Selecting and Inviting Reviewers

About the Progress Indicator

Throughout the process of selecting, inviting, and assigning reviewers, the progress indicator shows you exactly what is required for task completion and which steps have been completed.

Required reviews

In a typical task flow below, note that the number of reviews required to make a decision is an editable field.

Note: Setting the required number of reviews to zero (0) indicates an immediate decision or recommendation, bypassing the peer review process.

You can change the number of default reviews required by typing a different number in the field and clicking .

Symbols
Green checkmark

The progress indicator displays when the number of required reviews in that stage of assignment is greater than or equal to the number of required reviews.

Exclamation mark

A  displays for a line item if that stage of assignment is overdue. Examples of when this symbol displays:

Selecting Reviewers

The Select action tab allows you to select the reviewers of a manuscript. Depending on workflow, reviewers will then either be invited or assigned. To begin, click the Select Reviewers tab.

The Reviewer List section displays at the top of the page, along with a progress indicator that helps you keep track of the review cycle at a glance.

Author's Preferred / Non-Preferred Reviewers

During the manuscript submission process, some journals allow authors to add reviewers and to mark them as "Preferred" or "Non-Preferred." These preferences display on the page for selecting reviewers. You may select a reviewer from any preferences the author submitted with the manuscript.

To add a preferred reviewer to the Reviewer List, select the corresponding check box in the Add column. If applicable, select Category type of reviewer from the dropdown list of choices. Click .

Creating a new reviewer account

If you want to add a reviewer to the manuscript who does not have an account, you can create an account and then add them as a reviewer.

Enter information in the fields. Clicking  opens a popup box, where you can enter more detailed information. Click . An Account Creation email is sent to the new reviewer. It typically contains a link to the journal site and their login information. The new reviewer is also added to your Reviewer List for potential invitation.

About search options

There are a number of reviewer search options on this page:

 

See the Using Reviewer Search topic for more information.

 

Inviting Reviewers

After selecting reviewers, the page refreshes and the action tab becomes Invite Reviewers.

To invite selected reviewers, click  in the Status column. The invitation email configured for your journal opens.

The email opens in editable form, allowing you to make changes as needed. You may also attach ad-hoc or manuscript files as needed.

 

Saving any changes and sending the email are both accomplished when you click .

Reviewer responses
Automatic

Journals may configure their Reviewer invitation emails with hyperlink responses.

When the reviewer clicks a response link it updates your reviewer list to indicate the response and moves the manuscript into their Reviewer Center. The system generates your journal's Reviewer Agreed email to the reviewer.

Manual

If the reviewer responds without clicking a response link, you can add the reviewer's response by selecting it from the dropdown list.

When you click , your reviewer list updates and your journal's Reviewer Agreed email opens.

This email contains the information the reviewer needs in order to review the manuscript. The email opens in editable form, allowing you to make changes as needed. You may also attach ad-hoc or manuscript files as needed.

 

Saving any changes and sending the email are both accomplished when you click .

Forwarding the list of reviewers

Your workflow may be configured so that one person creates the list and another person invites/assigns the people in the list. In this case, click  to forward the completed list on to the next person in the workflow.