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Authors are able to submit manuscripts to the journal directly through the journal's website. The Author is asked to upload a submission file and to provide metadata or indexing information. (The metadata improves the search capacity for research online and for the journal.) The Author can upload Supplementary Files, in the form of data sets, research instruments, or source texts that will enrich the item, as well as contribute to more open and robust forms of research and scholarship. The Author is able to track the submission through the review and editorial process — as well as participate in the copyediting and proofreading of submissions accepted for publication — by logging in to the journal's website.
1. Registering with a Journal
Unregistered visitors to a journal can normally register as a Reader, Author, and/or Reviewer. Journal Managers are able to remove the ability for visitors to self-register (in which case a notice will appear stating that registration is currently closed;
To register with a journal, click the Register link on the top most navigation bar, select the journal you want to register with if asked, and fill out the ensuing form. You will not be able to self-register for an Editorial Role (Editor; Section Editor; Copyeditor; Layout Editor; Proofreader; Subscription Manager; or Journal Manager); if you need to be enrolled at that level, ask a current Journal Manager or Site Administrator.
All fields with an asterisk beside them (Username; Password; Repeat Password; First Name; Last Name; Email; Confirm Email) are mandatory. If the journal is multilingual, you will need to select your preferred language.
Filling out the Registration Form
Your username and your email address must be unique; furthermore, while you can change your email address at a later date, you will be unable to change your username.
You may be able to register as a Reader, an Author and/or a Reviewer, depending on how the journal has been configured. All you have to do is check the box next to each role available to you. If you register as a Reviewer, you can also supply your reviewing interests.
Selecting Roles
In some cases, the journal you are trying to register with may not be allowing registrations; if that is so, you will see a note to that effect.
If you want to register in another role within the same journal (for example, if you are already a Reader, but also want to become an Author) you can log in; go to Edit My Profile (under My Account on your User Home page); and check off the checkboxes next to any available roles, near the bottom of the page.
If you want to unenroll yourself from a journal completely, all you have to do is visit your profile and uncheck all role checkboxes. If you are enrolled at an editorial level, you will have to ask the Journal Manager to unenroll you.
Note: Please be aware that you can't completely delete your account from the system yourself. If you would like to delete your account you should contact the Journal Manager or take a look at the section on merging accounts.
Viewing and Changing your Profile
To view and edit your profile, log in and click the Edit My Profile link from your User Home page. Alternatively, once logged in you can always click the My Profile link from the User Navigation block on the sidebar, if available. From here, you can update your email address, change your personal information, or change your password.
Resetting your Password
Resetting your password is a simple process if you remember it and just want to change it to something else: log in, and from your User Home page click the Change Password link. You will have to enter your current password, and then your new password twice.
Resetting your password if you have forgotten it is still a simple process, but it takes a few more steps:
- Click the Log In link on the topmost navigation bar.
- Click the Forgot Your Password? Link.
- Enter your email address in the box provided, and click the Reset Password link. This will send a confirmation email to your email address (if you do not see an email in your Inbox, check your spam folder).
- The email will include a link to reset your password: click it, and you should return to the journal web site.
- On returning to the journal web site, you should be notified that an email containing a new password has been sent to your email address. Check for that second email, and use your new credentials to log into the site.
- After successfully logging in, you will be asked to immediately change your password. Enter the emailed password first (Current Password), and then a new, secret password twice (New Password, Repeat New Password).
HOME > CHANGE PASSWORD
OJS exists to serve Authors as well as journals. Not only does OJS provide an easy-to-use submission process, it can collect and disseminate key information about Authors and their work across important research and citation databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and others.
As an Author, your tasks include submission; submitting revised copy; copyediting; and proofreading.
To make a submission, you must have a user account and be enrolled as an Author. User accounts can either be created by the Journal Manager or, if journal policies allow, you can register yourself.
2. Login
Once you have an account, log in to the journal site and select the role of Author.
- Log in to your OJS account.
- Select your role as ‘Author’:
HOME > USER HOME
3. The Author User Home Page
After clicking on the Author link on your User Home page, you will be directed to your Author's User Home page, which includes information on Active Submissions; a link to start a new submission; and information on any Refbacks you may have.
Active Submissions
This page will list any of your submissions to the journal that are still in process (e.g., awaiting assignment to an editor, undergoing review, being edited) or incomplete (in which case you can return and finish the submission at any point).
Each completed submission will fall into one of the following categories:
- Awaiting Assignment: the submission has been completed by you; you cannot now delete the submission from the system yourself. The Editor can now see the submission, and must assign an Editor or Section Editor to it.
- Queued for Review: the submission has been vetted and is now in the review process. You should receive notice shortly on the review decision.
- Queued for Editing: the submission has completed the review process and has been accepted for publication; it will now make its way through the system's copyediting, layout editing and proofreading processes.
In the example below, the journal is charging a submission fee to authors, and you must pay this (using the Pay Submission Fee link) before the submission can be considered. If a journal does not charge submission fees, this link would not appear. Similarly, this example journal is also configured to require a publication fee. The author must use the Pay to Publish link to make the payment and allow for publication to proceed. Again, if a journal has not activated this fee option, authors will not have to go through this process.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > ACTIVE SUBMISSIONS
As the author, you can click on the hyperlinked title of any listed submission and review it. Clicking a submission title will bring you to your submission's Summary page. From here, you could revise the title or abstract (by clicking the Edit Metadata link). If the editor asks for revisions, you will upload the changes this way too (in the Review section of your submission).
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > #1 > SUMMARY (#1 ARTICLE)
RefBacks
The RefBacks section displays any incoming links from external web sites such as blogs, news sites, or other articles that link directly to your articles. Each RefBack can be edited: it can be ignored, deleted, or published, in which case it appears publicly at the end of your published article on the web site.
Archive
Your Archive page will list all declined submissions, as well as any published submissions along with information on which issue they appear in.
4. Submitting an Article
To make a submission, select the Click Here link (under Start a New Submission).
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > ACTIVE SUBMISSIONS > START A NEW SUBMISSION > CLICK HERE
Submission Step One: Starting the Submission
Step 1 ensures that the Author understands the journal's submission rules. The Author will have to pick the appropriate section to submit to, and will be provided with information on the journal's privacy statement, copyright notice, competing interest statement and/or author fees, if applicable. If you need any help the journal's technical support contact is provided at the top of this page.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > NEW SUBMISSION > 1. START
If the journal allows content to be submitted in more than one language, you will be able to choose a specific language to complete the submission in. You must complete all required fields for the submission language you choose; you can also optionally fill out required and optional fields for the other languages supported by the journal. For example, if you choose French as your submission language, you must provide an article and title in French; but you may also provide that information in English (or whichever other language(s) supported by your journal), as well as any other metadata -- indexing keywords, etc.
If the journal charges submission fees, these will be presented to the author. If the journal does not charge submission fees, this section will not appear.
Next, the author must check each of the items from the submission checklist.
The journal's copyright policy will appear next, and, if configured as a requirement, the author will need to agree to this policy. If the journal has not added a Copyright Notice, this section will not appear.
Authors can then review the Privacy Statement. If the journal has not added a Privacy Statement, this section will not appear.
Finally, the author can add any comments, which will be visible to the editor. Move to the next step by hitting the Save and Continue button.
Submission Step Two: Uploading the Submission
Submission Step Two allows you to upload the submission file, typically a word-processing document.
- Click Browse to open a Choose File window for locating the file on the hard drive of your computer.
- Locate the file you wish to submit and highlight it.
- Click Open on the Choose File window, which places the name of the file on this page.
- Click Upload on this page, which uploads the file from the computer to the journal's web site and renames it following the journal's conventions.
- Once the submission is uploaded, click Save and continue.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > NEW SUBMISSION > 2. UPLOAD SUBMISSION
Submission Step Three: Entering the Submission's Metadata
The third step of the submission process serves to collect all relevant metadata from the author. The first section of metadata covers the authors. The submitting author will have their personal information automatically appear. Any additional information, such as Competing Interests should also be added at this time, if required.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > NEW SUBMISSION > 3. ENTER METADATA
If there are multiple authors for the submission, their information can be added using the Add Author button. You can also re-order the list of authors, make one of the authors the principal contact with the editor, and delete any authors added in error.
Add Authors
Add title and abstract
Add Indexing
Add Supporting Agencies
Add References
Hit the Save and Continue button
Submission Step Four: Uploading Supplementary Files
This step is optional. If you have any supplementary files, such as research instruments, data sets, etc., you may add them here. These files are also indexed by the author, identifying their relation to the submission, as well as their ownership. Supplementary Files can be uploaded in any file format and will be made available to readers in their original format.
- Locate the file you wish to submit and highlight it.
- Click Open on the Choose File window, which places the name of the file on this page.
- Click Upload on this page, which uploads the file from the computer to the journal's web site and renames it following the journal's conventions.
- Once the submission is uploaded, click Save and Continue.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > NEW SUBMISSION > 4. UPLOAD SUPPLEMENTARY FILES
Submission Step Five: Confirming the Submission
This final step provides a summary of your submission.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > NEW SUBMISSION > 5. CONFIRMATION
If the journal charges submission, fast-track review, or publication fees, your required payment will also be detailed here. If you paid previously, use the checkbox to indicate that you have. If you require a fee waiver to be considered, check that box and an provide an explanation (required).
Click Finish Submission to submit your manuscript. You will receive an acknowledgement by email and will be able to view your submission's progress through the review and editorial process by returning to the Active Submissions section of your Author page.
5. Authors and Submission Review and Editing Process
To track your submission's progress through the review and editorial process, you will need to log into the journal web site, and choose your role as Author. Click on the linked title to go to the submission record.
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > ACTIVE SUBMISSIONS
5.1. Summary
From the resulting 'Summary' page, you will see links to Summary, Review, and Editing pages. Each of these pages will provide details about your submission.
Selecting Submission Summary
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > # 6 SUMMARY > SUMMARY
Submission Summary
The Summary section contains several sections, including Submission, which displays the author names, submission title, original submission file, any supplementary files, the ability to add a supplementary file, the name of the submitter, the date submitted, the section the article is assigned to, the editor responsible for the submission, and the comments to editor you made as part of your submission.
Author Fees
The next section outlines any required author fees. If the journal does not charge author fees, this section will not appear.
Status
The Status section lets you know where your submission is in the publishing process (see above for status possibilities). It also lets you know when you made your submission and the date of the most recent status change.
Submission Metadata
The final section outlines the submission metadata, including author details, title, abstract, indexing, and supporting agency. You can modify any of this information by selecting Edit Metadata.
5.2. Review
Responding to Reviews
You will be prompted via email by the Section Editor by Log in to your account and click on the linked title of your submission.
Selecting Submission Review
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > SUBMISSIONS > # 6 SUMMARY > REVIEW
If your submission is In Review, you can view its details in the Review section (linked from the top of your page).
First, you will see the basic submission information again.
Peer Review
Below that is the Peer Review section. You will see information about each round of review (there may be one or more) and any revised files (e.g., a version of your original submission file with changes marked in) uploaded by each reviewer (Reviewer A, Reviewer B, etc.).
Editor Decision
Last on this page is the Editor Decision section. From this section you can notify the editor once you have submitted your revised submission file, view the reviewer comments (click on the cloud icon), and upload your revised submission file (if revisions were required).
Possible decisions include:
- Accept: Your submission has been accepted as is.
- Revisions Required: Your submission requires minor changes and will be accepted once those have been completed.
- Resubmit for Review: Your submission needs significant re-working. A new file must be submitted and another round of review will take place.
- Reject: Your submission was not accepted for publication with this journal, either because it was not seen to be of high enough quality, or its subject did not match the journal.
5.3. Editing
Your submission is considered "In Editing" once it has been approved for publication. It will then need to go through copyediting to correct any grammatical or stylistic errors, layout editing to create the published galleys (e.g., HTML or PDF), and proofreading to take one final look at the article before it is made publicly available.
If your submission is In Editing, you can view its details in the Editing section (linked from the top of your page). The first section again includes basic submission information.
Selecting Submission Editing
HOME > USER > AUTHOR > ACTIVE SUBMISSIONS > # 6 EDITING > EDITING
Copyediting
In the next section, you can follow the copyediting process.
- Step 1: The journal's Copyeditor has made changes to the reviewed submission file. You can download a revised copy here (e.g., 6-11-1-ED.DOCX).
- Step 2: You will review the Copyeditor's changes, and make any final changes of your own. You then upload your revised submission file here. Be sure to use the email icon to notify the Copyeditor that you have submitted your file.
- Step 3: The Copyeditor takes a last look at your changes before passing the submission over to the Layout Editor. No action is required by the author.
Note: Copy edit comments can be added using the icon near the bottom of this section. There is also a link to "Copy edit Instructions".
Layout Editing
The next stage in the editorial process is layout editing. The Layout Editor takes the final copyedited version of the submission and converts it into a format suitable for publishing on the journal web site (e.g., typically HTML or PDF). These are known as the "galleys".
Proofreading
The final editing stage is proofreading. It is also broken down into 3 steps.
- Once the galleys have been uploaded by the Layout Editor, you will receive an email from the editor asking that you review them and note any errors in the Proofreading Corrections comments. Proofing Instructions are also available. To view these, you will need to login to the journal and select the appropriate submission link. On the resulting screen, you can use the View Proof links to display the files. You can click the linked file names (e.g, 1-95-1-PB.HTML) to download a copy. Review the files and make any comments using the Layout Comments icon. Once you have completed your review and noted any necessary changes, hit the Complete button. This will generate an email informing the Proofreader and Section Editor that you are satisfied with the galleys.
- The journal's own Proofreader will also check for errors and make their own notes and inform the Layout Editor when all proofreading is complete. No action is required by the Author.
- The Layout Editor takes all of the notes and incorporates all of the changes into revised galleys. These are then ready to publish. No action is required by the Author.
You have now completed all of the steps involved in submitting to the journal and participating in the review and editing of your submission.
Download Author gudelines for online submission