I have received a significant number of queries from authors who are viewing the status of their submission in OJS and are receiving misleading information about the review process. Also, the information for editors about the review status of a submission is sometimes misleading.
Two specific issues here:
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If we have sent out multiple review requests, but no reviewer has responded to accept the review task (or all requests have been declined), authors say that when they visit OJS and check the status of their submission, it shows as “not yet assigned to reviewers”, which suggests that no action has been taken and we are just sitting on their article. It would be very helpful if the authors’ view could show that review requests have been sent, so that authors understand the process more clearly.
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We have sometimes had cases where a single review request has been sent and declined, but OJS lists the submission as “all reviews are in and a decision is needed.” (See the attached screen shot.) It seems as if OJS thinks “there was one review request sent, and there is no overdue review, so therefore all reviews must be in.”
