bench>PressBench>Press

Developed by Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press

Used by about 50 JournalsMajor customer BMJ group of journalshttp://benchpress.highwire.org/

eJournal PresseJournal Press

Developed by ejournal PressMajor customers

– Allen Press– PNAS

Number of Journals?http://www.ejournalpress.com/

Other systemsOther systems

Espere– http://www.espere.org/

Edikit– http://www.bepress.com/services.html

Open Journal Systems– http://www.pkp.ubc.ca/ojs/faq.html

Epress– http://www.epress.ac.uk/

Preparing for changePreparing for change

Need to examine your whole editorial process– Rationalize– Streamline

Then transfer paper to onlineTake time to prepare but implement

change rapidly

Preparing for change (Staff)Preparing for change (Staff)

Prepare staff– New roles, functions, workloads– Training

Editorial Board, reviewers, advisers– Handholding

Expected benefitsExpected benefits

Reduce time to publication– improve peer review turn-around time– Time to decision reduced by 50%

Increase in number of submissions– authors find it easier to submit articles– 25% increase in first year

Reduction in editorial office mailing and communication costs– less postage, fax, telephone, packaging