Solicit and Manage a Commentary

An Editor (with RoleManager permission) may invite an Author to submit a commentary on a previously submitted article. The commentary can then be associated with the related article in the system, making it easy to track the relationship between the two and, if desired, schedule them for publication together. The existing submission (also known as the "parent" submission) may be anywhere in the editorial/review process at the time a commentary (also known as the "child" submission) is solicited.

1. Set parameters for commentary.

From the submission record for the "parent" submission, click the Solicit Commentary link. This opens the Target Publication Schedule page.
Use the drop-down list to pre-select Article Type for the invited submission, or choose "Author Will Select" to allow the invited Author to select Article Type when submitting the commentary. (A pre-selected Article Type may not be changed; Editors should take care to select the correct Article Type if using this feature.)
Enter Target Publication Date. (Depending on configuration, this field may be either required or optional.)
Enter Target Publication Volume (optional).
Enter Target Publication Issue (optional).
Enter number of days Author has to respond to invitation (Author Response Due). Editors must have permission to override configured value.
Enter number of days before target publication date submission must be received (Author Submission Due). Editors must have permission to override configured value.
Click Submit. (This saves data and opens the Author Selection Summary page.)

2. Identify Authors to invite.

On the Author Selection Summary page, use the drop-down menu to select a search option and click Go. For details on options, see: Search for Authors, Search by Personal Classifications, and Upload Author List File.
Search results (or uploaded Author list) appear in a list of Author Candidates. Check the box in the Select column next to an Author's name to invite that person. (Editors with additional permission will see two boxes in the Select column: Inv. (invite) and Asn. (assign). Check the appropriate box.)
Click Proceed to open the Select Authors – Confirm Selection and Customize Letters page.

3. Select and customize invitation letter.

Use the drop-down menu to select a letter (if more than one is available).
Optional: Click the Customize link to edit the templated letter.
A text box may appear under the letter dropdown. Enter any invitation notes to the Author. (These are accessible to the Author via a link in several Author folders and to Editors in the Invited Authors section of the Details page (of the proposal or "parent" submission). They may also be included in invitation letters by using the %INVITATION_NOTES_TO_AUTHOR% merge field.)
Click Submit.

Note: A Do Not Invite checkbox allows the inviting Editor to exclude an Author on the selected results list. This may be used if the Editor has reconsidered an Author choice and does not want to invite that Author to submit.

Alternate Authors

Editors with permission can also use the Search for Authors tool to identify Authors to serve as alternates. If an invited Author declines, the alternate can be invited as a replacement.

For details, see Identify Alternate Authors for Invited Submissions.

Solicit commentary on Letters to the Editor submissions

Additional functionality helps facilitate tracking commentary solicited in response to Letters to the Editor. For details, see the related information in Linked Submissions.

Track and manage commentaries

From "parent" submission

The Details page for the "parent" submission displays a section, Author(s) Invited to Submit Commentary, that lists all invited Authors, status of the invited submission, invitation date, and due dates for response and submission (if set).

The "parent" submission continues to display the Solicit Commentary link. Once commentary has been solicited, this link goes directly to the Author Selection Summary page. From this page, Editors can:

Use one of the tools in the Author Search section to invite additional Authors.
View invited Authors, status of their invitation/submission, and invitation letter.
Uninvite (or unassign) invited Authors.
Manage Alternate Authors.

After commentary has been submitted, a View Related Submissions link appears for both the "parent" and "child" submissions. This link opens a page that lists the "parent" submission and all "child" submissions with status and publication information for each.

From Proposal Menu tab

Once a commentary has been solicited, it can be managed from folders on the Proposal Menu tab. (The tab appears for Editors with permission to solicit commentaries.) The "parent" submission appears in these folders for easy access:

My Submissions With Pending Commentaries contains all submissions assigned to the user for which commentaries have been solicited.
View All Submissions With Pending Commentaries contains all submissions for which commentaries have been solicited. Appears only if Editor role has appropriate permission.

In My Submissions With Pending Commentaries and View All Submissions With Pending Commentaries folders, the "parent" submission also displays a link, Move to Completed Folder. This link moves the "parent" submission and makes it unavailable for any additional commentaries.

Submissions cannot be moved out of the Submissions with Pending Commentaries folders until all invited Authors have submitted, declined the invitation, or been uninvited.

For related information, see Display Additional Information for Invited Authors.