The Elsevier Editorial System EES

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The Elsevier Editorial SystemEES

• Editors Conference Brussels
• 8 November 2003
• Michiel Kolman, Publishing Director

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Outline of this presentation

• Why online submission and peer review?
• What is the Elsevier Editorial System?
• How is Elsevier moving towards online submission?

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The digital revolution in scientific publishing
1995
2000
2005
Editorial Process
Production Process
Distribution
From paper only towards E-workflow
From paper only towards Science Direct and
MDConsult
EES Elsevier Editorial System
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Peer review more and more via the web

• Online submission and peer review is becoming the
  standard in scientific publishing
• Benefits
• Easier for authors authors ask for it (thought
  not in all fields of science)
• Speeds up refereeing as well as production
• Fewer logistics copying, filing, envelopes
• Less admin work for editors, can concentrate more
  on quality of scientific content

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What about other publishers?

• Some examples
• Nature Publishing Group
• American Chemical Society
• Institute of Physics
• IEEE
• American Physiological Society
• Biomed Central
• Geological Society of America (GSA)
• All have committed to online submission and peer
  review, some do not even accept paper submissions
  any more

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Elseviers strategy

• Support editors by offering online submission and
  peer review tools
• Introduction of online submission will be gradual
• Taking into account that
• Your needs will lead this development
• And those of your authors and reviewers
• Online does not replace paper
• We are all on a learning curve, we have to do
  this step by step

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Outline of this presentation

• Why online submission and peer review?
• What is the EES Elsevier Editorial System?
• How is Elsevier moving towards online submission?

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Goals for Editorial Process

• High quality and fast process
• Reliable systems
• No admin overhead for editors, referees, authors
• Transparent process
• Via the web

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Challenges

• Some reviewers and editors prefer to work on
  paper, write their notes on it
• Editors and reviewers often work from home, or
  while travelling
• Some reluctance to print PDFs and preference to
  receive hardcopy
• Personal touch should never be sacrificed
• System must be user friendly for authors, editors
  and reviewers, beneficial to all
• We must keep the best of both worlds dont throw
  away the advantages of paper!

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The Elsevier Editorial System

• The Elsevier Editorial System (EES) is a
• set of web tools for all parties in the
• editorial process
• The first version (EES lite or ElSubmit) was
  developed by Elsevier
• The second version (EES) is based on Editorial
  Manager by Aries Corp.

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The lite version of EES (ElSubmit)

On line refereeing
On line submission
Link to Production
Workflow management
Content Management
Referee database
EES lite supports electronic submission and
the handing over of accepted manuscripts to
Production. It does not play a major role in
managing the review process.
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The Elsevier Editorial System
On line refereeing
On line submission
Link to Production
Workflow management
Content Management
Referee database
EES provides a full suite of editorial support
tools, including electronic submission and peer
review, manuscript tracking, referee selection
etc. All web based.
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What is the Elsevier Editorial System?

• EES is based on
• Editorial Manager is
• very similar to e.g. Manuscript Central (from
  Scholar One) or BenchPress (by Highwire) or
  Paragon (by the ACS)
• in use with over 250 journals
• live for more than 3 years.
• EES will be linked to the Elsevier systems for
  faster and more error-free processing
• EES will be developed further with input from its
  users from you

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Outline of this presentation

• Why online submission and peer review?
• What is the Elsevier Editorial System?
• How is Elsevier moving towards online submission?

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Some of the journals live on EES today

• Brain Research
• Cancer Cell
• European Journal of Vascular and
• Endovascular Surgery
• Int. Journal of Human and Computer Studies
• Journal of Computational Physics
• Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology
• Information and Software Technology
• Separation and Purification Technology
• Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics
• Advances in Colloid and Interface Science
• Biochemical Engineering Journal
• Radiation Physics and Chemistry

Physica E Low-dimensional Sys Nanostr. Image
and Vision Computing Microporous and Mesoporous
Materials Fuzzy Sets and Systems Neurocomputing
Signal Processing Pattern Recognition
Letters Journal of Computational and Applied
Mathematics Molecular Immunology Marine
Pollution Bulletin Safety Science Field Crops
Research BioSystems Aquacultural Engineering
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Where are we now?
70,000 submissions received and processed
EES lite (aka ElSubmit)
Over 300 journals live
EES
60 journals by 1 Jan 04
Editorial Manager
First implementations just started
Around 60 journals live
2000 - 2003
2004 onwards
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Some positive feedback from users
"Our editors are pleased that we've had a 22
increase in submissions compared with 2001, and
Web-based access can certainly be credited for
playing a role in that increase. We've surveyed
authors and reviewers, and gotten a very positive
response on the system overall"
I found that sending decision letters via EM is a
pleasure. I was able to send nine letters in a
half-hour. In the old system, those same letters
would have taken 2 hours. EM has revolutionized
the decision letter process.
The system has helped cut late reviews to just
16 or 17 per centContributors get a yes or a
no much more quickly, the average time has
dropped from 52 business days to 25.
I have submitted the article via the web system.
I found this system to be very easy to understand
and use, and also very quick Unsolicited user
comment.
One of our Editorial Board members sent this
super nice message last week. He also called to
say hats off to the designers of the system
because he liked it so much. I think his message
is a great compliment to everyone at Aries.
Journal Office
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Effects of EES on an Elsevier journal (example)
3,4 weeks faster
Number of weeks
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Effects of EES on an Elsevier journal (example)
Papers Submitted
600
500
400
300
No. Papers
200
100
0
under 5
10 to 15
20 to 25
30 to 35
5 to 10
over 35
15 to 20
25 to 30
Overall Publication Times (weeks)
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Editors
Training Team (ESIS)
Author Support
T-team (2nd line support)
IT
Editor Support
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EES Support organization

• All journals using EES will be supported by
  Elsevier
• Different service levels, depending on
• Size of the journal (more submissons more
  support)
• Organization structure of the Board of Editors
• Local support situation with the editor(s)
• Society journal or Elsevier journal

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Implementation process

• You will be approached by your Publisher
• The training team will do an intake of your
  journals editorial process set up
• and switch on the system for you and demo it
• During the training, the system can be tweaked to
  your specific needs
• Then there will be a trial period before going
  live
• On average this process takes 2 to 4 months and
  three 23 hour meetings with the editors

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Next steps

• EES will gradually be implemented you will be
  approached
• Elsevier has a large organization dedicated to
  support you in moving towards online peer
  reviewing
• We need your support in implementation we will
  carefully follow your input

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Benefits

• For the author
• Easier to submit
• Faster review process
• More transparency
• Fewer logistics
• For the reviewer
• Fewer logistics
• For the editor
• Faster review process
• More control over the process
• Fewer logistics
• More focus on quality of content

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A view on the future

• Fast track service for top authors
• Button for more like this to quickly find
  similar articles
• Immediate publication after acceptance
• Immediate link to additional referee information
  on Elsevier central databases
• Submitting/reviewing/editing off-line on EES
  synchronising later
• Connecting the EES to Elsevier author databases
  for a quick profile of submitting author
• Allow referees temporary access to search
  services and content from Elsevier
• Automatic check on double submissions
• Tracking citation levels of accepted manuscripts
• One username/password for all Elsevier systems