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Reviewer Instructions
Editorial Process Overview
The manuscript submission and peer review process is categorized into the following six basic steps:
- The Author submits a manuscript for publication in the journal.
- An Associate Editor is assigned to handle the peer-review process for the manuscript.
- The Associate Editor assigns Reviewers to the manuscript.
- Journal Staff contacts Potential Reviewers via e-mail.
- Potential Reviewers can Accept/Decline the request.
- The Assigned Reviewers review the manuscript, and submit their comments to the Associate
Editor.
- The Associate Editor makes a decision regarding the manuscript.
- Journal Staff contacts the Author with the decision.
If revisions to the manuscript are invited, the Author may resubmit a revised manuscript, and the process cycle
is repeated.
As a Reviewer, you are responsible for step #4.
Navigating the System
When you first log into the system, you are taken to your Home screen (Main page). It displays several
categories of
tasks, but in particular "Reviewer Tasks." When there is a pending action item requiring your attention as
Reviewer,
there will be a red arrow  next
to a manuscript link. Clicking on this link returns a Manuscript Items/Tasks screen containing:
- Metadata table of summary information about the manuscript and its processing.
- Links to the manuscript/article file and to individual figure files.
- A list of "Manuscript Tasks" with links allowing you to:
- Accept/Decline Reviewer assignment for this manuscript.
- Review Manuscript and Submit Report
(Not all of these links or tasks will be present at a given time. Only those applicable to the current processing
stage of
the manuscript are visible.)
If no red arrows are
visible on the Home screen (Main page), then there is no pending work that you need to worry about. Note
that a Reviewer may
also be an Author, and so there may be pending work under Author Tasks as well as Reviewer Tasks on your
Home
screen (Main page).
Additionally, a Potential Reviewer receives an email message when there is a pending action item, e.g., Accept
or
Decline the request to be a Reviewer. So, you are advised when you need to log into the system to perform
reviewer-related action tasks.
Review a Manuscript
After logging into the system and clicking on a manuscript link preceded by a red arrow (under Reviewer
Tasks), you are
presented with a Manuscript Items/Tasks screen as described above. At the bottom of this screen under
"Manuscript
Tasks" are displayed Accept and Decline links.
NOTE: At this point, prior to Accepting the reviewer role, Manuscript Items are not listed. Links to the
manuscript/article
file and figure files are NOT presented. Title, Authors, and Abstract are information that is available.
Clicking on the Accept link returns the Home screen again. The red-arrowed manuscript link proceeds to a
Manuscript Items/Tasks screen that has "Review Manuscript" as the prominent (red arrowed) Manuscript
Task.
In addition, there are links to the manuscript/article and figure files are now displayed.
When you click the "Review Manuscript" link, a Reviewer's Overall Assessment screen will be displayed.
This screen is made up of five sections as follow:
- Manuscript identification information.
- An overall rating pull-down selection list.
- The journals review-form questions, with answer entry boxes.
- Remarks to the author.
- Remarks to the editor.
If you prefer to work offline, you may find it convenient to download and print the article and figure files, draft
your report
using your favorite word processor, and then cut/paste the material back into the reviewer remarks text area on
this reviewer-assessment screen.
Pressing the "Submit Recommendation" button passes the review report to the Associate Editor's desktop, for
consideration and
use in arriving at a decision regarding publication of the current manuscript. Selected reviewer remarks may be
passed
on to the author with the decision letter. You are returned to your Home screen (Main page).
A copy of the review report that you submitted is emailed to you.
General Navigation and Getting Help
The upper right-hand corner of every page carries links that allow you to:
- Return to your Home screen (Main page)
- Call up a Suggestions feedback form
- Display a Help contact list
- Log out of the journal's Peer X-Press service
Throughout the system, red arrows reflect pending action items that you should address by clicking on the associated link.
If you need additional help, you can click on the help signs 
located throughout the system. A help dialog box will pop up with context-sensitive help comments.
Please press Return to Main Page to continue.
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