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How can I use Alternate Reviewers in Editorial Manager?
Last updated on March 22, 2024Watch this short video to see how to use the Alternate Reviewer function in Editorial Manager.
Alternate reviewers on an Editorial Manager (EM) submission can be added to a queue to be invited when other reviewers declined or are uninvited. Alternates may be sent an invitation, (referred to as being Promoted) either manually or automatically.
After a reviewer search, editors have the option to do various actions with the candidates in search results (each of these options is a separate editor permission, not all editors will have all options).
- Invite (Inv): send an invitation now. See How do I select and invite reviewer candidates in Editorial Manager?
- Assign (Asn): skip the invitation and immediately assign the reviewer, as if the reviewer had already agreed. See How can a reviewer be assigned without invitation in editorial manager?
- Alternate (Alt): prepare the invitation, to be triggered either automatically or manually when the reviewer is needed.
- Proposed (Prop): save the reviewer's details within the submission record for potential action later. See How can I work with proposed reviewers in Editorial Manager?
Alternate Reviewers allows editors to designate additional reviewers candidates who will be sent an invitation only if they are needed due to another reviewer declining or being uninvited. The conditions that trigger automatic invitation of an Alternate can be configured per article type as described below.
How
Alternate reviewers are listed on the Reviewer Selection Summary page, reached via the Invite Reviewers action link. They can be found either underneath an invited or agreed reviewer as a Linked Alternate, or in a separate list for unlinked Alternates.
Alternate, or in a separate list for unlinked Alternates.
- Locate the submission from your main menu, and select Invite Reviewers to open the Reviewer Selection Summary.
- Find the candidate via any Search Type, or else use the Invite button in the Proposed Reviewers list of the submission. See How can I search for reviewers in EM? for more details.
- From the search result list of candidates, tick the ALT option (if you have no ALT column, you do not have permission to add Alternates) and then select Proceed.
- In the Confirm Selection and Customize Letters, customize the invitation letter and/or days to review, then select Confirm Selections and Proceed.
- A confirmation screen appears, select the link to Return to the reviewer selection summary.
- The reviewer can now be found in the Alternates list.
- If desired, link the Alternate to an invited or agreed reviewer as described below.
To Promote (immediately invite) an Alternate
- Go to the reviewer selection summary and locate the Alternate.
- If the Alternate you need is linked, they must be unlinked before you can promote the Alternate.
- Select the up arrow icon (
) to Promote the reviewer. - A promotion form appears; you may have the change to override the due date or days to review if your permissions allow. Then Select one of the buttons below.
- Send Custom Letter allows you to preview or make changes to the letter previously selected for this Alternate.
- Send Default Letter will send the letter previously saved for this Alternate.
To link or unlink an Alternate
- Go to the reviewer selection summary and locate the Alternate.
- Select the chain icon (
) to link the Alternate, and select one of the invited or agreed reviewers. The Alternate will move up to appear underneath the reviewer you select. - Select the broken chain icon(
) to unlink an Alternate, and select 'OK' to confirm. The Alternate will move down to the end of the Alternate Reviewers queue.
) to
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To reorder Alternate Reviewers
- Go to the reviewer selection summary and locate the Alternate.
- Select the list order handle
to drag an Alternate up or down in the queue. - When there are multiple Alternates linked to the same Invited or Agreed reviewers, they can be sorted in the same way.
To view and/or change the invitation letters for Alternate Reviewers
- Go to the reviewer selection summary and locate the Alternate.
- If the Alternate you need is linked, they must be unlinked before you can view or edit the invitation letter. You may then relink them after you've changed the letter.
- Select the link for Alternate Reviewer Invitation Letters at the bottom of the Alternate Reviewers list.
- In the Select Alternate Reviewers-Invitation Letter screen, make changes to any default letter selection and/or Customize to view and edit the letter.
- Select Confirm Choices and Proceed.
- If needed, relink the Alternate as before.
- Go to the reviewer selection summary and locate the Alternate.
- If the Alternate to be removed is Linked, first unlink the reviewer by selecting the broken chain icon () before they can be removed.
- In main alternate list, select the trashcan icon (
) to remove the Alternate, and select OK to confirm.
- The Alternate is completely removed from the Selected Reviewer list.
- Note that if they were on the Proposed list they will remain there, even after a revision, and could potentially be selected again.
To link or not to link? Using linked alternates or not is a matter of Editor choice. Linking alternates allows more control of which reviewers will be invited to replace a certain person if they do decline or get uninvited. However, you may need to list more alternates in total, in order to have enough for each individual invited reviewer. Additionally, after a reviewer completes their review, any unused linked alternates will be cleared without being used to replace any other reviewers.
Automatic promotion of Alternate reviewers is configured for each Article Type. Contact your Journal Manager for details on your Article Type configuration.
When any reviewer declines or is uninvited:
- EM checks if promotion is allowed by the article type settings:
- The article type may be set to disable automatic promotion.
- The article type may be set to stop automatic promotion if the current number of Completed + Agreed reviews is enough to meet the target required Reviews of the submission. See How can I change the required number of reviews for a submission?
- If yes, then EM checks for a valid Alternate to promote:
- If there are linked Alternates to the uninvited/declined reviewer, then the first linked Alternate is promoted using the previously saved invitation letter.
- If there are no linked Alternates, the Article Type settings control who can be promoted.
- If set to promote only matching roles, then the first unlinked Alternate with the same reviewer role is promoted. No one is promoted if there are no matches.
- Otherwise the first unlinked Alternate reviewer is promoted, regardless of role.
- After a promotion:
- For unlinked reviewers, the promoted alternate is simply removed from the list and any others remain in the same order.
- When a linked reviewer is promoted, if there were any additional linked reviewers they will now be linked under the newly promoted reviewer.
- If a reviewer completes their review and has a linked alternate, then the linked alternate is removed from the submission.
- If a reviewer has a linked alternate when they decline or are uninvited or unassigned, it is possible that the rules as defined in the article type do no allow promotion at this time, for example if the number of Completed + Agreed is greater than the target number of reviews for the submission. In that case the linked alternate is removed from the submission.
- When reviewers are terminated as part of an editor decision, no automatic promotions will be triggered.
- When the author decision letter is sent, any remaining linked or unlinked Alternates will be cleared from the submission.
Alternate reviewers can be queued either under a specific invited reviewer, or for the submission as a whole.
- The invitation letter and days to review can be adjusted while listed as an Alternate, and will be sent when the Alternate is Promoted either automatically or manually.
- Alternate reviewers are not carried over into later revisions. The only reviewers that remain listed from previous revisions are Proposed, and Completed.
Proposed reviewers are a list of pre-searched reviewers, ready to be either invited or set as Alternate at any time.
- Nothing will happen automatically with proposed reviewers, an editor must manually select from this list to invite or set as Alternate.
- Notes can be added next to the proposed reviewers in the list.
- Proposed reviewers remain on the list until removed manually, even through revisions.
These options can be configured separately per Article Type. Please check with your journal manager or other support contact if you have questions about the configuration of your journal.
- Automatic promotion can be switched off entirely for any article type.
- Automatic promotion can be set either to:
- Always promote the next alternate as soon as one reviewer has been uninvited or declined.
- Only promote an alternate when the number of Agreed + Completed is less than the current value set for "Number of required Reviews" on this manuscript. See How can I change the required number of reviews for a submission?
- For unlinked alternates, automatic promotion can either be set to:
- Include all the listed alternates for the submission, in the order listed.
- Use only those alternates with the same role as the reviewer who was uninvited/declined.
In order to work with Alternate reviewers:
- Editors must have multiple permissions to work with Alternates, there are separate permissions to Add, Remove, Link/Unlink, and Manually Promote Alternates.
- The submission must be at one of these statuses (note that journals can customize the status term labels, below are the defaults):
- With Editor
- Reviewer Invited
- Under Review
- Required Reviews Complete
- The editor must be assigned to the submission or have permission to view all submissions.
Watch this short video to see ways to enhance editorial efficiency.
Watch this short video for more information on managing the review invitation process in Editorial Manager.
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