Transfer Submissions Between Group Members (IJRS)

Member publications of an IJRS group can transfer submissions to other group members simply by setting Final Disposition of the submission to "Transfer" and designating the recipient publication. As with other IJRS-group features, both the sending and receiving publications must have this feature enabled. (Transfers may be made from one publication to another that is using the same version of EM, one version earlier, or one version later.)

Making a transfer

An Editor may determine that a submission is better suited to another publication upon receipt of the manuscript (from the New Submissions Requiring Assignment folder). The decision to transfer may also be made later in the editorial process.

The Final Disposition transfer option is available only if there are no open assignments associated with the submission (including Reviewer or Editor assignments, Author invitations, or the initiation of production). The Final Disposition of "Transfer" may be set only after assignments are complete (or unassigned) or before assignments are made.

To transfer a submission to another publication within the group, click the Set Final Disposition action link, choose "Transfer" from the drop-down list. A second drop-down list appears, showing the publications available to receive the transfer. Choose the publication and click Proceed. On the Transfer Submission – Customize Letters page, choose the appropriate action:

Click the link to customize the letter to the target publication.
Check the box for the option not to send a letter.
Proceed with the configured letter.

Any other letters (to Corresponding Author, Editors, Reviewers) configured to send when Final Disposition is set to "Transfer" also appear on this screen and may also be customized.

When finished, click the Confirm Transfer and Send Letters button.

If an error occurs during transfer, the sending publication receives a notice of the error (at the email address indicated during configuration of the feature—see below). As part of the transfer process, the recipient publication's people records are checked to confirm the Corresponding Author's identity and contact information. If no positive match is made, the system displays an alert message and the transfer is not completed.

After successful transfer, the Details page for the submission on the sending publication includes transfer information. The submission is moved to the All Submissions with Final Disposition: Transfer folder on the Editor Main Menu. This folder includes a column that indicates where the submission was sent; a Resend Transfer action link in this folder may be used in case of an error with the initial transfer.

Note: If a submission is transferred before being assigned to an Editor (before a Manuscript Number is assigned), the source files are deleted from the sending publication upon successfully transferring the submission. The submission is, in effect, withdrawn from the sending publication. A row is available in the Journal Accountability Report (JAR) to track the number of submissions transferred out of the publication before a manuscript number was assigned. (Submissions transferred after having gone through the peer review process are not counted in this row on the JAR.)

Receiving a transfer

When a publication receives a transfer, a notification is sent by the sending publication to the email address of the receiving publication indicated during configuration of the transfer feature (see below). This letter is also stored in the Correspondence History of the receiving publication. The receiving site may also configure a letter to notify its Editor(s) of a new inbound transfer.

A transferred submission's record on the receiving site is automatically populated with associated Author-entered data from the originating site (e.g., Co-author information, Article Title, Author Comments). Publication-configurable fields (e.g., Article Type, Classifications) are populated only if the receiving publication has an exact match to the sending publication; otherwise, they are populated with default values or left blank. The receiving publication's requirements for these fields is enforced when the submission is edited. Custom fields (e.g., Additional Information, Submission Item Metadata) are populated only if there is in an exact match in the label and data type.

If a submission is transferred after going through peer review at the initial publication, then Reviewer information from all versions is transferred with it (if the Reviewer has agreed to transfer information and/or Reviews to the receiving publication).

Submission files from all revisions, system PDFs, and all Editor and Reviewer attachments are transferred and available as companion files. Decision letters are transferred and accessible in the Correspondence History (marked External Correspondence) or on the Transferred Information page.

Any authorized Editor can access the submission in the Transferred Submissions folder (on the Editorial Main Menu). A Transferred Information link appears in the Transferred Submissions folder, the Details page (if configured), the Editor's Decision and Comments page, and the View Reviews and Comments page.

For more on the transfer process, see Transfer Submissions Between Publications.

TO CONFIGURE:

There are several steps to configuring the transfer feature between IJRS-connected publications and setting up the functionality within a publication.

To enable transfer between the group members, go to AdminManager >Configure Cross-Publication Submission Transfer:

Configure Transfer Time Limit: Enter the number of days allowed the Author to respond to the transfer offer.
Configure Transfer Target Publications: Check the box next to "Enable cross-publication submission transfer for Editorial Manager publications in a People Sharing Group." (Transfer is enabled between publications when both have checked this configuration.)
Restrict Transfer Target Publication(s): Check the box(es) to allow an Editor to limit the number of target publications suggested to the Author.
Configure Email Addresses for Notification:
- Transferred submission received (for incoming transfers)
- Error during outbound transfer (for sent transfers)
When all fields are completed, click Submit.

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

Receive New Transferred Submissions in Transferred Submissions Folder: Allows user to manage incoming transfers.

Transfer-related information may be included on custom Details pages. See Configure Details Page.

To configure letters related to transfers, go to PolicyManager > Email and Letter Policies > Edit Letters.

Edit the default Transfer Letter template if desired. This letter notifies the receiving publication of the transfer. The letter appears on the Editor's Confirm Transfer and Send Letters screen and may be customized by Editors with permission at the time of sending. (This is the only letter available in the Transfer Letter family and must be used to notify the receiving publication of the transfer in order for the correspondence to be recorded correctly in Correspondence History.)

Other internal letters can be associated with ActionManager events related to outbound transfers:

Author Agrees to Transfer Submission (to notify assigned Editor(s))
Author Declines to Transfer Submission (to notify assigned Editor(s))
Final Disposition – Transfer (to notify Publisher and/or other Editors)

In addition, a letter can be sent by the receiving publication to notify its Editor(s) of a new inbound transfer:

Submission Transferred to Publication

This letter is in addition to the notification sent by the publication initiating the transfer. The letter may also be configured to send to the Author. For details on letter configuration, see Create Letters.

Once letters are complete, associate them to the appropriate triggering event. Go to ActionManager > Editor Letters (for the applicable Editor role).

In the Editor Decision and Final Disposition section, select the new letter to associate from the drop-down menu for each of the three events listed above.
In the Editor Receives Submission section, select the new letter from the drop-down menu for the Submission Transferred to Publication event.
When finished, click Submit.

For details, see Link Letters to ActionManager Events.