Changes include:
 

• Submission process:

  • A separate abstract is now requested in addition to the manuscript file as part of the submission process
     

• General file maintenance:  

  • Manuscript totals and subtotals by status and/or action editor are provided for all manuscript lists involving manuscript statuses and action editors

  • Master File by Number  list contains all manuscripts, including "Rejected" manuscripts

  • Master File by Action Editor  list displays only active manuscripts, including manuscripts of status "Accepted/Pending Publication"; previous versions are no longer included in the Master File by Action Editor list

  • Master File by Status  list contains only active manuscripts; previous versions of resubmitted manuscripts and manuscripts assembled for publication are no longer included, which reduces load time by decreasing the length of the page

  • Addition of a Published Articles list which includes manuscripts (and any previous versions) that have been assembled for an issue

  • Reverse numerical order is the default display for Rejected and Published Articles lists to facilitate location of target manuscript(s)

  • Changing a revised manuscript to "Rejected" status automatically moves all previous versions of that manuscript to the Rejected  list (NOTE:  Action must be manually noted in manuscript history)

  • Main editors now have access to the list of Rejected manuscripts, which was previously available only to Manuscript Coordinators

  • Manuscript Coordinator's Working File  - New Submissions section:

    • Ability to manually delete a single submission via "Remove" link is provided as an alternative to  systematically deleting all new submissions via the Cleanse Submissions File option

    • Existing [auto-delete-upon-upload] function for new submissions is now based on a unique, system-generated submission ID number rather than the author-provided filename to increase the reliability of this function's execution and the subsequent accuracy of the information displayed in the manuscript coordinator's Working File
       

• Review process:

  • Ability to "Send Ad Hoc Email" from Overdue/Pending Reviews page to facilitate documentation of a manuscript's progress and changes to its history via the Ad Hoc Correspondence function 

  • Ability to set a reviewer as "Declined" from Overdue/Pending Reviews page to facilitate the  process of updating the status of one of more reviewers from a single page

  • Option to view previous reviewers for a revised manuscript has been added to the reviewer-search process to prevent the need for locating and consulting the previous manuscript

  • Action editors now receive summary counts of acceptances, declines, and non-returned reviews via email to enable more effective tracking of critical review numbers

  • Display of middle initial / name to facilitate identification of the desired persons when selecting reviewers (NOTE:  Middle initial will also be displayed for author names where appropriate)
     

• Decision / notification process:

  • Ability to select one of several salutation styles when composing an action letter replaces the previous salutation of "Dear [Firstname] [Lastname]" as a first step to providing editors with an increasing ability to personalize their correspondence

  • Ability to send a pre-review, abstract-only invitation to reviewers (to be followed by the full-text manuscript if the reviewer agrees) has been implemented as a journal-level preference