Docs/Editor Guide
Editors

Editor Guide

Managing submissions, assigning reviewers, running AI screening, making decisions, and using reporting.

Role overview

Editors are the primary stewards of a journal's content pipeline. As an editor you can:

  • Triage incoming submissions and move them into active review
  • Assign and monitor peer reviewers
  • Make final Accept / Request Revision / Reject decisions
  • Run AI-assisted screening to support your judgment
  • Manage journal membership and handle author signup requests
  • View reporting dashboards for journal health metrics
Editor access is per journal. Being an editor on one journal does not grant access to another.

Getting access

An existing editor or system administrator must invite you.

  1. 1
    Ask an editor or admin to go to Members for the relevant journal.
  2. 2
    They enter your email address, select editor as the role, and send the invitation.
  3. 3
    You receive an email with a sign-up or login link.
  4. 4
    After signing in, the journal appears in your journal list at /journals.

Managing your journal

Creating a journal

  1. 1
    Navigate to Journals (/journals) and click New Journal.
  2. 2
    Fill in the journal name, description, and any configuration fields.
  3. 3
    Save. You are automatically the first editor.

Configuring membership

Navigate to Members inside a journal to manage access:

ActionHow
Invite an authorEnter email, choose role author, send invite
Invite a reviewerEnter email, choose role reviewer, send invite
Invite another editorEnter email, choose role editor, send invite
Approve author signupFind the pending request, click Approve or Reject

Triaging submissions

New submissions arrive with status SUBMITTED. Triage is the first editorial checkpoint.

  1. 1
    Open Submissions (/submissions?scope=all).
  2. 2
    Use the Status filter to show only new submissions.
  3. 3
    Click a submission to open its detail page.
  4. 4
    Review the Details tab: abstract, keywords, co-authors, and the status timeline.
  5. 5
    Download the manuscript from the Versions tab.
  6. 6
    Optionally run AI Screening to get an initial signal.
  7. 7
    Assign a reviewer to move the manuscript forward, or reject immediately if clearly out of scope.

Submission status reference

StatusMeaning
SUBMITTEDReceived, awaiting editorial triage
UNDER_REVIEWAt least one reviewer has accepted
REVISION_REQUESTEDAuthor asked to revise and resubmit
RESUBMITTEDAuthor uploaded a revised version
ACCEPTEDFinal editorial decision: accept
REJECTEDFinal editorial decision: reject
WITHDRAWNAuthor withdrew the submission

Assigning reviewers

Reviewer assignment is done from the action bar on the submission detail page.

  1. 1
    Open the submission and scroll to the action bar.
  2. 2
    In the Assign Reviewer field, type the reviewer's email. If already a journal member, they appear as a suggestion. If not, JMS sends them an invitation automatically.
  3. 3
    Optionally set a Due Date for the review.
  4. 4
    Click Assign.
If the author indicated preferred reviewers during submission, their names appear as pills in the action bar — click a pill to pre-fill the email field.
Reviewer actionWhat happens
AcceptsSubmission moves to UNDER_REVIEW; you are notified
Declines (with reason)You receive a notification with the reason; reassign as needed
Declares conflict of interestYou receive a notification; reviewer is removed from this submission

Making editorial decisions

Editorial decisions are available only when the submission status is UNDER_REVIEW.
  1. 1
    Open the submission detail page.
  2. 2
    Scroll to the action bar.
  3. 3
    Choose one of the three decision buttons (see table below).
  4. 4
    A reason textarea appears — this field is mandatory.
  5. 5
    Confirm the decision.
ButtonResulting statusWhen to use
AcceptACCEPTEDManuscript is ready for publication
Request RevisionREVISION_REQUESTEDWork is promising but needs changes
RejectREJECTEDManuscript does not meet standards
All open review rounds and individual reviewer tasks are automatically closed when you record a decision.

Using AI screening

AI Screening provides an advisory signal before or during review. It does not automatically change the submission status.

  1. 1
    Open the submission and click the AI Screening tab (visible to editors only).
  2. 2
    Click Run AI Screening (or Re-screen if screening has been run before).
  3. 3
    JMS calls the AI model and returns: a score (0–100), a recommendation badge (ACCEPT / REVISE / REJECT), and a flag list highlighting specific concerns.
AI Screening is advisory — the final decision always rests with you. Manuscript data is never used to train AI models.

Tracking reviews

The Reviews tab on a submission detail page is the central place to monitor peer review progress. Each review round is listed with the number of assigned reviewers and their current status. When reviewers submit reports, they appear in this tab for you to read.

Communicating with authors

  1. 1
    Open the submission and click Comments.
  2. 2
    Click Post Comment, enter your message, and submit.
  3. 3
    Participants receive a notification and can reply inline.

Comments are scoped to the submission and visible to all members with access to it.

Reports & analytics

Navigate to Reporting (/reporting) to view journal-level metrics.

ChartWhat it shows
Submissions over timeVolume of new submissions by status across a date range
Decision distributionBreakdown of Accept / Revision / Reject outcomes
Reviewer turnaroundAverage time from assignment to completed review