Required Number of Reviewers

Journals can indicate a journal policy for the required number of Reviewers before a submission is ready for a Decision by the Editor.  This is identified onscreen as, 'This Submission will move to the 'Submissions with Required Reviews Complete' folder as soon as X review(s) have been completed'.  The purpose of this number is to expose manuscripts that may need additional attention: either by 1) moving the submission to the ‘Submissions Requiring Additional Reviewers’ folder; or 2) moving submissions to the ‘Submissions with Required Reviews Complete’ folder and prompting a letter to be sent (set in the ActionManager event ‘Required Reviews Complete’).

 

A default required number of Reviewers is set in PolicyManager, under 'Edit Article Types'; each Article Type can have its own required number of Reviewers.  This number may be overridden on a per-submission basis on the 'Reviewer Selection Summary' screen.

 

Failure to complete the required number of reviews does not prevent Editors from being able to make a Decision on a submission.  Rather, this number serves to expose submissions that may need additional attention.

 

To Configure:  Go to PolicyManager, then to 'Edit Article Types', and then choose an Article Type.  Find the item that says, ‘Submissions will move to the 'Submissions with Required Reviews Complete' folder as soon as this number of reviews has been completed.’  Enter the number of reviews that should be completed before an Editor makes a Decision.  Submissions will move into the Editor's 'Submissions with Required Reviews Complete' folder as soon as the entered number of reviews are complete, regardless of how many Reviewers are assigned.

 

Note:  The required number of Reviewers setting has no relevance to the promotion of Alternates.  If the required number of Reviewers is set to 2, and the Editor assigns 3 Reviewers, the system will promote Alternates so that there are always 3 Reviewers invited/assigned, until the Alternates run out.  In this example, if the list of Alternates is depleted, and there are only 2 Reviewers invited or assigned, the submission will NOT move to the Submissions Requiring Additional Reviewers folder because the required number of Reviewers is set to 2.  If the Editor 'requires' 3 Reviewers, then the Editor should set the required number of Reviewers setting to 3 on the Reviewer Selection Summary screen for that submission