Peer Review for Journals Editor-in-Chief Center
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Assigning an Editor
The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) will assign an editor to the manuscript based on a paper's subject area. For each paper that the EIC assigns, the journal coordinator will send the editor a letter requesting that he/she handle the review process of the paper. Please be advised that the editor's identify will be given to the author once reviewers are assigned. Should the editor decide to not assign reviewers but instead administratively reject the paper, he/she will be required to fill out a review form as an anonymous reviewer.
If the author sends a submission directly to the editor, they should be instructed to submit their paper to Manuscript Central. The coordinator will then send the manuscript to the EIC to be assigned to an editor. It may or may not be the editor who originally received the paper. This not only ensures that our submissions are tracked properly, but it also ensures that each paper receives a fair and unbiased review. Papers submitted by authors directly to the editors should not be sent out for review. Any paper that does not go through the review process via Manuscript Central and the coordinator will not be recognized as a submission and hence may not be published.
As soon as possible, but definitely within a two-week period, the editor should send the coordinator a set of reviewer names (either three confirmed, or five unconfirmed) by email. The names should be accompanied by full names and email addresses. If possible, please contact the reviewers in advance and ask them to agree to do the review. We have found that reviewers are less likely to decline if contacted by the editor directly. The coordinator will then send the reviewer a review request letter. In addition, the author is notified that the manuscript has been sent out for review and is given the name of the assigned editor. We normally set a six-week deadline for reviews, unless the editor makes specific arrangements with a reviewer to review more or less quickly.
The coordinator will forward the reviews to the editor as they are received. Ideally an editor should have three reviews before making a recommendation on a paper. At that time, the editor may recommend an "accept" or a "reject" for the paper or request a "major revision" for re-review. Sometimes editors will also request a "minor revision." In that case, the editor should personally re-review the paper before giving it a final acceptance.
The editor is to notify the coordinator of the recommendation and they will notify the author of the decision, copying the editor.
If a major revision is recommended, the revision will again be assigned to the same editor and sent out for a second round of reviews. Usually the same reviewers are used for the revised manuscript, but that is at the discretion of the editor.
If a paper is accepted, the authors are given a publication checklist and are asked to prepare their final manuscript. If a minor revision is asked for, after receiving a copy of the final manuscript, the coordinator will send a copy of the paper to the editor for a final decision.
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Making Decisions on Manuscripts
The editor will determine the disposition of the manuscript, based on remarks of the reviewers, and the editor’s own assessment of the manuscript. The editor’s recommendation must be well justified and explained in detail. If the editor’s recommendation conflicts with the reviews, or if the reviews conflict with each other, editors must be careful to explain the basis of their recommendation to help avoid an appeal of their decision. In cases where revisions (major or minor) are requested, these should be clearly indicated and explained in the “Comments to Authors” section of the recommendation form. The editor must then promptly convey this decision to the author. The author may contact the editor if instructions regarding amendments to the manuscript are unclear.
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Writing an Editorial
- Editorials should give a brief overview of current issues or the state of the journal, or give a short introduction to each new editorial board member.
- Editorials cannot be regular papers. Editors are also prohibited from submitting papers to their own journal. Submitting to one's own journal may be misunderstood by certain members of the journal's readership as unethical.
- Editorials should be no more than two pages in length, but not necessarily including new editor biographies and photographs. Biographies should be moderate in length, otherwise they will be edited.
- Editorials should not include references unless absolutely necessary, and even then they should be limited to a maximum of four. Editorials must include complete and current affiliation and contact information.
- Editorials must be submitted in an editable format, such as a Word document or text sent via e-mail. The editor-in-chief is responsible for reviewing the galley proofs of their editorial for accuracy of typesetting and communicating any corrections to IEEE Computer Society staff within 72 hours of receipt.
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