Aries Systems News and Press Releases – 2001-2002

• Proposed XML-based Standard to Allow Journals and Publishers to Exchange In-Process Manuscripts Between Different Online Submission and Tracking Systems
• Third Major Release of Editorial Manager Further Enhances Editorial Office Workflow Efficiency
• More than Fifty STM Journals Now Deploying Editorial Manager
• Leading Scientific Journal Deploys Editorial Manager
• Leading Publishers Place Orders for the New Editorial Manager System

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Proposed XML-based Standard to Allow Journals and Publishers to Exchange In-Process Manuscripts Between Different Online Submission and Tracking Systems
[pdf version]

November 25, 2002, North Andover, MA, USA - Aries Systems Corporation today announced the launch of an initiative to formulate a publishing industry standard that would allow the exchange of scientific manuscripts between differing online manuscript tracking systems.

In the past two years, Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) journals have identified that the Internet provides an excellent medium for the submission and tracking of scientific manuscripts. While some large societies have developed in-house systems, many journals have also adopted solutions sold by commercial vendors.

Aries' proposed XML-based "Submission and Manuscript eXchange Format" (SMXF) would provide a system-neutral standard for the exchange of manuscript metadata and content. The broad adoption of such a standard would provide key benefits to STM publishers. For example, a journal would be able to download SMXF data from one conforming system, and upload it into another Ð thereby ensuring continuity of service and data security. The SMXF standard could also be used to build functionality, enabling cooperating journals to "share" in-process manuscripts even if they use systems from different vendors.

Richard Wynne, the VP of Sales and Marketing at Aries Systems Corporation commented: "This marketplace will undergo numerous technical and business changes during the next few years. Journals are justifiably concerned about locking their data into incompatible proprietary systems. An open standard like SMXF is the only real way to address fundamental concerns about continuity of service, as well as providing an exciting platform for cooperation between journals. We are committed to making our Editorial Manager system SMXF compatible."

It is anticipated that the SMXF standard would build on top of existing XML initiatives such as PRISM and the Dublin Core, by making additional provisions for in-process manuscript data such as reviewer commentary, status terms and editor decision letters.

Aries Systems Corporation seeks industry feedback and participation from publishers, system vendors and journal staff so that an open standard can be developed. Aries is sponsoring an initial meeting for interested parties at the London Online Meeting in Room 305 (Conference Level 3) at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 4th. Interested parties should send an e-mail to: marketing@ariessys.com.

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Third Major Release of Editorial Manager Further Enhances Editorial Office Workflow Efficiency
[pdf version]

November 1, 2002, North Andover, MA, USA - Aries Systems Corporation today announced the latest release of Editorial Manager for online manuscript submission and tracking.

The rapidly maturing market sector for online manuscript submission software was recently identified as publishing's next "killer application" by the New York Times. Authors, reviewers and editors have latched on to the idea that the Internet provides a speedier and more efficient medium for conducting peer review, and are bombarding their publishers with ever-increasing demands.

Aries Systems Corporation has responded to this avalanche of demand by pioneering innovative methodologies that enable the deployment of new software releases in record time. Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries, commented: "It's no secret that expectations in this user community are sky high, hence the need to reliably deliver new releases like clockwork. We're delighted to make this third major release in 2002 and we plan another major update before the end of the year."

Approximately 120 journals that are currently live or in deployment with Editorial Manager have received a 32-page notification that provides details and instructions concerning the new release. The focus of this release (EM 1.9) is to facilitate editorial office administration such as the ability to "undo" erroneous editor decisions, modify reviewer comments after decision, and initiate author rebuttals. The need to chase non-responding reviewers has also been mitigated by the selection of "alternate" reviewers who can be automatically invited to review a manuscript if "primary" reviewers decline or fail to respond within a given time. For more detailed information concerning the release of EM 1.9, please contact Aries directly at marketing@edmgr.com.

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More than Fifty STM Journals Now Deploying Editorial Manager
[pdf version]

May 25, 2002, North Andover, MA, USA - Aries Systems Corporation today announced that more than 50 STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) journals have chosen Aries' Editorial Manager for Web-based manuscript submission and tracking. The journals are published by leading commercial organizations such as Elsevier Science and Kluwer Academic Press, as well as individual professional societies.

Example live sites:

• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
• Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
• Plant Molecular Biology

The rapid acceptance of Editorial Manager has occurred as a result of its underlying system architecture that enables journal offices to dynamically modify workflow functionality without the need for software changes. This means that Editorial Manager can be quickly adapted to the needs of each new journal office in a fraction of the time normally associated with such deployments.

Richard Wynne, Director of Sales and Marketing at Aries Systems Corporation, commented: "First generation manuscript tracking systems use hard-coded software and assume that all editorial offices operate in exactly the same way. In contrast, Editorial Manager anticipates the complexity and change inherent in the editorial process by providing powerful administrative tools. For example, at any time, journal offices can define and insert new editorial "roles" into the workflow and configure letters appropriate to those roles."

Aries Systems Corporation forecasts accelerated deployment of Editorial Manager in the next 12 months. Aries' President, Lyndon Holmes, said "This time last year Editorial Manager had just been launched. The fact that in less than one year, fifty plus journals have chosen Editorial Manager is a very significant testament to the competitive advantage it offers to participating journals and publishers."

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Leading Scientific Journal Deploys Editorial Manager
[pdf version]

January 31, 2002, North Andover, MA, USA - In early 2001, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (JBMR), official publication of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, selected Editorial Manager from Aries Systems Corporation for online manuscript submission and tracking. JBMR is the leading journal in its field and receives approximately 46,000 manuscript pages and 6,000 images per year, so the switch from paper to electronic submissions represented a major undertaking.

Adrienne Lea, Director of Publications for JBMR, has been responsible for deploying the system. She explained that "transition to this new system has occasioned a tremendous adjustment on the part of the editorial office staff, but improvements to editorial office operations are already noticeable."

Concerning the manuscript submission process, she added that "the Web submission process is so well designed that very few of our authors have voiced questions about how to submit manuscripts even though the method is totally different from what JBMR previously required. Inevitably in such a major project, we have encountered some unanticipated issues during deployment. The vendor has readily incorporated many new requests into software updates that automatically become available to our staff. It has been very reassuring to work with a vendor that is willing and able to respond to such needs."

She also noted that "later in 2002 we will have more detailed statistics, but we already know that average turnaround time to decisions for manuscripts submitted online is approximately 50% less than for the same period the prior year. Our courier and postal costs are also falling and we anticipate labor savings once all revisions have been processed through our old system. We're still on the steep part of the learning curve, but it's already hard to imagine operating the journal without such a system."

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Leading Publishers Place Orders for the New Editorial Manager System.

April 30, 2001, North Andover, MA, USA - Aries Systems Corporation today announced the forthcoming release of Editorial Manager, the web-based manuscript submission and tracking system for STM (Scientific, Technical and Medical) publishers.

For years, readers and authors of scholarly manuscripts have clamored for a more rapid and efficient peer review process. Editorial Manager uses the capabilities of the Web to meet this need by allowing on-line manuscript submission by authors in a variety of document and image formats including: Word, WordPerfect, RTF, Postscript, PDF, LaTeX, GIF, TIFF and JPEG. Submissions are automatically transformed into PDF files for circulation to selected reviewers. All the functions of the publisher's editorial office, such as reviewer selection and review status tracking are automated by Editorial Manager using e-mail and Web-based reporting. Authors, reviewers and editors can therefore monitor the progress of their manuscripts from anywhere in the world using any Web-capable computer and e-mail.

Editorial Manager is provided to publishers using an ASP (Application Service Provider) model. This means that publishers do not have to spend resources to install and support Web server software, and that they benefit from the high-availability infrastructure of Editorial Manager. All the data remains the property of the publisher and is made available for off-site storage and back up at publisher's facilities.

Several leading publishers including Harcourt, Inc., and the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research have already ordered Editorial Manager. Adrienne Lea, Director of Publications at the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, said "we chose this solution because of Aries' track record and integrity as a technology vendor."

Lyndon Holmes, President of Aries Systems, commented "we've been working with scholarly publishers for almost 15 years and we know that the speed and efficiency of manuscript publication is the key to continued success in electronic publishing. As well as accelerating the publication process, Editorial Manager will dramatically reduce the large amounts of money spent by editorial offices each year on overnight couriers."

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About Aries:

Aries Systems transforms the way scholarly publishers bring high-value content to the world. The company’s innovative and forward-looking workflow solutions manage the complexities of modern print and electronic publishing – from submission, to editorial management and peer review, to production tracking and publishing channel distribution. As the publishing environment evolves, Aries Systems is committed to delivering solutions that help publishers and scholars enhance the discovery and dissemination of human knowledge. Publish faster, publish smarter, with Aries Systems.

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