Merge Duplicate People Records

Users may inadvertently create (or have created for them) more than one record in a publication's system. EM features a tool that allows editorial office staff and Editors (with appropriate permissions) to perform user record analysis and cleanup of duplicate user records in the EM database.

This feature is sophisticated enough to support merging duplicate records in the following situations:

One or both of the People records have historical activity.
One or both of the People records have current activity (e.g., a Reviewer or Editor with an outstanding assignment or an Author with a submission still in process).

To use the tool:

First, identify duplicate records. (If doing a database cleanup, run a Custom Report or General Data Export to find duplicate names in the people data.) Then enter the name(s) into the Search People page.
On the results list, select the checkboxes next to the two records to be merged, and then click the Merge People Records button.
The Merge Duplicate Users – Verify Data page displays the sets of data from the two records. Click the Combine and Keep this Record button on the record that should be preserved.

If the two records have different Reviewer or Editor Roles (e.g. Stats Reviewer in one record and Regular Reviewer on another, or Associate Editor in one record and Editor-in-Chief in another), the merge is not permitted. Different roles may have conflicting permissions, and there is a risk of causing problems for assignments in progress if the permissions suddenly change. Conflicting information must be resolved before a merge can be performed.

Following the successful merging of two records:

The person assumes the Username, Personal Classifications, and all Contact Information for the surviving record.
The surviving address is the address of record for all submissions under both People records, and the old address is no longer available.
All history and current assignments are copied to the surviving record.
The non-surviving record becomes inactive and cannot be accessed or reactivated.

Note: If more than two records need to be merged, they can only be merged two at a time. For example, if there are three duplicate records that require merging, A, B, and C, perform the merge on A and B, and then merge the surviving record with C.