Request Author's Reviewer Preferences

Submitting Authors may be asked to indicate Reviewer preferences, both suggesting Reviewers for their submission and identifying Reviewers they would prefer not to have review the submission (e.g., due to a conflict of interest).

Two submission steps, Suggest Reviewers and Oppose Reviewers, are configurable by Article Type. Requiring the Author to provide contact information for suggested Reviewers enables the publication to contact the potential Reviewer.

During the submission of a revision, Authors may also be asked to respond to Reviewer feedback on the previous version of the manuscript. For details, see Ask Author to respond to Reviewers.

To configure:

Go to PolicyManager > Submission Policies > Edit Article Types. Select the Article Type to configure and click the Edit link. On the Edit Article Type Page:

Go to the Article Type Parameters section. Select settings from the drop-down list (Display, Hidden):
1. Suggest Reviewers Preferences: Indicate setting for both new and revised submissions.
2. Oppose Reviewers Preferences: Indicate setting for both new and revised submissions.
To require a minimum number of suggested Reviewers from an Author, go to the Author Parameters section and enter the desired number in the text box in the statement: "Authors must suggest a minimum of X Reviewers when submitting their manuscripts."
When finished, click Submit.

Then go to PolicyManager > Submission Policies > Select Author's Reviewer Preferences. All of the fields listed on this page are displayed to the submitting Author when the Suggest/Oppose Reviewers steps are enabled; however, only name fields are required. Use the drop-down list (Optional, Required, Hidden) for each field to designate what information the Author must provide. When finished, click Submit.

To include the Suggest/Oppose Reviewer information on the PDF cover page, go to PolicyManager > Submission Policies > Define PDF Cover Page Layouts. Select the applicable layout and click the Edit link. Click the link to go to the Select Items to Display page, check the box next to the item(s) to include (Suggested Reviewers, Opposed Reviewers). For detailed instructions on cover page layouts, see Customized PDF cover pages.

Reviewer preferences indicated by Authors may be included on custom Details pages. See Configure Details Page.