In order to Initiate a Discussions you must have the appropriate permission in your role, and either be assigned to that submission, or have some other permission that enables you to view the submission.

If you meet these requirements, you can initiate a discussion by following the steps below and in this screenshot:

1. Locate the submission in your editor ‘To-Do’ folders, or in 'Search Submissions'.
2. From the 'Action' column select 'Initiate Discussion'. This will open the 'Initiate Discussion' pop-up window.

    

   If the submission has already has a discussion initiated, then you will see 'Discussions'. Select 'Discussions' followed by 'Start New Topic' to initiate a new discussion.

3. In the 'Initiate Discussion' pop-up window, select a topic using the 'Choose Topic Template' drop-down menu.

    

   Templates to discuss specific topics can be configured for a journal and will then be available for selection when a discussion is initiated for any submission to the journal. These Topic Templates can be used to standardize discussions across the journal and reduce the need to re-enter information that is used frequently for frequent discussions. To create a template for a specific topic, contact your usual contact for EM queries.

4. If your journal doesn’t use topic templates, then enter a topic for the discussion in the 'Topic' field.
5. Enter a brief note about the discussion in the 'Initial Comments' field.
6. Then, select the editor candidate(s) you would like to participate in the discussion from the 'Editor Candidates' table:

   • Sorting first by 'Current Assignments' and then by 'Editor Role' will ensure your editors are displayed at the top of the list. Editors currently or formerly assigned to the submission are labelled in red next to their role.
   • To assign an editor, check the tick-box under ‘Select’ next to an editor's name.
   • For each selected editor, you can grant permission to 'View Reviews and Comments', 'Download Files' and/or 'View Draft Decision Letter' by checking the appropriate tick-boxes.
7. Once you have selected the editor(s),

   • Select 'Proceed to Customize Letters' to send an invitation to the editor(s).
   • Or you can initiate a discussion without sending an invitation by selecting 'Start Discussion without Sending Letters'.
8. In the 'Customize Letters' pop-up window, select a 'Discussion Forum Invitation' letter and then use the 'Confirm Selections and Send Letters' button.

   • An invitation will be sent to the selected editor(s).
   • If the journal uses submission flags, you will see a 'Set Flag' button on the Discussion Participants Confirmation page. Select 'Set Flag' and assign the appropriate flag to the submission, if required.

There are two levels of permission possible for managing discussions:

• Manage only discussions you initiated.
• Manage any discussion.

Editors with one of these permissions can add participants, edit the topic, close or reopen discussions, etc.

1. Select 'Submissions with Active Discussions' in your editor To-Do List.

   • The number of active discussions to which you have access is indicated in the parentheses.
   • The number of unread discussion posts (if any) appears in a blue circle.
2. From the Action column select 'Discussions' to open the 'Discussions' pop-up window, showing all the discussion topics initiated for the submission. Alternatively, you can select the specific topic in the column 'Topic'. See the screenshot here:
3. On the Discussions pop-up window, select ‘View’ to go to the individual discussion page. The number of unread discussion posts (if any) appears in a blue circle.
4. On the 'Discussion' page, you can post your own comments by entering comments in the 'Comments' field and selecting 'Post'.

   • See the screenshot of the Discussion page:
5. To add more participants to the discussion, select 'Add Participants'. This brings up the same table for selecting participants as described in Initiate Discussion.
6. You can open all comments in a separate window for easier printing by selecting 'View/Print all'.
7. If you want to send an ad hoc message to the participants, select 'Send E-mail'. This allows you to communicate with one individual person rather than the whole discussion group.
8. If you edit the Topic, be sure to select 'Save and Close' before leaving to save that change.
9. Once you have received sufficient comments, you can conclude the discussion by selecting 'Conclude Discussion'. When the discussion is closed:

   • The submission is no longer found in the 'Submissions with Active Discussions' folder.
   • Editors who could view the submission only because they were invited to the discussion will no longer see this submission.
   • Editor who could view the submission because of their permissions and/or relationship to the submission will still be able to see the closed discussion via the Details screen.

You can re-open a discussion by selecting 'Re-open Discussion'.