Direct-to-Editor Feature

The Direct-to-Editor (Autonomous Editor) feature allows new and/or revised submissions to be directed automatically to an individual Editor, bypassing the New Submissions and New Submissions Requiring Assignment folders or the Revised Submissions and Revised Submissions Requiring Assignment folders. This feature can be useful both for smaller publications that do not have a central editorial office and for larger publications that have a large pool of Editors.

For publications that do not have a central editorial office but do have multiple Editors working independently (often in geographically dispersed areas), this feature can be used to enable the Editors to control and monitor most aspects of the submission and peer review process on their own.

For publications with a large pool of editors, this feature can streamline the assignment process of the first Editor.

New submissions

There are three options for identifying Editors to handle new submissions:

• Request Editor: As part of the submission process Authors request an Editor to handle their submission. Editors are listed by role, name, description, or any combination of the three.
• Select Section/Category: As part of the submission process Authors choose a section or category for their submission. Each section/category has one Editor associated with it to receive the submissions.
• Editor rotation: Each incoming submission is directed to the next Editor in a publication-defined rotation.

After an Author approves the submission, it proceeds directly to the identified Editor. The letter configured for the related event, New Submission Sent to Publication, is sent to that Editor. The submission is available in the Editor's Direct-to-Editor New Submissions folder.

The Direct-to-Editor New Submissions folder appears in the Editor To-Do List section of the main menu. Submissions in Direct-to-Editor folders must still be assigned.

Assign to Myself: This link appears for submissions in Direct-to-Editor folders for Editor roles with the associated permission. This link allows the user to formally assign the submission and move the submission to the New Assignments folder. From the New Assignments folder, the Editor may assign the submission to a subordinate Editor. (The initial Editor remains in the Editor Chain.)

Redirect to Other Editor: This link appears for submissions in Direct-to-Editor folders for Editor roles with the associated permission. Occasionally, an Editor might receive a submission that should be handled by another Editor (e.g., the Editor assigned in the rotation has a conflict of interest, or the Author made an incorrect selection during the submission process). Recipient Editors can redirect the submission to another Editor and remove themselves from the Editor chain.

Submissions can be redirected only to other Editors in the same Direct-to-Editor workflow.

• When the Request Editor option is enabled, only Editors that appear in the Request Editor submission step are available.
• When submissions are assigned by rotation, only Editors in the rotation list are available.
• When the Select Section/Category option is enabled, the submission cannot be redirected as there is only one Editor associated with a section/category.

Revised submissions

For revised submissions, publications may opt to have the manuscript sent directly to the first-assigned Editor of the previous version of the submission. This option bypasses the Revised Submissions Requiring Assignment folder.

When revisions are configured to go to the first Editor of the previous version, the letter configured for the related event, Revised Submission Sent to Publication, is sent to the specific Editor. The submission is available in the Editor's Direct-to-Editor Revised Submissions folder.

The Direct-to-Editor Revised Submissions folder appears in the Editor To-Do List section of the main menu.

Automatic assignment of new submissions

Publications may configure new Direct-to-Editor submissions to be assigned automatically. This option moves the submission immediately to the identified Editor’s New Assignments folder. (The system performs the action otherwise performed by a user clicking the Assign Myself link.)

For submissions that are incorrectly assigned, the recipient Editor must use the Unassign Editor link to reassign the submission to the correct Editor.

For submissions that require corrections by the Author before proceeding in the editorial workflow, the automatically assigned Editor can use a Send Back to Author link before taking any other action on the submission. The link is available in the New Assignments only when the automatic assignment option is enabled and only when the Editor has not taken any other action.

Limitations with other features

These other features are not available for use with direct-to-editor workflows.

• The Technical Check feature is not available, because the New Submissions and Revised Submissions folders are bypassed when the Direct-to-Editor feature is used.
• Editor chain templates are not available, because assigning an Editor chain template requires that the first Editor be assigned manually.
• Automatic assignment of editorial tasks (using Task Manager) cannot be used in combination with Direct-to-Editor automatic assignment.

To configure:

Configuration requires RoleManager permissions for Editor roles, assignment policies for the applicable assignment option, letter creation, and section/category configuration if that assignment option is used.

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

• Receive Assignments
  • Receive Assignments without Invitation: This permission and sub-permission together allow the system and user to skip the step of sending and accepting an invitation to handle a submission. (When the user is identified as recipient of a Direct-to-Editor submission, the submission appears in a Direct-to-Editor folder.)
• Assign Editor: Allows users with to self-assign (with Assign to Myself link in Direct-to-Editor folders) and to assign subordinate Editors (with Assign Editor link in New Assignments folder).
• Redirect to Other Editor (and be removed from Editor Chain): Allows users to send new submissions to another Editor before assignment (with Redirect to Other Editor link in Direct-to-Editor folder).
• Unassign Myself: Allows users with this Editor role to undo submission assignments to themselves and reassign the submission to another Editor (with Unassign Editor link in New Assignments folder).

For information on permissions related to unassigning other Editors, see Configure Unassign Editor or Replace Editor (Modify Editor Chain).

Go to PolicyManager > Editor Assignment Policies > Set Editor Assignment Options.

New Submissions: Use the radio button to select the option for how new manuscripts are assigned to Editors.

1. Submissions go to New Submissions Requiring Assignment folder. Check the Except box to enable exceptions to this rule: Use the radio button to select the exception:
   1. Submissions for which Author has selected an Editor (For additional configurations, see Configure "Request Editor" Option.)
   2. Submissions for which Author has selected a Section/Category (For additional configurations, see Configure Use of Sections/Categories.)
2. Assign to Editor by Rotation. (See instructions for additional Editor rotation settings below.)

A checkbox setting appears for both options: Direct-to-Editor Submissions are automatically assigned to the Editor (New Assignments folder). Check the box to enable automatic assignment.

Revised Submissions: Set the options for how revisions are handled.

1. Revisions are automatically directed to the first-assigned Editor of the previous version: Use the radio button to select this option.
2. Check the box next to the setting, When using Direct-to-Editor selection.
3. Use the radio button to select the Direct-to-Editor folder for incoming revisions:
   • Revisions are directed to the Direct-to-Editor Revised Submissions folder: The receiving Editor will self-assign the submission or may redirect to another Editor.
   • Revisions are automatically assigned and directed to the Editor’s New Assignments folder: The receiving Editor is assigned by the system.
4. Check the box next to the setting, Allow reassignment to previous Editors: This setting enables the receiving Editor to employ the Editor chain from the previous version.
5. When finished, click Submit.

Note: No letter is configurable for the Editor chain reassignment option. If the assigning Editor chooses to send the default letter, then no letter will be delivered (but the submission’s status will change). If the assigning Editor chooses to send a custom letter, an empty letter form is displayed and may be completed.

Automatically Transfer Corresponding Editor Designation: Check the box to designate the Handling Editor as the Corresponding Editor automatically.

When finished, click Submit.

Go to PolicyManager > Email and Letter Policies > Edit Letters. Letters should be configured to notify the Editor of assignment/invitation or redirection. Letter Family: Invite/Assign/Unassign Editor.

For letters to Reviewers and Authors, publications may also want to configure email sent from EM to use the Corresponding Editor's address as the "email from" address. To do so, on each Edit Letter page, use the radio button to select the setting, Use Corresponding Editor's Email Address.

To associate Editor letters with ActionManager events, go to ActionManager > Editor Letters. In the Editor Assigned section, use the drop-down lists to match a letter (configured above) with each of these events (as needed):

• Editor Assigned (Not Invited): Use this event for notifying the Editor being assigned.
• Editor Invited for Assignment: Use this event for inviting lower-level Editor.
• Editor Declines Invitation from an Editor: Use this event for lower-level Editor response.
• Editor Agree to Assignment: Use this event for lower-level Editor response.
• Editor Redirected: Use this event for notifying the Editor to whom the assignment is redirected.

For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.

Editor rotation settings

These settings must be configured if the option, Assign to Editor by Rotation, is selected on the Set Editor Assignment Options page (above).

Go to PolicyManager > Editor Assignment Policies > Set Editor Rotation Participants.

1. Check the box next to the name of each Editor to be included in the rotation.
2. When finished, click Submit.

Note: A publication using the Direct-to-Editor (Autonomous Editor) feature still includes many shared items that must be configured to standards agreed upon by the group of Editors. The Search People and Select Reviewers functions for all Editors draw from the same database. Configurations for Article Types, classifications, Reviewer forms, decision terms, manuscript numbering format, etc. are shared. All ActionManager document status settings are common to all Editors, meaning that all workflows must be similar and use the same status terminology. If total autonomy is required for each Editor, it is recommended that the publication be set up as a several separate EM sites, one for each Editor.

 

For related information, see:

Configure Corresponding Editor Designation

 

 

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