How to prepare a manuscript for peer review

Modified on Wed, 10 Jul 2019 at 03:17 PM

Before you begin

  • Before preparing a manuscript for peer review, you must assign one or more editors to the manuscript.
  • To navigate to the Review step for any given manuscript, either
    • Select the '2. Review' link near the top of the page, if you are already viewing a manuscript record, or;
    • From the Journal Home screen, select 'Manage All Submissions' and then select 'In Review.'
      (Don't see this option? Learn more about permissions.) Finally, select the title of the manuscript you'd like to work with.

Steps in this guide

  1. Download submitted files and assess their readiness for peer review
  2. Upload redacted files, if necessary
  3. Determine which supplemental file(s) reviewers should have access to

1. Download submitted files and assess their readiness for peer review

  • Select the linked file next to 'Review Version' to download the manuscript to your computer.
  • Open the file and ensure that the submitted manuscript meets your journal's criteria for blind review.
  • If any content needs to be redacted, make the changes, and save the file to your computer.
  • You may also wish to download and assess any supplemental files that were provided by the author.

2. Upload redacted files, if necessary

  • Use the 'Browse' and 'Upload' buttons to upload the redacted version of the manuscript, if you created one.
  • For additional security, you may also wish to select the 'Convert File to PDF' button, which will strip out personally identification information that is sometimes included in the metadata of Word and PDF files.

3. Determine which supplemental file(s) reviewers should have access to

  • Select the link(s) next to 'Supp. files' to download supplemental files to your computer.
  • Open the files and ensure assess whether the supplemental files should be shown to reviewers.
  • Use the checkboxes to determine which files should be shown to reviewers. A checked box means the file will be shown to reviewers. An unchecked box means the file will not be shown to reviewers.
  • Be sure to select the 'Record' button next to each checkbox to save your changes.

Next step(s)