Additional phase to check the formatting of submissions

Before the scientific peer-reviewing phase actually starts, we want to carry out a preliminary review of all submissions referring to length, formatting and layout aspects only. Responsible for this initial review phase should be an "editor" who checks all submissions and decides whether they match the specifications.

If amendments are required, or a submission does not meet the requirements, the editor should be able to mark these submissions and/or to contact the authors.

How can we configure the system accordingly?

ConfTool Pro provides the two roles "editor" and "chair", which can be used for this purpose.

Any user with the role "Editor" can access all submissions (see image 1) and check them, for instance, for formatting and spelling errors. Editors can update the contents and uploads of all submissions to finalize them for publishing (see image 2). They also have read access to all reviews and author details to be able to contact authors in case of questions.

To enable the role "Editor" please go to:
Overview => Settings => Settings for User Registration => Main Settings for User Registration and Management,
and activate the status/role (see image 3).

If the person in charge shall also be able to change the status of submissions, for instance to mark submissions that do not match the requirements, and/or if the user shall be able to send bulk mails to authors, please use the status "Chair" or "Track Chair" in combination with the "Editor" status.

You can define the corresponding rights of "Chairs" / "Track Chairs" (i.e., to give them access to the bulk mail function) on the same page you used to enable the role editor (image 3):
Overview => Settings => Settings for User Registration => Main Settings for User Registration and Management

Furthermore, we suggest that you create two new acceptance statuses, to mark each submission if it matches the formatting requirements or not. To create these statuses, please go to
Overview => Settings => Manage Acceptance Status
select the status "On Hold", and then click on the button "Copy as new acceptance status".
This operation has to be done twice: Name both new statuses accordingly, e.g. "Revision Required" and "Format Checked" (see image 4).

If you now assign the user roles "Editor" and "Chair" to the corresponding user, he/she can change the status of each submission on the page:
Overview => Submissions & Reviews => Results of the Reviewing Procedure & Decision About Acceptance.

To send bulk e-mails to the authors and co-authors, the Chair has to go to:
Overview => Bulk E-mails => Send E-mails to Authors (and Co-authors).
Here, the acceptance status filter “Revision Required” can be used to send a message only to authors/co-authors whose submissions needs to be refined (see image 5).
You can find more information on "Sending bulk e-mails with ConfTool (Pro)"