In Editorial Manager (EM) a new or revised submission can be sent back to author for changes before it has begun the Editorial Workflow.

To Send Back to Author requires one of the following be true:

• The submission or revision has yet been assigned to any editor, and you have permission to receive new submissions.
• You were automatically assigned as Direct to Editor and have not yet assigned yourself to begin review. See How Do I Handle New Direct-To-Editor Assignments.
• All pending reviewers can be uninvited and all assigned editors can be unassigned by someone with appropriate permissions, which returns the submission one of the above statuses.

How

1. Locate the submission in your Editor Main Menu, or via Search Submissions.
2. Use the tools and check reports in the Action Menu to determine if the submission should be sent back to author.
Actions that may be available
3. If the submission is in one of the following folders, then the Send Back to Author action is available to those editors with access to these folders:

   • New Submissions (for journals with Technical Check workflow)
   • New Submissions Requiring Assignment
   • Revised Submissions (for journals with Technical Check workflow)
   • Revised Submissions Requiring Assignment
   • New Direct to Editor Assignments
4. If the submission is With Editor or Under Review, it can be unassigned to move it back to the appropriate 'New' or 'Revised' folder, which will allow Send Back to Author.
Steps to unassign all reviewers and editors
5. Click 'Send Back to Author' from the action menu and the 'Select Letter' screen will appear.

   • If the journal has multiple letter templates available you can switch letters.
   • If the journal uses Technical Check workflow, then Technical Check Notes may be merged into the letter.
6. Click 'Customize' to edit the text and explain what the author needs to change.
7. Click 'Send Letter' when all customization is done.

After the submission is sent back to author:

• A confirmation screen appears to let you know it was successful.
• The editor who performed the action will see it in the folder 'View All Submissions Sent Back to Author'.
• Other editors with appropriate permission can locate it via Search Submissions.
• When the author completes the submission again, it will return to the same folder it was in before.
• The author could also choose to remove the submission, see How can I withdraw my manuscript in Editorial Manager?