Reviewer's decision is not sent to the authors fully

[knjigor]

Hi,
I have noticed that when we request for revision to our authors and include review in email message that last part, Reviewer decision is missing? I think that even if that decision is for editors, author should get it.

[asmecher]

Hi @knjigor,

Which of our applications are you using, and what version? (Please include this information with your posts.)

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[knjigor]

Sorry,
We are using OJS 3.0.2.

[asmecher]

Hi @knjigor,

Interesting that this hasn’t been requested before. Currently the button to import peer reviews should bring in the reviewer’s comments and the review form contents, but not the final recommendation they chose (which is a decision-making tool primarily for the Editor). Are you finding that the reviewer’s comments, what ever form they’re posted in, do not include a recommendation for the Author’s sake?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[knjigor]

Hi, We have text box for comments in our reviewer form (whole form is included when button is clicked), but we have removed last question because it was same as reviewer recommendation question (no point of having two questions). I don’t think that this is a big issue, just an opinion that authors should know reviewer recommendation.

[asmecher]

Hi @knjigor,

Gotcha, thanks. Agreed, this isn’t a high priority, but would be nice. I’ve filed it for attention at Add reviewer recommendation to imported comments for composing message to Author · Issue #2628 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[t4x0n]

@knjigor

just an opinion that authors should know reviewer recommendation

not in my opinion, this is an Editorial decision and the reviewer recommendation not should send all times, in my opinion, sometimes is not recommended send the recommendation. This can be optional, sometimes a reviewer is too soft or make a recommendation to accept even when his/her comments are hard and the manuscript needs a big improve

[hxo82]

Hello, I’m a newer OJS user, currently just upgraded to OJS 3.2 from OJS 2. We have just come across this issue. Our physician editors feel that the reviewer recommendation is a tool for aiding their decision making and should not be shared with the author; it is the reviewer’s comments that are constructive for the author. There are cases in which the reviewers’ recommendations are drastically out of sync and it is up to the editors to make a final decision. I wonder if there is a way is there a way to modify the “#importPeerReviews” in a way that offers the option to add just the comments or the comments plus the decision for those who find that decision necessary to send to the author? I realize the editors can simply delete the line from the email, but having the automation helps to streamline the process. Just my two cents!

[hxo82]

@asmecher
As a work-around for not automatically including the recommendation (for cases in which editors might forget to delete it in the workflow), would it be possible for me to change the copy in a locale so it pulls in something other than the actual recommendation? I believe I found the locales, but I’m not sure which of these is the locale that pulls into that email that goes back to the authors with the review comments and recommendation.

Thanks!!

[asmecher]

Hi @hxo82,

The submission.recommendation locale key is the one you’re looking for, but I don’t recommend removing the {$recommendation} variable there, because it’s also used in other places that will be similarly affected (e.g. the editor’s view of the review).

The quickest way to remove reviewer’s recommendations from the “import peer reviews” feature is to edit the code. If you’re comfortable doing (and maintaining) this, see classes/controllers/modals/editorDecision/PKPEditorDecisionHandler.inc.php (yours may vary slightly):

// Add reviewer recommendation
$recommendation = $reviewAssignment->getLocalizedRecommendation();
$body .= __('submission.recommendation', ['recommendation' => $recommendation]) . "<br>\n";

You could remove these by surrounding them in PHP comment demarcators (/* and */).

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

[hxo82]

Ah! I thought it might be tied to other things. Thanks so much! We’ll take a look at the code option!