In this chapter, you will learn about how an author works in OJS 3.1 from registration through to proofreading the final galley.
To make a submission to an OJS 3.1 journal, you will first need to register a user account with a journal and log in (see Registering with a Journal). After that, when you login, you will be taken to your Dashboard.
It is currently empty as you have made no submissions.
Start a new submission by clicking the New Submission button on the right side of the screen. You will be taken to Step 1 of a 5-Step process to upload and describe your submission.
In Step 1 you will provide preliminary information about your submission.
To begin select the appropriate section for your submission (e.g., article, review, etc.). If you aren’t sure which section is appropriate, make your best guess.
Read and agree to the statements in the submission checklist by checking each box. Include any comments for the editor, read the journal’s privacy statement, and then click the Save and Continue button to move to Step 2.
On Step 2, a window will open allowing you to upload your submission file.
First, you MUST select an Article Component. This lets the system know whether the file is the body of the manuscript, an image, a data set, etc. This must be selected before your file will upload.
Once you’ve made that selection, you can then upload your first file. It is important to note that you can only upload one file at a time. Additional files can be uploaded later in the process. Typically, this first file will be the body of your manuscript. Hit the Continue button once the file uploads.
After uploading the file, you will be asked to review the name of the file. Use the Edit link to make any changes.
Click the Continue button.
Next, you have the option to repeat the process to upload additional files (e.g., a data set or an image).
Once you have finished uploading all of your files, click Complete; this will close the upload window.
You will be brought back to the Submit an Article screen where you will see the files you’ve uploaded. If you need to make changes, expand the blue arrow to the left of your file and make any changes using the Edit link.
Click ‘Save and Continue’ to move to Step 3.
On Step 3, you will be asked to add more information about the submission, including the title of the submission (broken down into prefix, title, and subtitle), the abstract, and scrolling down…
…any additional contributors.
You can add more contributors (e.g., co-authors), by clicking the Add Contributors link. This will open a new window with fields to enter their information.
Hit Save, and the new contributor will appear on the screen.
Depending on the journal you are submitting to, you may see additional fields to complete, such as keywords.
To enter keyword, simply type the word or phrase and hit your Enter key. The word or phrase will be formatted as a keyword.
Click Save and Continue to move forward.
On Step 4, you will be asked to confirm that you are happy with your submission.
Click Finish Submission.
A box will pop up asking you to confirm you are finished. Click OK.
Your submission is now complete! The editor has been notified of your submission. At this point, you can follow the links to:
Once you complete a submission, you cannot make changes to it. If you want to replace the file you submitted or make other changes to the submission, you will need to contact the editor through the Pre-Review Discussions tool.
And here is your submission in your Dashboard. You can see that it is currently in the Submission stage.
Over the coming days, it will move into the Review stage, and if accepted, into the Copyediting and Production stages before being published.
Once the review process has completed, you will be notified via email by the editor of their decision.
After receiving the email, login to your dashboard.
Select the Review link next to your submission to view the decision.
From here, you can see the decision (revisions requested) and a link to the editor’s notification.
Based on the information in the editor’s message, you must now prepare your revisions.
By scrolling down the page, you will find a panel for Revisions.
Use the Upload a File link to upload your revised manuscript.
Use the dropdown menu to choose that you are uploading a revision of an existing file.
Then upload the revised file and hit Continue.
Check the file details and hit Continue again.
If you have any additional files to upload, do so now. Otherwise, hit Complete.
Your revised file is now visible in the Revisions panel.
The editor will receive a notification about the new file(s) being uploaded. Additionally you can inform the editor via the Review Discussion panel as explained below.
From there, select the Add Discussion link.
Use the Add User link to add the editor.
Add a subject line and a message.
Hit OK to send the message.
An email has now been sent to the editor and you (and the editor) can see the message in the Review Discussions panel.
At this point, the author needs to wait to hear back from the editor as to whether the revisions are acceptable.
You will receive an email that your revisions have been accepted.
In addition, notifications will appear on your dashboard.
The later notification is the current one. Click on it to open the message (which is the same as the email you would have also received).
Use the X in the upper right corner to close the window.
Further down your dashboard, you will also see a discussion reply from the editor.
Clicking the discussion title will open it up.
Congratulations! You’ve been accepted and your submission file is moving on to the Copyedit stage.
If the editor’s decision is to resubmit for review, you will need to log in and select the article in your submissions page. The resubmission is done in the review stage, there is no need to start a new submission.
At the review stage you will need to do two things to resubmit once you have revised your document:
Upload the new file in the revisions section. To upload a new file click on ‘Upload file.’ A new window will open allowing you to upload your file(s). Select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu to indicate you are submitting a revision of an existing file.
Add a discussion to notify the editor that you have re-submitted.
The peer review process will be repeated, and you will likely receive additional revisions to make. Once these are completed and accepted, you will then be moved to the next stage.
The next step in the workflow is to inspect your submission files that have been copyedited.
You will receive an email indicating that files are available. To see them, login to the journal and go to your dashboard.
You can see your entry in the My Authored panel. Select the Copyediting link to go to the full submission record, including the notification in the Copyediting Discussions panel.
Click on the linked discussion to open it, read the message, and open the attached file.
Once you have read the attached file, you can respond to the copyeditor indicating any required changes or your approval.
If needed, you could attach a revision, but for this example we will simply approve the changes and hit OK.
On your dashboard, you can see that you were the last person to reply to the message.
You can see your entry in the My Authored panel. Select the Production link to go to the full submission record, including the notification in the Production Discussions panel.
Click on the linked discussion to open it, read the message, and open the attached file.
Once you have read the attached file, you can respond to the Layout Editor indicating any required changes or your approval.
That’s it! Your role in the editorial workflow is now completed.
