Adding a step to the workflow?

Software Support
1

Hello everyone, new OJS user here.
I work for a journal whose personal workflow involves an editing stage prior to review, and I am hoping to reflect this unique step in our workflow settings.

Does anyone know if it is possible to add a step prior to review for preliminary editing? Or perhaps a work around to implement this step through OJS?

Thanks in advance!

2

Hi @maegan.trottier,

Can you provide your OJS version please, and elaborate a little more on your use case here - perhaps by breaking down, step-by-step in your ideal workflow. Adding a new step in the workflow would likely involve extensive code customization, but I might be able to suggest an alternative if I know a little more about your use case.

Best regards,

Roger
PKP Team

3

Hi @rcgillis - I can certainly try!

I believe it is version 3.2.1.2 (based on inspecting page source, I am not sure how to check this otherwise without admin access).

Our ideal workflow is as follows:

  1. Author submits manuscript
  2. An editor is assigned and reviews the manuscript for basic spelling, grammar, and clarity. Our journal is targeted to young scientists in undergraduate degrees, so this step is to reduce the burden on our peer reviewers.
  3. Editor uploads revised manuscript for author review/response. This repeats as necessary until editor approves the manuscript for peer review.
  4. Peer reviewers are assigned, review and provide feedback on the manuscript, and re-upload to OJS for author review/revisions. This continues as necessary until peer review is complete and manuscript is accepted for copy editing.
  5. Copyeditors assigned, and follow a similar workflow as editors. Once approved by copyeditor, manuscript moves to production.
  6. Layout editors format the manuscript for publication.

So the workflow would stay the same as it currently is in OJS, with the addition of an editorial step prior to peer review (ie steps 2-3 would be added).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Kindly,
Maegan

4

Hi @maegan.trottier,

That is a correct way of checking the version number. Thank you for providing clarity on your use-case. I think one way you could approach this is to use the “Pre-Review” functionality to cover steps 2 and 3. The Editor can have a “discussion” with the author, whereby files can be sent back-and-forth and revisions incorporated along the lines that you’ve suggested. You can get a sense of this in our documentation here: Editorial Workflow

I’d encourage you to perhaps try this out - perhaps with another user, with a test submission.

FYI: you mentioned that your journal is a student journal. You might want to check out our student journal toolkit as well: Student Journal Toolkit

Best regards,

Roger
PKP Team

5

Hi @rcgillis,

That is a great point. We will give that a go and see how it fits our needs - it seems like it should!
Thanks very much for your help, and for the toolkit resource provided.

Cheers,
Maegan