Configurations for Linked Submissions

The Linked Submissions feature enables Editors to link two or more submissions together. This functionality may be used for two different purposes:

General reference: The Linked With connection enables Editors to identify submissions that are related (e.g., by Author or topic).
Managing letters to the Editor: The Letters to the Editor connection enables Editors to link unsolicited submissions (letters to the Editor) that are received in response to an already published paper to that paper or to other letters on the same topic.

A submission may belong to more than on Linked With group, but may only belong to one Letter to the Editor group.

This feature also provides the Publisher role increased visibility to all linked submissions. A linked submission icon is displayed in the Action column when a submission is linked. (If a submission is in multiple Linked Submission groups, an icon appears for each group.)

A Publish With ID and Publish With ID Description may be assigned to submissions that are added to a linked submission group to indicate that the submissions should be published together. The ID may be assigned automatically by the system or manually entered by the user when the option, Assign Publish With ID, is selected.

The list of linked submissions are identified with the Publish With ID and Description on the transmittal form.

For information on how to used Linked Submissions features in the interface, see Linked Submissions.

Additional functionality for Letter to the Editor option

Letters to the Editor are submitted to a publication, reacting to or commenting on an already published paper. The editorial office may want to link these unsolicited Letters to the Editor to the published submission and make them available to the Author of the published submission. The publication can then invite the Author of the original submission to comment on one or more of the Letters to the Editor, i.e., solicit a commentary. The commentary solicitation may be based on the Author's original published submission or on any of the Letters to the Editor linked to it.

The Letter to the Editor option has several specialized rules:

When a publication solicits a commentary on a submission belonging to a Letter to the Editor group, the Author may be given access to any of the submissions in the group (Author/Editor PDF format).
Upon submission, the invited Author's submission (the commentary) is automatically added to the group and displayed on the Linked Submissions page.
The invited commentary (Reviewer PDF format) can be made available to the Authors of selected submissions in the group when a decision is made on their Letter to the Editor. Authors have access to an Author version of the Linked Submissions page.

The Editor (with permission) clicks the Action link, Solicit Commentary, for a Letter to the Editor submission in the Linked Submission group. The steps are the same as for initiating a commentary with one additional step: After customizing letters for the invited Author(s) (or selecting the default letter), the Editor is directed to a page listing all submissions in the Letter to the Editor linked submission group. The Editor may use the checkbox next to each submission to choose additional submissions to send to the invited Author(s). For related information, see Configure Commentaries.

An Author invited to solicit commentary on a linked submission will see the Action link, Linked Submissions, in New Invitations and My Accepted Invitations folder. After accepting the invitation, the Linked Submissions link appears for the submission in other Author folders.

Access to Author version of the Linked Submissions page is also available to Authors of all linked submissions in the group. A deep link, %LINKED_COMMENTARY_DEEP_LINK%, provides direct access to the Linked Submissions page from Decision letters.

Link and unlink submissions

A Linked Submissions link appears in the Action column for each submission in Editor folders. The link opens the Add to/Create Linked Submission Group page. The page provides options to add the submission to an existing group, create a new group and add the submission to it, and assign a Publish With ID to the submission (and others).

After a submission has been added to a linked submissions group, the Linked Submissions link goes directly to the Linked Submissions page for the submission. The page displays the linked submission group name and lists all the submissions in the group. For each submission a Remove from Group link appears. Clicking the link unlinks the submission from the others and removes it from the group. (The submission is still active in the system and retains its editorial status; it is just no longer part of the linked submission group.)

If a user attempts to remove a linked submission from the system before an Editor is assigned or to set the submission's final disposition of Withdraw, a warning prompt lets the user know that the submission belongs to a Linked Submission group. If the user follows through on the action, the submission is removed from the group and then removed/withdrawn from the system.

Review sharing for linked submissions

Linked Submission Groups may be set for review sharing. This enables an Editor (with permission) to share comments from previously submitted reviews for any submission in the group with a Reviewer invited (or assigned) to review another submission belonging to the group.

Use case example: The publication rejects a submission but informs the Author that the work may be reconsidered if the Author resubmits the material as a new manuscript. The first submission and the new one can be linked (Linked With option), and the review sharing setting enabled. This will allow the Editor to share reviews of the first submission with Reviewers invited to review the new submission.

The Reviewer invitation/assignment letter must be configured to include the merge fields that provide access to the earlier review content (see configuration below).

To Configure:

Go to RoleManager > Editor Role. Grant permissions to the applicable Editor roles:

View Linked Submission Groups
1. Create/Edit Linked Submission Groups
2. Set Active/Inactive Status on Linked Submission Groups
3. Enable Review Sharing for Linked Submission Groups

To solicit and manage a commentary using Letter to the Editor linked submissions, Editor roles must have the additional permissions:

Invite Authors/Solicit Commentaries
Override Author Invited Submission Due Dates

Go to PolicyManager > Linked Submission Policies > Configure Linked Submission Group Name Preferences. In the Field Length text box, enter the maximum number of characters allowed for a name. When finished, click Submit.

Go to PolicyManager > Linked Submission Policies > Configure Publish With ID Preferences. Use the radio button to select the option for assigning Publish With IDs to linked submissions:

Automatic: The system assigns the ID when the Editor clicks the Assign Publish With ID button.
Manual: Editor enters an ID after clicking the Assign Publish With ID button.

Go to PolicyManager > Linked Submission Policies > Configure Publish With ID Description Preferences. In the Field Length text box, enter the maximum number of characters allowed for a description.

If appropriate, configure letters to include merge fields related to the Linked Submissions feature. Go to PolicyManager > Email and Letter Policies > Edit Letters.

Add merge fields to Reviewer invitation/assignment letter to enable review sharing:

%LINKED_REVIEWER_COMMENTS_TO_AUTHOR%
%LINKED_REVIEWER_COMMENTS_TO_EDITOR%
%LINKED_REVIEWER_RESPONSES_AND_INDIVIDUAL_COMMENTS_TO_AUTHOR%

Add deep link to Notify Author (Decision) letter to enable access to Linked Submissions page:

%LINKED_COMMENTARY_DEEP_LINK%

For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.