1. 1. 6 Steps to Speed Up Your Journals Peer Review Process https://scholasticahq.com/ @scholasticahq by Scholastica
2. 2. Glean insights from the editors who contributed to Academic Journal Management Best Practices: Tales from the Trenches Get your free guide at: http://bit.ly/1GFnWMu
3. 3. With so much to keep track of during peer review, editors can feel like theyre running in all dierent directions
4. 4. All of that running takes a lot of time which editorial boards cant aord to lose!
5. 5. What can your team do to speed up peer review at your journal?
6. 6. Rene Your Process! Ensure that your team is moving in the same direction and on the most ecient path.
7. 7. Here are 6 steps from experienced editors to speed up peer review at your journal
8. 8. Step 1: Make sure youre giving authors clear submissions guidelines. It will save your editors time down the road!
9. 9. The absolute best thing that you can do is have a clear descriptive information for authors link available on your online submissions webpage. Authors shouldnt have to search for a journals conict of interest, copyright, gure permissions, or other necessary forms. Christine Dymek, Senior Managing Editor Kaufman Wills Fusting & Co. Editorial Services
10. 10. Your Journal should have a chronological list of submission guidelines on a master submissions webpage, including: The aims and scope of the journal Instructions for manuscript blindness Copyright requirements A comprehensive overview of manuscript formatting Ethical guidelines Metadata and le formatting requirements Open access policy
11. 11. DO Give authors access to specic details about your publishing process that theyll likely want to know about, such as FAQs surrounding your OA policy. DONT clutter your master submission guidelines webpage with extraneous information about your publishing process. Too much text can be overwhelming for authors. When compiling your master submission webpage
12. 12. To avoid overwhelming authors with too much info, embed links in your master submission guidelines to o-ramp webpages with additional publication details, such as: OA policy & copyright information Comprehensive ethical guidelines sample references authors can use to format theirs
13. 13. To ensure authors follow all of your journals submissions guidelines, create a checklist that breaks down your submissions instructions into one-sentence steps authors can check o as they go. Create a static or interactive submission checklist webpage or PDF and link it to your journals master submissions guidelines webpage.
14. 14. You can make completing your journals submission checklist optional for authors or a required submission step.
15. 15. Step 2: Run an initial lap of peer review in house
16. 16. Running an initial round of review in house will ensure that youre only sending referees viable manuscripts. Journals are doing this in a few ways
17. 17. Example 1: Recruit grad students in your eld to do initial submission screenings
18. 18. By the time a manuscript is going out for review at Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society theres already been a grad student, an editor, and then two other co-editors doing a cursory read. Henry (Hank) Fradella, Editor-In-Chief, Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society
19. 19. Your journal can recruit grad students to do a cursory read of each submission and compile notes for lead editors altering them to exceptional submissions and those in need of work. Recruiting grad students will save your editors time upfront and give the students an opportunity to learn peer review skills.
20. 20. Example 2: Make your editors your primary peer reviewers
21. 21. [At Sociological Science] to be a consulting editor you have to pre-commit to doing a certain number of reviews a year, so we can get our decisions done in 30 days. What we ask the external reviewers to do is read the paper and tell us according to journal criteria is this something with any obvious aws in it? - without the need [for them] to write multiple pages on what they reviewed. Jesper Srensen, Editor-In-Chief, Sociological Science
22. 22. A major workow blocker for traditional journals is trying to nd scholars willing to review submissions. Appointing a large group of consulting editors to serve as your primary peer reviewers will ensure your journal always has willing candidates. With your editors doing the bulk of the peer review work you should be able to easily build a pool of external referees.
23. 23. Example 3: Appoint topic experts to assess unclear manuscripts before they go out for review
24. 24. Ive seen some journals bring on topic experts to actually stand in-between the editor-in-chief and the reviewers, to give an additional submission screening and recommendation. Christine Dymek, Senior Managing Editor Kaufman Wills Fusting & Co. Editorial Services
25. 25. At journals covering a wide scope of information, editors may not always have the expertise to feel condent making desk rejections. In these situations, editors can appoint topic experts to step in when they are unsure of a papers potential. Having topic experts can help your journal be sure youre only sending peer reviewers viable submissions.
26. 26. DO reevaluate your technical check process over time. Technical checks are a great way to weed out manuscripts with obvious errors, but they can slow down peer review if your editors get caught up asking authors to make too many formatting revisions before theyve made it past the rst round of review. DONT be afraid to make desk rejections. No journal wants to burn out their go-to referees by sending them review assignments unnecessarily. When running the rst lap of review in house
27. 27. Step 3: Track metrics on how your editorial board works and build a process to t your needs
28. 28. I keep stats on all of the basic things. I look at the number of manuscripts submitted by year, how many go through the peer review process, how many are desk rejected, and how many get rejected at the rst or second phase of review. Susan Altman, Managing Editor, Global Environmental Politics
29. 29. Track journal metrics to assess your process and improve it, including: Average time to decision for the journal as a whole Submission rate Submission rate by country Submission rate by topic Overall acceptance and rejection rate Average number of desk rejections Acceptance and rejection rate by editor Time to decision by editor
30. 30. You can also track reviewer metrics including, how long it takes each of your referees to complete a review and how often your editors contact each of your referees. If a referee begins taking longer to complete assignments and you notice youve been contacting them often, it may be time to give them a break.
31. 31. DO discuss your internal performance metrics at team meetings. DONT forget to set achievable benchmarks to improve your team metrics. When tracking performance metrics at your journal
32. 32. Step 6: Make editor training a part of your process.
33. 33. Compile training resources for new editors to help them get on track fast Create a training guide outlining your editorial workow to be oered to all new members. Walk your editors through your online submission system. Provide editors with resources on publishing ethics best practices. The Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE) has excellent free resources. Designate times for regular editorial board meetings at least once a month to track your progress and continue learning as a team. Coordinate a journal-wide meeting for your editors and organizational aliates once a year for publication planning.
34. 34. We have one formal journal meeting per year where all of the editors and the founding editors get together. Thats when we hash out plans and make projections. Anita Harris, Managing Editor, SubStance: A review of theory and literary criticism
35. 35. DO treat your editorial board training tools as living documents. Remind editors about resources they can continually return to, such as ethics best practices. DONT forget to ask your editors to contribute information they wish theyd known as a new editor to your training tools. Ask editors how you can rene your training process during monthly and annual meetings. When designing editor training resources and meetings
36. 36. Want more tips to speed up peer review at your journal?
37. 37. Download the free guide! Academic Journal Management Best Practices: Tales from the Trenches DOWNLOAD: http://bit.ly/1GFnWMu