APA Journals Back Office

	-OR- log into the manuscript tracking system

What's New for JBO 3.8
(12/4/2006)

Archive: JBO Changes by Release

The scope of changes in v.3.8 encompasses the areas of review process, decision correspondence, issue assembly, and record management & reports. These changes were implemented in response to feedback received at the June 2006 Council of Editors’ meeting. See the section “Information items” below for additional information about other changes that were made in response to specific requests and feedback regarding the appending of forms to the action letter, receipt of mass mailings, and the new reviewer verification system.

Review process:

1. Changed the automatic inclusion of the review due-date in the Subject line of review requests to a journal-level preference that is available to the Main Editor.
(NOTE: The review due-date used is the same one on which the Overdue/Pending Report data is based, and on which the ticklers/reminders are based; this due date is auto-calculated but may be overwritten by a manually entered due-date for any individual review.)

2. Created options for automating the review reminder letters, which are available to the Main Editor (ME) as journal-level preferences. [View instructions in PDF format for auto-reminders]

The tickler letter may be automated* by selecting one (1) of six options:

1A) Send tickler X days after assignment

1B) Send tickler X days after assignment — only if the reviewer has agreed.

1C) Send tickler X days before the due date.

1D) Send tickler X days before the due date — only if the reviewer has agreed.

1E) Send tickler X days after the due date.

1F) Send tickler X days after the due date — only if the reviewer has agreed.

The tickler letter may be automated* by selecting one (1) of six options:

2A) Send reminder X days after assignment

2B) Send reminder X days after assignment — only if the reviewer has agreed.

2C) Send reminder X days before the due date.

2D) Send reminder X days before the due date — only if the reviewer has agreed.

TIP: Each tickler and reminder can only be sent once (manually or automatically) — UNLESS the record of its letter-sent date is deleted via the menu option MS Infor page > Reviewer Functions > Modify Assigned Reviewer Info.
*PLEASE NOTE: The auto-sending of a tickler or reminder letter precludes the manual sending of the same letter unless the record of its letter-sent date is deleted as described above; the reverse is also true (i.e., manually sending a reminder precludes the automatic sending option).

3. Added display of "set" due date (if one exists) for Main Editor (ME) and Associate Editors (AE’s). Like the MC’s, now the ME and AE’s see any manually set due dates on their MS Info screens

4. Added a security check to review-submission page that requires a reviewer to log in with an email address that is verified against his/her JBO record prior to submitting the review. (Mid-version update that was implemented August 2006)
This change helps to ensure that each review is secure and unavailable to others by simply changing a variable in the URL. To help reviewers use the correct login data, the system adds text to the reviewer’s request letter (text appears just below the link to submit review):

"*NOTE: When you go to the above URL, you will be asked to login with the email address we have on file for you, which is “youremail@xxx.xxx".

Additionally, on the screen to login and submit review, the following text appears if login is not successful (giving reviewers the option of emailing their review in cases of persistent
login difficulties):

"Your e-mail address could not be verified. Please re-enter or submit your review by replying to the review request."

5. Created three (3) optional triggers to move manuscripts (mss) to "Reviews Returned, Needs Action Letter" status in the form of "Out for X days and Y reviews returned" to facilitate timely processing of mss awaiting returned reviews.
The three optional sets of reviewer remittance criteria may be specified by the Main Editor (ME) via the Other > Journal Level Preferences menu option.

Decision Correspondence:

6. Adjusted presentation order of reviews in action and thank-you letters to correspond to the numeric order of the reviewers (rather than the order in which the reviews were returned as previously displayed).

7. Added display of action letter type so that Manuscript Coordinator (MC) may see this information just prior to sending the action letter.
The decision information appears on the MS Info screen, just above the action letter that the MC sends. Text display example: Decision Letter Type: Acceptance

8. Created pre-populated copyright transfer form for authors of accepted mss to complete.
The populated form is an HTML page, not a PDF. Currently the copyright transfer form is the only form being pre-populated.

Issue Assembly:

9. Eliminated ability of outgoing editorships to create Table of Contents (ToCs) after office is deactivated.

10. Increased the size of the subheading field in ToC function (both textbox and database field).

11. Linked “On hold” function in PBO to JBO to prevent held items from being assigned to an issue.
Manuscripts will still appear on the ME’s ToC list in JBO, but the words “ON HOLD” will appear instead of the checkbox to select the item for the issue, along with a note explaining why the manuscript is being held; when the hold is released, the checkbox will reappear, allowing the manuscript to be assigned to an issue.

12. Auto-included MCs and ME’s (as a CC:) in email of finalized ToCs to APA Journals as confirmation of APA Journals receipt of the line-up.

13. Added link for “View-only” version of finalized ToCs for Main Editor.
Link appears next to volume/issue number on ME’s list of finalized ToCs, via
Table of Contents > Edit Existing Table of Contents menu option.

Record Management & Reports:

14. Created author-ordering function through the Manuscript (MS) Info page for the MC’s office.
Author order can now be manipulated after creating the manuscript record. This function appears in the manuscript detail menu for MCs via the new menu option Change Manuscript Info > Authors > Author Order.

15. Increased the size of the data fields in the reviewer profile (reviewer address, email, and notes) to accommodate user needs.

16. Created "inactive" status for reviewers with re-activation date function.
This function is available to MC’s and appears in the Update Reviewer Info field. MC’s can choose “inactive” from a drop down list of reviewer statuses, and if needed can type in a “reactivation” date. In addition, JBO runs an automated task to re-activate users with a reactivation date listed in their profile.

17. Added PBO function to add/edit document types linked to Manuscript Transmittal Form for JBO.
A complete list of APA Journal office document types is now available on the transmittal form. This new functionality allows editorial offices to have requested new document types be added to the display. The list is maintained in PBO and cascades to the list viewed in JBO. Suggested additions should be sent to your APA Account Manager.

18. Added ability to specify start and end dates when generating year-end reports.
This new functionality appears for all reports except the ethnic minority report.

Information Items:

Request for the ability to append forms to the action letter.
We did not make this change because the main repository for these frequently updated forms is the public site. However, action letters with the “Accept” (i.e., Accept-as-is decision *only*) do include the appropriate links to these forms.

Requests to not receive our mass (e)mailings (usually inactive AEs).
To solve this problem, we’ve cleaned the JBO user file so that inactive office users (and inactive users within still-active offices) won’t receive our mass mail notifications.
— MC’s PLEASE NOTE: Please ensure all of your editors are marked appropriately as active or inactive users, since our email distribution lists are derived from the list of active JBO offices.

Several offices noted difficulty with the new reviewer verification system (login with email to submit review).
We know this issue has been challenging for some offices; these are the steps we’ve taken so far to try to alleviate the difficulty and make the login process easier for people:
- Added more clarifying language regarding the exact email address to be used for login (see item 6 above for details)
- Corrected the e-mail addresses in database updates (author, reviewer, offices), so that potential problems with “extra spaces” won’t cause verification problems.

Archive of JBO Changes by Release: