BRILL s Editorial Manager (EM) Manual for Reviewers Table of Contents Introduction... 2 1. Logging into EM... 2 2. Changing Your Access Codes and Contact Information... 2 3. Agreeing or Declining to Review... 2 4. Downloading the PDF of the Submission... 3 5. Submitting Your Review Online... 3 EM V. 10.0 [1] Last revised: 16 JUL 2013
Introduction If the editor would like to ask you to review a manuscript, you will receive a review request via email. This invitation email will contain a link to the Editorial Manager webpage of the journal as well as your access codes. Communicating your decision as to whether you agree or decline to review to the editor, downloading the PDF file of the manuscript and eventually submitting your review comments can all be done via this website. Below you will find step-by-step instructions on how to use the Editorial Manager website as a reviewer. Should you run into any problems submitting your review, please contact the Editorial Office, or contact the EM Coordinator at BRILL directly at EM@brill.com. In the latter case, please provide the name of the journal concerned as well as a manuscript number or article title. 1. Logging into EM Go to the Editorial Manager website, enter your username and password into the appropriate fields in the login section and click on Reviewer Login. This will lead you into your reviewer s main menu, where you will be able to inform the editor whether you agree or decline to review, download the PDF file of the manuscript and eventually submit your review comments. Should the login box not display on the EM homepage, please click on the Login link in the navigation bar at the top of the page first. You should then be able to log in without problems. Should you have forgotten your username and/or password, please click on the Send Username/Password link in the login box. On the next page enter your first name, last name and email address and click on the Send Username/Password button to complete the process. The system will then send you an email with your access codes. 2. Changing Your Access Codes and Contact Information Once logged in, you can change your codes as well as your contact information via the Update My Information link in the navigation bar at the very top of the webpage. Changes can be saved by clicking on the Submit button at the bottom of the page. When changing your access codes, please do not use special characters (e.g., á, è, etc.) and make sure to choose a unique set of codes rather than reusing codes that you also use for other purposes. When copying and pasting your access codes from an email, please make sure not to copy an additional space in front or at the end of the access codes, as this will generate login errors. If you continue to have access problems, please contact EM@brill.com. 3. Agreeing or Declining to Review When you receive an invitation to review a manuscript, we greatly appreciate your letting us know whether you will or will not review the manuscript. This way, we will be able to avoid unnecessary delays in the review process and can also avoid sending you unnecessary reminders. When logged onto the EM website as a Reviewer, you will see a hyperlink entitled New Reviewer Invitations: EM V. 10.0 [2] Last revised: 16 JUL 2013
When you click on this link, you will be able to view the abstract of the manuscript via the View Abstract action link. 1 If you want to review the submission, please click on Agree to Review and then on OK to confirm. Via the Pending Assignments link you can proceed to the page where you can download the PDF of the submission (see section 4 on how to download the full PDF of the submission). If you do not wish to review the paper, please click on Decline to Review. This will lead you to a page where you can insert specific comments for the editor, for instance to explain why you do not wish to review the manuscript, or to suggest someone else who may be able to review the paper. 4. Downloading the PDF of the Submission Once you have agreed to review the manuscript, the paper will have moved from New Reviewer Invitations to the Pending Assignments link in your Reviewer Main Menu. If you click on this link, you will get an overview of all papers for which you still need to submit a review. In order to download the PDF file of the manuscript, click on the View Submission link: This will open a pop-up window allowing you to either open or save the PDF file. Should you have been invited to review a revised manuscript, you will first get to see a pop-up window allowing you to choose which version of the manuscript you wish to access. In that case, you first have to select the version you wish to access before you will be asked whether you wish to open or save the file. Should you experience trouble opening these pop-up windows, please check and if necessary amend your browser settings so that pop-ups are not blocked on the EM page. 5. Submitting Your Review Online When you are ready to send your review comments to the editor, please log onto the Editorial Manager website as a Reviewer, click on Pending Assignments in your Reviewer Main Menu and then on the Submit Recommendation link belonging to the paper you want to submit a review for. 1 If you only see a link called Action Links in the Action Column on the left instead of a list with multiple links, you can access the links described by hovering over the Action Links link. You can also change the view by clicking on the + symbol shown in the Action column header. This will trigger the links to be displayed in the way that they are shown in the various screenshots in this manual. EM V. 10.0 [3] Last revised: 16 JUL 2013
This will lead you to the page where you can submit your review. Review instructions can be found at the top of the page in the Reviewer Instructions section. Should the instructions not be shown on the page itself, press on the Reviewer Instructions button (this should then be one of the grey buttons available at the top of the page). First, select an overall recommendation from the drop down menu at the top of the page (click on the little triangle to open the list). Should you wish to grade the manuscript, you can do so by inserting a number between 1 and 100 (where 1 is the lowest and 100 is the highest possible score) into the Overall Manuscript Rating field next to the drop down menu. For some journals, reviewers are asked to answer specific questions, in which case you are kindly requested to answer these questions in so far possible. On the Submit Recommendation page, you also have two free-text boxes available. Any text entered into the Reviewer Blind Comments to Author field will in principle be forwarded to the author, so any comments you have for the author should be entered here. Please make sure not to enter your name or any other clues to your identity in this field. Anything entered into the second text box ( Reviewer Confidential Comments to Editor ) will remain confidential, unless the editor decides that (part of) the comments are relevant for the author as well. EM V. 10.0 [4] Last revised: 16 JUL 2013
Some journals allow reviewers to upload additional files to accompany their review, for instance, a marked manuscript, or relevant literature that may not be available to the author or editor. In that case, you will find an Upload Reviewer Attachments button both at the top as well as at the bottom of the Submit Recommendation page. If the Upload Reviewer Attachments button does not display, this option is not available for the journal you are submitting the review to. If you wish to provide one or more attachments, click on Upload Reviewer Attachments. On the next page, enter a description of what you are about to attach into the Description field and click on Browse. In the pop-up window that opens next, select the file you want to attach and click on open. The pop-up window will then close. Click on the Attach This File button to upload the file. The page will refresh and will then show you an overview of all attached files at the bottom. You can upload additional files by again inserting a description at the top of the page, selecting a file and clicking on Attach This File. As soon as all relevant files have been uploaded, click on Proceed with Recommendation at the bottom of the page. This will return you to the Submit Recommendation page. In order to finalize your review and send it to the Editorial Office, click on the Proceed button (available at the top as well as at the bottom of the page), then on Submit Review to Journal Office and on OK. When your review has been submitted successfully, you will receive confirmation via email. You can access reviews that you have submitted previously through the Completed Assignments link in your Reviewer Main Menu. EM V. 10.0 [5] Last revised: 16 JUL 2013