Reviewers should receive an email after accepting a review assignment

Describe the problem you would like to solve

When a reviewer accepts an invitation to review a manuscript, an email is sent to the editor informing them that the invitation was accepted. However, at present, no email confirmation is sent to the reviewer.

Many journals send an email to the reviewer that thanks them for accepting the review assignment, that provides the necessary links to access the manuscript, and that give the relevant deadlines. It is true that this information can be found in the review invitation email. However, based on discussions with multiple reviewers, they find it odd that they never received a confirmation email that they accepted the assignment. Also, some people forget that they accepted a review invitation, and when they search their emails, they can find no trace of whether they accepted the invitation or not.

Describe the solution you’d like

When a reviewer accepts an invitation to review a manuscript, they should receive an email confirmation (just like the editor does). The template of the email should be modifiable by the journal, and by default should include the link to access the manuscript and the relevant deadlines.

Who is asking for this feature?

Journal manager, Editors, Reviewers

Additional information

OJS 3.4

I am a new-ish user and just came across this deficiency the other day. I was fairly shocked when I found out that the system does not send confirmation emails to reviewers once they have agreed to review. This is important functionality for manuscript management software. Thank you for submitting this request.