Innovations in Scientific Publishing

Key initiatives to improve the submission and peer review processes

Scientific publishing has a long history as a critical way to share discoveries and build knowledge. Over the years, it has adapted to new technologies and the changing needs of researchers. We are committed to working with our authors, reviewers, and editors to continue improving this process — innovating in ways that not only meet current demands but also help anticipating and setting new standards for the future. Our goal is to enhance the publishing journey for everyone by providing exceptional experience and support while safeguarding research integrity.

By using new and emerging technologies, and our own innovations, we aim to make publishing easier and more user-friendly. Our efforts are focused on making the experience more efficient, enjoyable, and centered on what truly matters — publishing quality research.

In this article, we want to share our plans for the remainder of 2025 and beyond. Our main priorities are:

• Making the submission process easier

• Improving the peer review process

• Safeguarding research integrity

Let’s look at what we have planned for each in turn…

Making Submissions Easier for Authors

Over time, journal submission requirements have become more complex and time-consuming. This often means a longer, harder job for you as an author. Happily, thanks to advances in our systems, we now have the opportunity to greatly simplify this process.

We are therefore enhancing Editorial Manager to create a more modern, user-friendly submission experience. This new experience uses the latest technology to simplify and accelerate the manuscript submission process and features an intuitive, accessible user-interface and single sign-on across Elsevier journals. Authors are clearly guided through each step, prompted only for essential information — making the entire process faster, more accurate, and smoother.

Early feedback shows very high (90%) satisfaction rates with the new experience, and authors are not the only party with a smile on their faces: editors also see the benefits. “I love that we will be getting rid of formatting requirements for initial submissions – that will be a major help for authors,” comments Caitlin Hicks, Editor-in-Chief of Surgery.

Over time we will continue to enhance the submission experience to support you in improving your manuscripts even before they reach the editor’s desk, and with that bettering the chance of your manuscript being sent out for peer review.

Improving the Peer Review Process

Peer review is essential, but providing targeted feedback, and addressing all reviewer comments in an efficient way to revise the manuscript can be challenging for reviewers and authors. To improve this, we are developing a more intuitive peer review experience as a further enhancement to Editorial Manager.

This new service will offer a new, modernized interface that, in time, will also support inline commenting. This will make it easier for reviewers to give feedback and for authors to respond, thereby supporting dialog. It will also provide editors with a clearer overview of reviewer comments and author replies all together in one place, helping them make quicker, better-informed decisions.

Safeguarding Research Integrity

Innovations in these areas will also enable us to introduce new integrity checks, alerts and tools to safeguard the submission process. Doing this will help increase trust in the published article, something which is reinforced by Senior Director Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics at Elsevier Sarah Jenkins: “The technological advancements to Check Integrity will empower authors to proactively uphold the highest standards of research integrity and publishing ethics, and ensure they align with our policies and Guides for Authors.”

All these updates are driven by invaluable feedback from you and other users. Together, we are working to make the publishing experience more streamlined and user-friendly. Keep an eye out for these improvements in our journals over the coming months!

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