Do you have protocols and reviews in your group, where authors are actively working, but have not yet been invited to submit to Editorial Manager? Are you hoping to publish these protocols and reviews in the coming months (for UK groups, before March 2023)? If so, please do get at least one submitted version into EM now. Why? We all know that working in EM can be challenging, and corresponding with authors and peer reviewers by email might seem an easier option. But here are 3 good reasons for getting a submission for every review in progress into EM. 1) Author declarations of interest. If your authors have never submitted a version to EM, their last declarations of interest made in Archie must now be out of date. If authors acquire an interest now, how can they declare it? Their Archie forms are inaccessible and if you haven't asked them to submit to EM, they won't have an account in Convey (our declaration of interest management system). Getting a submission into EM will ensure authors receive a request to declare their interests in Convey. Collecting interests well ahead of publication minimises the change of any unwanted disclosures once a submission is already in production. You are also ensuring your authors comply with the Conflict of Interest Policy (section 6.1) which requires annual declarations of interest for reviews in progress. 2) Peer reviewer contributions. When you manage peer review outside EM, you prevent peer and consumer reviewers from receiving the 500 Cochrane Membership points which they are due for every completed peer review task. This could mean some contributors are missing out on Cochrane Membership. Handling peer review in Editorial Manager ensures that contributions are recorded across our systems and peer reviewers are rewarded for their work. 3) Handover of submissions to Central Editorial Service. In the longer term, Cochrane Central Editorial Service will be managing the editorial process for all submitted protocols and reviews. For UK groups, this handover has already begun, and will complete in March 2023 (detailed timelines). If your protocols and reviews in progress are in EM, you are ensuring the submission history - peer review comments, editorial decisions, author responses - is visible to all. This will help ensure a smoother handover process for authors. How? To move a submission into EM, Initiate Proposal and invite authors to submit. You can submit directly on the authors' behalf if you wish. Submitting to EM will ensure authors are asked to declare interests. If you want authors to continue working, you can Submit Editor's Decision straight away, to send the submission back to the authors. When they are ready to submit, their submission will come in to EM as a revised version. You can then take any further actions such as inviting reviewers or sending to publication. If you need any help with submitting to EM, please contact Cochrane Support. We will be happy to assist.
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