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Aries Systems News and Press Releases – 2007

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Allen Press and Aries Systems Sign Strategic Sales and Marketing Agreement
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December 17, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – Allen Press (www.allenpress.com) and Aries Systems Corporation (www.editorialmanager.com) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic sales and marketing agreement for Aries Systems’ Editorial Manager and Preprint Manager publishing workflow solutions. Editorial Manager is used by scholarly journals for online manuscript submission and peer review, and Preprint Manager provides content management and workflow tracking through to final publication. Together, they enable faster, smarter publication of scholarly manuscripts.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of scholarly manuscripts travel the "publishing supply chain" from author creation to publication in branded scholarly journals, representing a multi-billion dollar industry. Throughout this workflow, numerous participants contribute to the improvements in manuscript quality, such as peer reviewers, subject editors, copy editors, print vendors and publishers. As little as ten years ago, this process was fragmented, paper-based and highly inefficient; but the advent of the Internet has created the potential for transformation of the publishing supply chain—a process that is still under way.

Software from Aries Systems Corporation has emerged as central to the supply chain re-engineering taking place in publishing today. It therefore represents an ideal platform for integration with Allen Press content management and content delivery solutions, including composition, online publishing and printing. Gerald Lillian, CEO of Allen Press, said "Partnering with Aries Systems allows us to offer the full spectrum of content management services. Our customers now have their choice of two of the most robust manuscript submission and peer review products on the market and the added ability to track the production process and ultimately reduce time to publish—something we continually strive to accomplish for our society partners."

In addition to Preprint Manager and Editorial Manager, Allen Press will continue to support its existing manuscript submission and peer review products, AllenTrack™ and AllenTrack Essentials™. Currently hosting more than 135 submission and peer review sites, Allen Press provides training, support and configuration assistance to more than 100 societies. Peer review continues to be an integral part of Allen Press’s content management offering.

"The scholarly publishing industry is changing very fast and faces both threats and opportunities. The combination of services from Aries Systems and Allen Press offers a very attractive package for journals and scholarly societies and allows them to take full advantage of new dynamics of publishing" said Lyndon Holmes, President of Aries Systems Corporation.

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Cambridge University Press Selects Editorial Manager for Online Peer Review
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November 30, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – Cambridge University Press and Aries Systems Corporation are pleased to announce an agreement to deploy Aries’ Editorial Manager online peer-review system to journals published by Cambridge University Press. Simon Ross, Journals Director at Cambridge University Press, commented, "We publish over two hundred journals ranging across physical and medical sciences to social science and the humanities. This means that we need a configurable peer-review system that can accommodate a wide variety of workflows and practices. Editorial Manager is ideal because it can be easily reconfigured without software changes. We have also been impressed by Aries’ customer service and responsiveness."

Lyndon Holmes, President and founder of Aries Systems Corporation, acknowledged the importance of the agreement to the company. "Cambridge University Press is one of the most prestigious not-for-profit publishers in the world and we are delighted to have been selected as their strategic partner for online peer review. We invest continuously in ongoing interface and functionality enhancements, so that Editorial Manager will provide the optimal user experience for the publishers authors, reviewers, and editors."

The Aries Systems Corporation and Cambridge University Press teams have been working together since early 2007, and several journals have already been launched on Editorial Manager. The pace of deployment will accelerate now that the new agreement is in place.

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Strategic Agreement between Versita and Aries Systems Corporation Boosts the Availability of Editorial Manager in Central and Eastern Europe
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November 30, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – Faced with growing worldwide demand for its Editorial Manager online peer-review system, Aries Systems Corporation has turned to Poland’s Versita for distribution and support in central and eastern Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Versita is uniquely positioned to offer Editorial Manager to scholarly journals in countries such as the former Soviet Union, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia, and Albania.

Versita was established in 2001 by Jacek Ciesielski, a graduate of the London School of Economics and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Since then, the company’s publishing services activities have grown rapidly as a result of strategic agreements with market leaders, such as Springer SBM and MetaPress, and delivering exceptional customer service. Recently, John Regazzi, former CEO of Elsevier, Inc., joined Versita as a limited partner.

Commenting on the agreement, Jacek Ciesielski said "Our strategy is to offer services to eastern European journals using best-of-breed technologies. From this point of view, Editorial Manager is a perfect fit. It has an excellent reputation in the market, and the ability to modify configurations means that we can tailor workflow solutions for each individual journal."

Aries Systems Corporation first launched Editorial Manager in the spring of 2001, and the system has since been adopted by 2,500+ journals. Lyndon Holmes, the founder and president of Aries Systems Corporation, commented that "The Internet has made it possible for high quality new journals to emerge throughout the world, so the ability to offer local support that is both timely and culturally appropriate is a major advantage. Versita is well managed and demonstrably committed to the scholarly process. We are delighted to be working with them in this part of the globe."

The agreement was concluded at the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair, and the companies have embarked on a series of joint marketing and customer service initiatives.

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Institute of Physics Selects Editorial Manager for Conference Proceedings Initiative
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November 30, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – As part of its portfolio of open access journals, Institute of Physics (IOP) Publishing produces the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS), a journal dedicated to providing a fast, low-cost, open access proceedings service. To support the growth and development of JPCS, IOP Publishing decided to provide larger conferences with an online submission and peer-review system. After a period of review of suitable systems, Editorial Manager was selected and has been deployed for an initial group of conferences in 2007.

Commenting on his selection of Editorial Manager, Graham Douglas, publisher at IOP Publishing said "Our decision to use Editorial Manager was based on a number of criteria, not only the usual ones of cost and functionality of the software, but just as important was the need for a straightforward, rapid, and efficient deployment procedure that would enable us to get new conference sites up and running with a minimum of delay. While many peer-review systems provide similar functionality, Editorial Manager offered two definitive advantages. Firstly, the system is highly configurable through an easy-to-use Web-based interface, which means we can quickly reconfigure a template site to meet the requirements of different conferences. Secondly, we were impressed by Aries’ flexibility and their customer service team who, we are delighted to say, have provided outstanding pre- and post-sales service, together with an excellent and very effective on- and off-site training program."

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Milan-Based Scientific Publisher, Wichtig Editore, Discusses Its Deployment of Editorial Manager and Signs Up for Preprint Manager
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October 17, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA - Milan-based medical publisher, Wichtig Editore Srl, is a successful user of Editorial Manager, the online manuscript management system from Aries Systems Corporation. The independent publisher uses the system in conjunction with its two leading medical journals and, according to statements, they have found the system to be flexible and easy to use. Based on this success, the publisher will be extending its use of solutions from Aries by adopting Preprint Manager for production workflow tracking in the fall of 2007.

Editorial Manager was first deployed by Wichtig Editore in March 2007 with the European Journal of Ophthalmology and the Journal of Nephrology. The system is used to manage all aspects of the editorial workflow, including author submission and peer review.

Founded in 1977, Wichtig Editore is currently one of the leading Italian medical publishers. Their objective in procuring an online editorial system was to provide the editors-in-chief with streamlined workflows all the way from initial submission to journal production. After evaluating the leading solutions, the decision was made in favor of Editorial Manager because of its adaptability and straightforward design. "Not only was the system configurable on initial deployment, but we can comfortably modify it at any time so as to respond to evolving needs," says Lucia Steele, Developer of E-Publishing at Wichtig Editore. During the interview, Lucia Steele commented that the resulting reduced turnaround time has created a competitive advantage for their journals, and that they continue to experience streamlined operations and increased efficiency as a result of the system adoption. She also anticipates that the deployment of Preprint Manager will accelerate this process by enabling upstream quality checking of images and references, and automated bibliographic reformatting of journal style prior to final production.

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From Radiology to Civil Engineering, Early Adopters Comment on Their Use of Preprint Manager® for Scholarly Manuscript Production Tracking
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September 5, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – Preprint Manager is a Web-based solution from Aries Systems Corporation for tracking manuscripts through production workflow. The first version of the system was released in 2006 and a growing number of scholarly journals have since gained experience in use of the system and are now publishing journal issues that have been entirely processed using Preprint Manager.

The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) publishes approximately 700 manuscripts per year. During the set-up phase, ARRS staff were able to customize close to 25 production tasks to reflect their workflow needs and went live with Preprint Manager in February 2007. They currently have approximately 250 manuscripts progressing through the production workflow using the system. Tammy Weiser, Publication Coordinator at the ARRS, commented "so far Preprint Manager has reduced turnaround time, and ultimately facilitated a way for us to become more efficient and productive."

Another early adopter of Preprint Manager was the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The society currently has the system deployed with four journals and is planning to accelerate roll-out to its full list of 30 publications. "Preprint Manager’s flexibility of configuration, Web accessibility, and integration with Editorial Manager allow us to efficiently move electronic manuscripts from peer review to publication," said Teresa Metcalfe, Manager of Journals Production at ASCE.

Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries, commented "modern scholarly journals use online peer review systems for manuscript intake and online platforms for delivery of content to users. In between these sophisticated Web-based systems exists a workflow ‘black hole’ where manuscripts are lost from view. Preprint Manager addresses this problem by using the Web to provide workflow continuity and visibility to all participants such as authors, managers, copy editors and offshore compositors."

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Thomas Telford Adopts Preprint Manager for Journal Production Tracking
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August 22, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – Thomas Telford is the knowledge business of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and publishes 20 journals reaching civil engineers and construction professionals throughout the world.

Since 2005, Thomas Telford has successfully used Editorial Manager from Aries Systems Corporation to manage the submission and peer review of manuscripts for its journals. When Aries released Preprint Manager for journal production tracking in 2006, the publisher began evaluating the system, and has recently signed an agreement to proceed with deployment of Preprint Manager.

During the pilot phase, Thomas Telford tested the system by assigning production tasks to copy editors and offshore vendors. Manuscripts were successfully assigned to Issues, and proofs trafficked to authors. David Atkins, Production Manager at Thomas Telford commented, "Based on our evaluation, Preprint Manager is an excellent way to manage the post editorial workflow. We were able to configure our own production tasks and quickly see the status of an Issue. We’re excited to provide authors with an end-to-end workflow through a single interface."

"We have made significant financial investments to develop Preprint Manager because we know that scholarly journals have an urgent need to improve manuscript production workflow. A Web-centric approach provides control, accountability, vendor transparency, and creates opportunities to improve publisher services to authors. We are delighted to serve innovative publishers such as Thomas Telford and continue to develop Preprint Manager," said Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries Systems Corporation.

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Newly Released Version 6.0 Enables Journals to Derive More Value From Information Collected During Peer Review
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August 6, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA – The latest upgrade to Editorial Manager, Version 6.0 was announced today by Aries Systems Corporation. The online manuscript submission and peer review system is actively used by more than 2,400 scholarly and scientific journals.

The new release further extends the system’s Web-based configuration options, so that journals can enhance their capture and use of peer review content. For example, using the new Version 6 configuration options, a journal can choose to create a new data field to identify that a manuscript has "press release potential." This data can be selectively displayed to appropriate users, and searches can be run to identify manuscripts that meet the criteria. Using traditional software customization methodologies adding such new workflows would cost tens of thousands of dollars, but in Editorial Manager it can be configured by users in minutes at no cost.

"From a publisher’s point of view, peer review systems contain strategically important information that can be used to improve the quality and value of peer review," said Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries. "Editorial Manger is unique in providing Web-based tools that allow such content to be recorded, stored, displayed and acted-on in a flexible manner and in a tactical context."

As part of the release, Aries’ Preprint Manager Product Tracking has also undergone numerous enhancements. Production workflows now include "must be started by dates" so that journals are warned that a particular task such as copy editing or author proofing must be started by a certain date in order to meet an established journal issue deadline. Journals can also configure production status terms that are triggered by the completion of selected production tasks. A growing number of publishers and scholarly societies use Preprint Manager Production Tracking including Nature Publishing Group, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Roentgen Ray Society.

At the recent Editorial Manager User group meeting in Boston, more than 100 attendees received detailed information concerning the new release. Andrea Dulberger, Editorial Assistant for Cell Press commented, "Editorial Manager is a smart tool that makes submission and reviewing tasks more efficient and user-friendly."

During the next two months, all Editorial Manager journals will be upgraded to the new release. For a copy of the detailed release notes please contact Aries’ Customer Service department (customerservice@edmgr.com).

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Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) Uses Editorial Manager for Manuscript Submission and Management
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July 25, 2007, Langenfeld, Germany – The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI) based in Altenberg near Vienna is a new user of the online based Editorial Manager manuscript submission and management system from vendor Aries Systems Corporation. All submission and management processes for the journal Biological Theory - Integrating Development, Evolution, and Cognition jointly published by KLI and MIT Press will shortly be performed via the new system that is currently installed. Aries according to statements won the deal against other vendors because of the best price-performance ratio of its solution as well as the flexible adaptability of the management workflows to the specific requirements of the journal. The contract has been signed in May.

KLI founded in 1990 is an international center for research in the field of theoretical biology. The instute is located at the former family seat of Konrad Lorenz whose work provided the foundation for an evolutionary view of mind and cognition. The rather new Biological Theory journal that in 2007 appears in the second volume, mainly addresses topics on theoretical advancements in the fields of development, evolution, and cognition.

Editorial Manager substitutes a former Email based approach that had reached the limits of its performance according to Dr. Astrid Juette, Executive Manager at KLI and, therefore, was meant to be replaced with a solution that met the existing requirements. When looking for a replacement system the institute was keen on purchasing a leading product because it expected a lower inhibition threshold for submitting authors from such a solution. "Authors publishing much may know Editorial Manager from former submissions and thus may find it a lot easier to submit to our journal," Dr. Juette reasons.

The same, according to Dr. Juette, also holds true for reviewers who voluntarily and graciously provide their activities and whom the journal wants to support in the best possible way. For KLI, it was beyond all question that they wanted to have a modern online-based peer review system such as Editorial Manager. "Authors and also increasingly reviewers nowadays require such submission systems from publishers and editorial offices," she says.

In addition, KLI expects benefits for everyday editorial business from the system’s usability independently of time and place via Internet browser providing for future optimal integration of authors, reviewers, editors, copy editors, or layouters into the journal production. Apart from these advantages, Dr. Juette expects additional organizational improvements through a compact and self-contained system where all actions and contents relevant for journal creation can be accessed and controlled by pressing a button and she also considers this functionality a good back-up system for all kinds of needs. "Author comments are just one example. In the past, they either were sent to the office or they went to the editor-in-chief and so on which can turn out to be rather chaotic. This is now all in the system and can be easily accessed and tracked."

Editorial Manager finally won the deal against another market leading competitor’s product amongst others because of its perfectly fitting functionality for the institute’s requirements. "Editorial Manager is a well conceived system displaying a knowhow gained during its long time use in quite a number of publishing houses. Thus, we found ourselves represented perfectly well in the system with our home grown ideas, workflows, and requirements and the possibilities it offers," says Dr. Juette.

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Fifth annual EMUG voted enjoyable and useful by attendees

July 10, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA - Boston, MA hosted the Fifth Annual Editorial Manager User Group (EMUG) meeting on June 28-29, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency. This two-day event is designed to help both new and experienced users learn about upcoming features in Editorial Manager, as well as network with peers and brainstorm about ways to better use their current system.

EMUG began with an overview by Director of Product Management, Tony Alves on what version 6.0 and 6.1 will have to offer EM users, such as non-work day calendars, the ability to rescind a decision, and deep links for downloading Reviewer attachments, to name a few. As always the interactive Features Workshop was a great way for current users to brainstorm enhancements they would like to see in the future, and the recommendations were carefully noted by the Aries Product Management Staff. The Workaround Workshop was also a hit as many users found new and easier ways to enhance their current everyday workflow.

Attendee feedback forms praised the breakout sessions as being particularly helpful, especially the Pivot Tables and General Data Export session, led by Dianne Gullo, Account Coordinator, which was a great way for users to see first hand how easy and useful Pivot Tables can be. Guest presenters Christine Lamb offered some insight into how to improve the Promotion of Submission sites. Liz Blake of Inera, Inc. discussed how Editorial Manager/eXtyles’ reference checking and linking can enhance the editorial process. Liz also provided excellent insight into what Word 2007 has in store.

Marc Abrahams, Editor of Annals of Improbable Research, presented a very amusing look into Ig Nobel Prize–winning research from years past. This was a great way to finish the first day of sessions and prepare for the reception that was held at the Museum of Science with beautiful views of the Charles River.

Richard Wynne, VP of Sales and Marketing ended the two-day event by giving a sneak peek into what Version 7 might have to offer in the future.

Feedback from attendees confirms that this EMUG was a great success. "EMUG is great for networking and meeting other users; I really liked getting new ideas to bring back and try in the office." Another attendee had this to say, "Editorial Manager simplifies the review process!" Also said was "It was great to meet other EM users from a wider variety of large to small journals who had positive feedback on using EM."


Tony Alves, Director of Product Management gave an overview of versions 6.0 and 6.1


More than 100 attendees made this EMUG a huge success


Christine Lamb giving ideas on how to improve visibility of journal manuscript submission sites.


Jason Roberts introducing ISM&TE as a new society for Editorial Assistants,
Managing Editors, and Technical Editors.

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Aries wins German innovation competition

May 4, 2007, Langenfeld, Germany - Aries Systems Corporation is pleased to announce that Editorial Manager has been awarded the prize for "innovative product" in the content management category of the Innovationspreis 2007 ITK competition. The competition focuses on products and services that offer notable benefits to mid-sized enterprises in Germany. The competition attracted 1,200 nominations in 33 categories.

"We are delighted that Editorial Manager has been selected on our first entry into this competition. Recognition in the content management category is a testament to the significant efficiency improvements that our products contribute to publishing workflow" says Roswitha Nottebaum, General Manager of Aries GmbH & Co. KG.

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Springer Offers EM Reference Linking

Click here to see Springer's press release. [pdf]

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New Customers Adopt Editorial Manager in 2007

March 6, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA - Since the New Year several scholarly publishers have adopted Editorial Manager for online peer review including: Texas Heart Institute, Quadrant HealthCom, Inc, The American Society of Extracorporeal Technology, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Cambridge University Press, Georg Thieme Verlag for DMW, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag and Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag.

Interest in Editorial Manager has been driven by several factors. In some cases, it is the ability to overlay online peer review with production tracking capabilities as an end-to-end solution for small scholarly societies wishing to control workflow all the way through to publication. In other cases, the availability of comprehensive, local customer service makes deployment of online peer review an attractive competitive advantage for journals.

Richard Wynne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Aries commented “Aries is dedicated to world class customer service, release management and hosting reliability. We are delighted that so soon in 2007 so many prospective customers have selected Editorial Manager.”

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Maney Publishing Extends Contract with Editorial Manager
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February 5, 2007, North Andover, MA, USA - Aries Systems Corporation is pleased to announce the renewal and expansion of its contract with Maney Publishing for Editorial Manager. Under the agreement, a significant proportion of Maney’s academic journals will use Editorial Manager for online manuscript submission and peer review until 2010.

Founded in 1900, Maney is a leading independent publisher of academic journals and books (full list of publications is available at their homepage). Maney, which first adopted Editorial Manager in 2004, has added a number of technical, materials science and biomedical journals in recent years, such as Neurological Research and Journal of Orthodontics. Currently, 20 journals published by Maney, including Materials Science and Technology and Advances in Applied Ceramics are using the system, and more will launch EM sites throughout 2007.

A major consideration for Maney in this renewal was Aries' responsiveness to user input when developing upgrades and new releases. For example, during annual user group meetings, users have the opportunity to share and discuss suggestions for product development. Mark Simon, Publishing Director, said, "This has given us confidence that the system will develop in ways that reflect our journal workflows." As Maney has offices in the UK and US, Mark also cited Aries’ strong user support on both sides of the ocean.

Richard Wynne, Aries’ VP of Marketing and Sales added, "Maney Publishing have been an excellent customer to work with, and we are delighted that we have earned the opportunity to extend and grow the partnership. Our mutual goal is to deliver a distinctively superior peer review experience."

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Aries' German Office Expands Customer Service Department

January 31, 2007, Langenfeld, Germany - In order to support a rapidly growing list of Editorial Manager customers in central Europe, the Aries German office in Langenfeld is pleased to announce the addition of a new Account Coordinator to their customer service department.

Manfred Sauer-Nideggen, new Aries Account Coordinator Manfred Sauer-Nideggen, the new Account Coordinator, brings many years of experience consulting and training in the IT industry. In addition to training and customer service, he will also be responsible for project management and technical editing.

"Our customers expect and get the best service and support possible," explains Roswitha Nottebaum, local area manager of Aries GmbH & Co. "We know that users appreciate the availability of support services in a local office and in their native language."

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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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