Getting to know a submission

All submissions first enter the system to the attention of the “editors” of ANR’s Manuscript FastTrack—Jim Downing and Linda Ribera. Whenever a manuscript is submitted, one of them assigns it to its appropriate subject area AE (using your "Reviewer topic” category).
As soon as you are assigned a review project, you will receive an email notifying you that a manuscript is ready for your attention:
- Dear [Associate Editor name],
- A manuscript 2010-0117 ("Ground Squirrels") has been submitted to you for ANR peer review management.
- Submission date: 2010-07-07 16:14:28
- Submission ID: 2010-0117
- Corresponding Author: Gemma Dog (GemmaD)
- Title: Ground Squirrels
- Authors: Gemma the kelpie
- Thank you!
- Login: http://anr.expressacademic.org/login.php
- Best regards,
- ANR Associate Editors
You can use the link in the email to directly log in to the system and onto your page. Once there, click “Associate/guest editor tasks.” There you will see the details about the submitted manuscript: title, author and email link, the type of publication, date of submission and status.
Click on the submission’s id# to download the manuscript and any accompanying photo(s), charts, table, graphs or illustrations. Authors can submit anything that is digital in many formats (Word, jpeg, jpg, gif, png, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, pdf, rtf, wpd), but there is a 22 MB file limit, with instructions on how to attach other elements as separate files. Authors can also place low-resolution versions of their photos right in their manuscript's Word file, which may make the photos easier for reviewers to deal with. These instructions on the "Photographs" Web page in explain how to do that, including downsizing images.
Here you read the manuscript and make an initial assessment as to whether or not it is ready to be can be sent out for review. If it is lacking elements, too poorly written or disorganized, you can click on the author’s email link and explain what needs to be added or done before it can go out for review. If you see areas of concern in the manuscript that you’d like reviewers to address, make a note of these in a separate Word file.
You’ll notice that the Submission Summary box also has a “Send Email” action that allows you to quickly email Jim Downing if you think the submission was sent to you in error. (The other names on the “user” list are system administrators.)
Authors automatically receive a standard system email acknowledging receipt of their manuscript into the system as soon as they submit it. Of course you can email the author to begin your correspondence or ask questions about the submission. Your emails are saved in the system and kept as part of the submission's correspondence record.