Send Manuscript Back to Author before Assignment

Editors or editorial staff may want to send a submission back to the Author before assigning it and putting it into the editorial workflow (e.g., when the submission is missing files or is incorrectly formatted).

This option is available when a submission is in one of the following folders: New Submissions, New Submissions Requiring Assignment, Revised Submissions, and Revised Submissions Requiring Assignment.

The Action link, Send Back to Author, is used to return a submission to an Author before a submission is given a manuscript number (for new submissions), or before the manuscript is assigned to an Editor. When the Editor clicks this link, the Submission Sent Back to Author event is triggered, and the Editor is given an opportunity to send a default or customized letter to the Author. The submission is then returned to the Author.

The merge field, %TECHNICAL_COMMENTS_TO_AUTHOR%, is available for these letters. The merge field pulls in the most recent entry in the Technical Comments to Author field for the most recent revision. These comments are entered during Technical Check. For details, see Configure Technical Check.

Once a new submission has been returned to the Author, it appears in the Submissions Sent Back to the Author Folder (on the Author Main Menu). A revised submission returned to the Author appears in the Revisions Sent Back to the Author folder (on the Author Main Menu).

When an Author makes the corrections and resubmits, the Initial Date Submitted is updated to correspond to the date the Author resubmits the materials.

Submissions may also be sent back to the Author after an Editor/editorial staff uses the Edit Submission function. This is most often used when the editorial office has made a change to the submission, and the Author's approval of the change is required.

Note: This feature should not be used for making Revise decisions. Doing so could result in inaccurate data in reporting results.

To Configure:

No configuration of the feature is required.

A letter or letters should be configured and associated with the ActionManager event, Submission Sent Back to Author. For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.