On occasion, an Editor may need to submit a decision on a manuscript before a lower-level Editor has made a decision and before Reviewers have completed reviews.
For example, if the Associate Editor is unavailable to submit a decision, the Editor-in-Chief can access the submission, make a decision (bypassing the Associate Editor), and move the submission up the chain to the Managing Editor. An Editor (with permission) can bypass a lower-level Editor by unassigning that Editor, and the Editor (with permission) can also cancel Reviewer assignments by uninviting or unassigning.
An alternative RoleManager permission allows an higher-level Editor to terminate subordinate Editor assignments and outstanding review assignments. On the Submit Editor's Decision and Comments page, Editors with this permission see a button, Terminate Outstanding Assignments and Proceed.
The Terminate Outstanding Assignments page shows the status of all subordinate Editors and Reviewers associated with the submission. The page includes warning messages to alert the Editor that the submission will no longer be available to those Reviewers and subordinate Editors. The higher-level Editor can terminate assignments even if a subordinate Editor has a saved partial decision or a Reviewer has a saved partial review.
The Terminate Outstanding Assignments page includes a button linking to the Reviewer Selection Summary page, so the Editor has the option to uninvite or unassign Reviewers rather than terminating their assignments.
In general, it is recommended that an Editor choosing to make a decision (while a Reviewer still has an outstanding invitation or assignment) should uninvite or unassign the Reviewer first. This closes the open review assignment.
When opting to terminate the assignments, the Editor can send letters notifying the Editor or Reviewer of the termination. Letters can be customized. The Editor may also terminate assignments without sending letters. (If the publication has not configured notification letters, the Editor goes directly to the Submit Decision page.)
Note: The system maintains separate statistics for the three actions: uninvite, unassign, and terminate. These statistics are captured for every assignment for which a Reviewer is invited and are visible on the Reviewer's people record and in reports permanently.
At times an Editor may opt to terminate a Reviewer assignment in order to proceed with making a decision on a manuscript, rather than wait for an outstanding review to be completed. The Editor may later opt to reopen and complete a terminated review on behalf of a Reviewer.
On the submission's View Reviews and Comments page, clicking the link, Edit Reviewer Comments, link for a terminated review and proceed to complete it. After submitting changes, the previously terminated review will appear to have been submitted normally by the original Reviewer, with a completion date equal to the original review termination date. The submission then appears in the Reviewer's Completed Assignments folder.
Go to RoleManager > Editor Roles. Select the appropriate Editor role and click Edit. On the Edit Role Definition page, check the box next to the appropriate permission(s) and click Submit.
Two letters should be configured in the Terminate Assignment family: one to notify Editors and one to notify Reviewers. For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.
See also:
Configure Unassign Editor or Replace Editor (Modify Editor Chain)
Allow Editors to Uninvite or Unassign Reviewers
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