Step-By-Step instructions for Associate Editors of Paddy and Water Environment to

process manuscripts in Editorial Manager (effective from 18-April-2008)

Hint: This document focuses on efficiently process manuscripts as handling editor in Editorial
Manager. However, it does not cover any other themes like “how to alter your password”. If
you are looking for special technical information please refer to the documentation which is
accessible online at the top of every Editorial Manager page (HELP menu).

Change History
17-April-2008 /nk Initial version

Table of Contents
1 Editorial Workflow
2 Editor Tour: Notification of a new manuscript and reviewer invitation
3 Reviewer Tour: What the reviewer is supposed to do
4 Editor Tour: Review evaluation and decision making
5 Reviewer and Author Reminders

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1 Editorial Workflow In Editorial Manager

Editor-in-Chief: Yoshisuke Nakano

Chief Managing Editor & Editorial Office: Soon-Jin Hwang
Managing Editors: see current list under www.springer.com/10333

(A) Receiving new submissions (unsolicited)

(A1) Author submits a manuscript to the Editorial Office (= Soon-Jin Hwang)

(A2) Editorial Office performs a technical check and assigns the manuscript to a handling
editor. This can be the Editor-in-Chief, the Chief Managing Editor or another Managing
Editor.
(A3) Handling Editor invites reviewers (default number is 2)
NOTE: Invitation reminders will be sent by the editorial office.

(A4) Reviewer agrees and sends review back to Handling Editor within 21 days on first
submissions and revised submissions
NOTE: Review reminders will be sent by the editorial office.
(A5) Handling Editor will be informed automatically once all required reviews returned
(A6) Handling Editor makes decision
Accept without modification (ACCEPT)
Accept with modification (REVISE)
Reject but entertain resubmission (REJECT)
Reject (REJECT)
(A7) Handling Editor sends decision letter to Author
(A8) Post-decision tasks
If EJECT: Editorial Office sets Final Disposition to reject
If ACCEPT: Editorial Office sets Final Disposition to accept and releases manuscript
to Springer production department

(B) Receiving revised submissions

(B1) Author submits revised manuscript to the editorial office within 30 days after decision
NOTE: Revision reminders will be sent by the editorial office.
(B2) Editorial Office checks-in manuscript and assigns it to the previous Handling Editor
(B3) Handling Editor assesses improvement and takes action as needed
Manuscript goes back to reviewers of the previous round => (A3)
Manuscript is decidable => (A6)

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2 Notification of a new manuscript and reviewer invitation

2-1

You have been invited via

email to handle a manuscript
for the journal. See example
email on the right.

Follow the instructions in this

email to access the manuscript
in Editorial Manager.

2-2

Go to
https://www.editorialmanager.
com/pawe

Click on the LOGIN button

Type in your Username and

Password and click on

Note: If you can’t remember

your credentials use the
Send Username/Password
functionality.

2-3 (optional)

Note: When you are logging

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in for the first time you are
asked to check and confirm
your account information.

Please fill-in all required data

(marked with a red asterisk).

Finally click on

at the bottom of this page and

go to the Editor Main Menu
2-4

From within the Field Editor

Main Menu click on
New Assignments

2-5

You will see a list of

manuscripts assigned to you
(the list in this example
contains only one
manuscript).

For each manuscript you have

a bundle of options.

Hint: to expand the Action

Links click on the plus sign in
the Action column header.
View Submission  view manuscript and all subsequent revisions
Details  author information, keywords, author comments, notes, Editor(s),
Reviewer(s)
History  view the status history.
File Inventory  view the original files submitted by the author
Invite Reviewers  view and manage reviewer invitations
Google Scholar Title Search  runs a Google Scholar query using the article title
and shows the results in a separate window.
Google Scholar Author Search  runs a Google Scholar query using the
corresponding author name and shows the results in a separate window.
Submit Editor's Decision and Comments  make decision / recommendation / you

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 can also view existing reviews here.
Send E-Mail  send a so-called ad hoc E-Mail to inform the Editorial Office /
Managing Editor besides the regular workflow.

2-6

First of all, click on the action

link entitled View Submission
to open the PDF version of
the manuscript for a first
screening.

Note: Make sure you have a

proper Acrobat Reader
installation on your computer.

After viewing or printing just

close the window to come
back to the previous screen.

2-7

Depending on the outcome of

your first screening choose
your next step.

If you are not prepared to take

on the assignment then please
contact the Editorial Office
for resolution.

Provided you take on the

assignment, you have 2
options to proceed:

Option 1:
If you have to suggest an See chapter 3 “Handling Editor makes decision” for details.
immediate rejection without
inviting reviewers first then
go directly to Submit Editor’s
Decision and comments

2-8

Option 2:
Initiate the peer review
process by clicking on
Invite Reviewers . You will
come to the Reviewer

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Selection Summary page.

1  view the author’s suggested

reviewers, if any.
2  view other manuscript details that
may be of interest to you. In manuscript
details you can change the
corresponding editor designation.
3  set the required number of reviews
needed for decision-making
4  by setting the due days to a positive
number the un-invite automatism will be
switched on. Please let this functionality
switched off (number is set to 0 (zero))
5  go to a search form in order to
identify reviewers for invitation.
6  optional: here you can set up
additional reviewer invitations that will be
activated on certain conditions
7  Register and Invite New Reviewer if
you can’t find them in the database (but
make sure you have searched before in
order to avoid duplicate accounts).

2-9a

View Author’s Reviewer

Preferences

Click on Author’s Reviewer

Preferences to look up in a
separate window for
reviewers suggested by the
author(s).
You may but you don’t have
to follow the suggestions.

2-9b

View Manuscript Details

and set Corresponding
Editor designation

Click on Manuscript Details

to look up in a separate
window for additional
information (like author
comments and others) that
may be important for you.

Please make sure that the

Corresponding Editor
designation is set correctly
before you proceed.

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Click on Save and Close to
save the changes and to come
back to the previous screen
(Reviewer Selection
Summary).

2-10

Invite already registered

reviewers

Presently there are no

reviewers invited yet.
To invite reviewers set the
select options to

and click on

You will come to another

page where you can specify
your search criterions.

In this example we look up

for persons whose last names
begin with “re”.

Fill in the search form and

press on

to conduct the search.

Hint: For details you may

want to consult the

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2-11

The search results are listed

directly below the search form
area.

Mark the Select checkboxes

and click on

to open another dialogue

window where you can
control the individual
invitation letters before
sending out.

Note that the journal allows

reviewers typically 21 days to
return their reviews but you
may overwrite this value if
you have good reasons to do
so.

Note:
If the person you are looking
for is not in the database, you
need to use the link Register
and Invite New Reviewer (see
2-17).
2-12

Click on Customize and see

the content of each invitation
letter.

Note: there are two different

invitation letters to choose
from: Use the default template
“Reviewer Invited *” for
reviewers who are being
contacted the first time in
connection with a manuscript.

2-13

You may want to change the

body text of the letter.

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Don’t forget to click on Save
if you want to keep your
changes otherwise click on
Cancel.

Note that the letter makes

heavy use of so called merge
fields, i.e. context sensitive
variables that will be
substituted immediately
before sending out.

Click on

to see the letter with all

variables substituted by their
current values.

2-14

Close the Preview Window.

2-15

If all letters are set to your

needs click on

After getting the system’s

confirmation click on
Return to Reviewer Selection
Summary

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2-16

On the right you see the status

of the reviewer invitation
process when you have
invited 2 external reviewers.
All of them need to respond to
your invitation letter.

2-17

Register and Invite New

Reviewer

If the person you are looking

for is not in the database, you
can use the link Register and
Invite New Reviewer.

2-18

Fill in all three fields and click

on ‘Submit’

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2-19

In a subsequent registration
form you are requested to give
the person a reviewer role.
Don’t forget to fill in the Title
field and to select the
Country.

Please always use the button

labelled ‘Register User and
Do NOT Send Letter’ as the
person shall be contacted
ONLY ONCE by sending the
assignment letter later on.

2-20

Now you can invite this

person to review the current
manuscript.

Proceed as described above

(see 2-12).

2-21

Note that in the Main Menu,

the manuscript moved from
list “My Pending Assignments
/ New Assignments” to list

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“Reviews in Progress /
Reviewers Invited – No
Response”.

WAITING FOR
RESPONSES

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3 What the reviewer is supposed to do

3-1

On the right you see a typical

invitation letter with
embedded hyperlink response
tickets (can be used only
once) for agreeing or
declining.

3-2

Editorial Manager provides

two options for the reviewer
to respond:

(1) The easiest way is to

respond from within the
invitation letter. If the
reviewer clicks on the first
link (agree) embedded in the
email then the reviewer will
be automatically logged on
the EM site to start the
review.

(2) The other way for the

reviewer to respond to the
invitation is to login on the
site, go to the New Reviewer
Invitations and click on the
link Agree to review.

In both ways the manuscript

moves to Pending
Assignments.

Note: If the invited person

declines to review, the person

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is requested to state a reason
for declining to review. In this
case, an automatic notification
goes out to you.

3-3

After Agreement the reviewer

goes to the list of
Pending Assignments

The reviewer will see the

assigned manuscript(s)
awaiting his or her review.

After reviewing the

manuscript (online or as a
print-out) the reviewer
eventually clicks on Submit
Recommendation to fill-in the
Score sheet.

3-4

Consult the help pages for

more information on how to
fill in the score sheet.

The reviewer is supposed to

fill in the review form
consisting of:

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1 Recommendation

2 Reviewer Blind Comments

to Author

3 Reviewer Confidential
Comments and to Editor

4 The reviewer needs to click

on Proceed when done.

3-5

In a subsequent page the

reviewer has the chance to
check the score sheet before
(s)he confirms the entries by
clicking on

3-6

Finally the reviewer should

get this confirmation message
(followed by e-mails sent to
the handling editor and the
reviewer) followed by an
automatic Thank-you letter.

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16 of 22
4 Review evaluation and decision-making

4-1

Once all required reviews

have been submitted you will
get an automatic notification
via E-Mail.

4-2

Log in as editor and click on

Submissions with Required

Reviews Complete

4-3

Click on

Submit Editor's Decision and

Comments

4-4

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Fill in the decision
recommendation form

First at all, click on the

reviewer recommendation
terms to look into the
submitted reviews.

4-5

See example review on the

right.

Note that you are able to edit

the reviewer comments if
necessary.

Hint: If you would like to

print the review, use the built-
in print functionality of your
operation system (e.g. press
Ctrl + P for MS Windows).

You should ignore the Rate

Reviewer option.

Close all review windows.

4-6

Read the reviewers’

confidential comments to
editor.

Read the reviewers’

comments to the author.

You may edit the comments

and add your own comments.

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Only the comments to the
author will be placed into the
decision letter later on.

Select a decision now.

Click on Proceed

4-7

Click on
Submit Decision

4-8

Edit the decision letter to the

author and finally click on
Send Now

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4-9

When done you should see an

appropriate confirmation
screen.

4-10

Back in your Editor Main

Menu you’ll find the
manuscript in My
Assignments with Decision

Manuscripts with Final

Decisions (Accept or Reject)
will be closed by the editorial
office and appear then in the
list of My Assignments with
Final Disposition.

Accepted manuscripts will be

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released to the publisher by
the editorial office.

In case of a revision you will

be informed by the editorial
office once the revised version
has been submitted by the
author.

4-11

On the right you see an

example revise decision letter.

END OF THE TOUR

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5 Reviewer and Author Reminders

To avoid the delay of the editorial process, belated reviewers and authors can be reminded by
sending them appropriate reminder emails.

Since the Editorial Manager system is not designed to send reminders automatically, the
editorial office or the handling editors has to trigger the reminders manually by using the
built-in reminder reports.

There are three different situations in which you as the handling editor want to let send
reminders:

(1) Invited reviewers not responding to the invitation letter within a reasonable amount of
days.
The editorial office will not send reminders in the first place but will inform the handling
editors of missing responses. This might be subject to change.

(2) Assigned reviewers not sending back their reviews to the handling editor within the agreed
time frame (currently 21 days for new submissions and revised submissions, but these values
may be overwritten at the time of invitation).
The editorial office will send reminders on behalf of the handling editor.
This might be subject to change.

(3) Authors not submitting their revised version within the given time frame (currently 30
days for first and subsequent revisions, but these values may be overwritten at the time of
decision).
The editorial office will send reminders on behalf of the handling editor.
This might be subject to change.

Please contact the editorial office or the editor-in-chief if you have questions about the journal
reminder policies.

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