How do I submit my revision with tracked changes?

Last updated on April 26, 2022

Some journals require revisions to include a version with tracked changes, which might also be called 'highlighted' or 'marked'. The option needs to be enabled before you begin to edit your document, so please check your revision letter and the journal's Guide for Authors for instructions before beginning to revise your file.

When journals require this, you will usually be asked for two files. One with all changes marked up so that editors and reviewers can see what was edited, and a second "clean" copy with no markup. Normally the clean copy will be categorized as a "manuscript" file for upload, while the marked up version will have some other name like "revision with tracked changes" or "marked revision".

How?

In general, whatever application you use to edit your manuscript:

Enable the application's "Track Changes" functionality before you begin editing.
Use the application's comment function as needed to reply to the reviewers within the text.
When you complete your revision, save the file with a name that indicates it’s the tracked version.
In your application, find the option to approve all changes, and remove any comments.
Save again with a different filename for the clean copy.
When submitting the revision, be careful to apply the correct "Item Type" to each file.

Editorial Manager will anonymize the tracked changes and comments for files marked up in MS Word format, or via a PDF editor, by removing the automated metadata from each comment or marked change. Metadata added by any other applications will not be anonymized by Editorial Manager.

Turning Track Changes off will stop highlighting new changes after that, but will not remove previous highlighting.

Open the document that you want to revise.
On the Review tab, in the Tracking group, click 'Track Changes'. If using Word online, select 'For Everyone' under the 'Track Changes' option on the Reviews tab.
For Word online, an indicator at the top center shows if you are in Editing (changes not tracked) or Reviewing (changes tracked) mode. You can quickly switch between the two options by clicking this indicator.
Make the changes that you want by inserting, deleting, moving, or formatting text or graphics.
To undo any highlighted change, select that part of the text and click 'Reject on the Reviews' tab. All changes within your selection will be undone.
You can also add comments using the commands on the Reviews tab.
- Journals may ask you to respond to specific reviewer comments using this feature.

If you use change tracking and then save your document as a Web page (.htm or .html), tracked changes will appear on your Web page.

Saving the file:

Once you are finished revising the paper, save the file with a name that clearly shows it has tracked changes enabled, for example 'revision 2 tracked changes.docx'.

Many journals request two copies of the revision, one with tracked changes, and one without, sometime referred to as the 'clean' version. To save a second version without tracked changes:

After saving, select 'Save As' and change the file name to remove the 'tracked changes' label, for example just 'revision 2.docx' or 'revision 2 clean.docx'.
In the second 'clean' copy of the file, go to the 'Review' tab and click the arrow next to 'Accept'. Then select 'Accept All Changes' and 'Stop Tracking'.
Remove any comments from the 'clean' copy.
When uploading your revision, choose the correct item Type for each of the two files.
- The 'clean' version should be uploaded as the primary 'manuscript' file type of the journal,
- The journal should have a separate file type for the tracked changes version.
Click 'Save''.

Please note that when you are required to upload both versions, usually only the clean version will be built into the PDF while the one with tracked changes is linked for download by the editors and/or reviewers.