New developments to benefit you

Released in July 2007, EES v5.0 includes a variety of upgraded features and functionalities benefiting all EES users - editors, authors, and reviewers.  Some features are optional, and some will take effect automatically when your journal upgrades to EES v5.0. A Journal Manager or Customer Support Agent will be in contact with you prior to the full release with suggestions on the optional features for your journal. To request an optional feature that has not already been recommended, contact a   Customer Support Representative

New features and functionalities of EES v5.0:

• Updated interface: new look and feel
• Are you always checking new manuscripts?
• Do e-mails from EES get caught in your spam filter?
• Are you wasting time dealing with incomplete new submissions?
• New: EES archiving policy
• Finding it difficult to sort through completed submissions?
• Do you need a better way to flag submissions?
• Are you tired of having to copy and paste hyperlinks?
• Are you unsure when to proceed with a decision?
• Do you want to change the way Authors respond to Reviewer comments?
• Do you like authors to tell you their Reviewer preferences?
• Are your Reviewers or Editors frustrated because their assignments are terminated?
• Do you receive reviews without line-numbered text references?
• Are you concerned about protecting your personal information?
• Do you want to simplify the registration process for new Reviewers?
• Do you need to set more specific submission guideline for Authors?
• Have you received a late review and have nowhere to keep it?

Updated interface: new look and feel

The design layout of the Editor view in EES has an updated aesthetic feel to match the Author and Reviewer pages. The pages retain their original structure and functions with a clean new look. Action links can be displayed as a pop-up menu or as a list of links to suit your preference. Click the + to expand or collapse the links.

Are you always checking new manuscripts?

The task of checking a submission for completeness and sending it back to the author can now be separated from the task of assigning an Editor. New submissions appear in the New Submissions folder, and can be checked by a journal staff member. Revised submissions follow a similar process.

Do e-mails from EES get caught in your SPAM filter?

A new SPAM information warning next to the e-mail address field on all people data pages strongly urges users to enter a second e-mail address. If, for some reason, the system e-mails get caught in a SPAM filter for one e-mail address, the user should receive the e-mail at a secondary e-mail address from a different service provider.

Are you wasting time dealing with incomplete new submissions?

When you send a submission back to the Author, you can now choose from additional letter templates that describe common reasons why a submission is incomplete: missing source files, required submission items, or other changes. This will make your e-mail communication simpler and more precise without having to write custom letters for every interaction.

New : EES Archiving Policy

To streamline EES, the following archiving policy is in place for all journals:

 Online submission records will be kept forever in the main EES database. This includes pertinent dates, manuscript numbers, reviews, history and all information found in the Details screen of a manuscript record. This does not include source files, that is, the original e-files (MS Word, jpg, tiff, etc.).

 Accepted, Rejected, and Withdrawn articles: PDFs generated by EES will be saved indefinitely. Source files will be deleted 185 days after the article reaches a Final Disposition. As soon as the Final Disposition is set, source files of accepted papers are transferred to a separate production database where they are kept indefinitely. Elsevier can provide them upon request.

 "Removed Submissions" (articles - such as accidental duplications and test submissions - that are removed by the Author or the Editor/Journal Office at the beginning of the editorial process): PDFs generated by EES and source files will be deleted immediately.

 Incomplete Submissions: Sometimes authors start a submission twice, complete one and leave the other incomplete. To make sure that valid submissions are not deleted the Author will receive an alert after 60 days of inactivity. After 90 days of inactivity, the PDF generated by EES and source files will be deleted.

Finding it difficult to sort through completed submissions?

The “All Submissions with Final Dispositions" folder remains on your Editor Main Menu, however there are now additional sub-folders available, separating manuscripts by “Accepted”, “Rejected” or “Withdrawn”.

Do you need a better way to flag submissions?

A new set of descriptive submission flags will be added to your journal*, accessible through the Details screen of every submission. To see what each flag means, simply mouse-over or click on the icon, and the description will display. You can also define and create your own submission flags to organize submissions according to your specific criteria. * You cannot search for submissions using flags as a criterion, and flags will not appear on the transmittal form.

Are you tired of having to copy and paste hyperlinks?

Any hyperlinks that Authors include in source files will now remain as hyperlinks in the PDF files in EES.

Are you unsure when to proceed with a decision?

If there are any assignments outstanding when you begin submitting a decision, the status of each assignment will be displayed. If a Reviewer has agreed to review, or an Editor or Reviewer has saved comments relating to the submission, you can consider this before proceeding. You can either terminate the outstanding assignments to continue with the decision, or cancel to wait for the outstanding assignments from the Reviewer(s) and/or Editor.

Do you want to change the way Authors respond to Reviewer comments?

The Author's response to the Reviewer comments can now be entered as a text field during the submission process. They can also be built into the PDF Cover Page.

Benefits:

- The Author’s Responses to Reviewers will be part of the metadata and thus will be held within the EES database forever.

Do you like Authors to tell you their Reviewer preferences?

Authors can be asked to suggest or oppose potential Reviewers via an online form during the submission process. If an Author's suggested Reviewer is registered with the journal, a note will appear on the suggested Reviewer's profile when you search for Reviewers.  Benefits: - Authors are forced to enter information into the required fields during the submission process, so it guarantees that Authors will provide all the necessary contact information for the Reviewers they suggest. - You will be automatically alerted when you search for a Reviewer who is preferred by the Author. This alert is given in red text beneath the Reviewer’s name in the search results. The alert is based on an exact first name and last name match.

Are your Reviewers or Editors frustrated because their assignments are terminated?

Currently when an assignment is terminated, no notification is sent out. If a Reviewer looks for the assignment on EES, it will be missing with no explanation. If you do choose to terminate an outstanding assignment before making a decision, you can now send a courtesy notification to the Reviewer or Editor whose assignment is terminated. Benefits: - The option to send a customized letter eliminates confusion and improves communication. - You can now restrict which Editor Roles have the ability to terminate an assignment. Editors-in-Chief may want to restrict this ability, and not allow Associate Editors to be able to terminate Reviewer and/or Editor assignments.

Do you receive reviews without line-numbered text references?

If you would like all manuscripts to contain numbered lines, request this feature be added to your journal. Please note though that if a source file already contains an Author's line numbers, the PDF will display two sets of line numbers. Benefits: - Useful for Editors and Reviewers when making comments to Authors on specific areas of text. - The PDF line numbering is configurable per submission item, which means that you can enable this for the manuscript submission item only and exclude others such as tables and figures, if required.

Are you concerned about protecting your personal information?

The question regarding data protection below will be asked of all registered users.

Do you want to simplify the registration process for new reviewers?

Instead of having to fill out a complete set of personal information upon first logging into EES, Reviewers will only have to complete the required fields for your journal. This makes it easier and faster for Reviewers to complete reviews in EES. Benefits: - Saves Reviewers' valuable time. - You can require only registration information that is pertinent to your journal. For example, if you choose Reviewers based on their Personal Classifications, you can make it mandatory that all registered users must provide this information.

Do you need to set more specific submission guidelines for Authors?

If it suits the requirements of your journal, you can now set limits on certain submission steps. For example, you can

- Set a maximum word or character count for the length of the title

- Set a maximum number of keywords or classifications

- Limit the length of the abstract by word or character count.

Benefits:

- If your journal has very strict requirements for publication, you can automate more of them and save your staff time when evaluating new submissions.

Have you received a late review and have nowhere to keep it?

Companion files are a new optional feature that you can use to attach files to a manuscript record for your own use. Files are uploaded through the File Inventory, and can include a late review not submitted through EES, something signed by the Author, or any other document not needed for the review process. Please note that all files that are uploaded can only be accessed by Editors with permission to view this submission.

Benefits:

- If you receive a late reviewer report, or annotated manuscript from a Reviewer, then these can be uploaded to EES instead of being stored in your e-mail or on your local PC drive. Once loaded on EES, both you and your Journal Manager can access the files.

* Do not upload any files here that Reviewers will need as a part of the peer-review process. These files will not be built into the submission PDF, and are only accessible in the File Inventory. Any files that you upload cannot be removed and will permanently be associated with this manuscript.