Editorial: Reviewing Manuscripts with Manuscript Central

IN THE LAST ISSUE, we presented a tutorial on using Manuscript CentralTM for submitting manuscripts to the Journal of Digital Imaging (JDI). After a user registers on jdi.manuscriptcentral.com, he or she is automatically assigned two “centers,” an Author Center and a Reviewer Center (Fig 1). When a user is selected as a reviewer for a manuscript, Manuscript Central sends an e-mail message to the reviewer with the title of the manuscript, the URL, a username, and password. At this time, we ask that reviews be completed in 2 weeks; reminders will be sent by e-mail at 1-week intervals. Figure 1 Main Menu for authors and reviewers on jdi.manuscriptcentral.com. When you enter your reviewer center, you will see a list of manuscripts pending your review, as shown in figure 2. You may navigate back to the Main Menu by clicking on the Main Menu link at the top of the page or see instructions for reviewers by clicking on the Reviewer Center Site Functionality Guide link. If you select the name of the manuscript, a new window will open, and you will be able to select the documents (main document, figures, supporting files) for review. If you select the Review button (this is the recommended path), you will be directed to a page where you will be able to see the instructions to reviewers and the manuscript information, as well as a “grading sheet” for scoring the manuscript (fig 3). When you click on View Manuscript Info, you will see manuscript information for the manuscript you have been asked to review (fig 4). JDI solicits several manuscript types: Hypthesis-Driven Research, Experience Reports, Review or Tutorial, and Technical Notes. The review criteria are slightly different for each type of manuscript, and your grading sheet will reflect the differences. Figure 2 In the Reviewer Center, navigation aids help the user return to the main menu, read the Reviewer Center Site Functionality Guide, or begin reviewing a manuscript. Figure 3 The review page for a manuscript contains tabs for reading reviewer instructions, viewing the manuscript and the manuscript information, and scoring the manuscript. Figure 4 The information about the manuscript includes the manuscript type, number of figures and tables, and manuscript key words. When you click on a manuscript title, the documents associated with that manuscript will be shown in a new window (fig 5). Because manuscripts and most supporting documents (figures, tables, etc) will be viewed using Adobe Acrobat, a link is provided to facilitate downloading the software if it is not on the reviewer’s computer. You will be able to open the documents by double-clicking on them, at which point you will be able to save them to your disk, print them, or read them online. Please read all the material carefully before scoring the manuscript. Figure 5 Selecting the name of the manuscript launches a separate window with links to the main document and supporting files. These may be opened, then saved to a local disk or printed. When you select the “Score Manuscript” tab, you will be presented with a form that is tailored for the type of manuscript you are reviewing. The top of the form (fig 6) contains a series of questions followed by a grading sheet to indicate a value for each attribute and an overall rating (fig 7). There are two comment fields, one for the author and one for the editor only. When you enter comments for authors, please remember that they should be constructive comments designed to make the manuscript better. Comments to the editor will not be sent to the authors and allow the reviewer to express perhaps a more candid opinion of the manuscript. We have found that it is a good idea to write your comments in Word or another text-processing software, then to copy and paste it as a block of text into the comment boxes. If network connection is lost after a long and thoughtful review, and your comments are lost before your scoring and review documents can be submitted, it is a frustrating experience. Figure 6 The top of the manuscript scoring instrument requests simple yes/no answers to questions. Each grading sheet is tailored to a particular manuscript type. Figure 7 The bottom of the manuscript scoring instrument requests ratings of the manuscript and comments to the authors and editor. We value all the reviews we get, and we know reviewing is a time-consuming and difficult task. We will send all reviewers a letter at the end of the year thanking them for their work. It is our hope that these letters can be used to demonstrate service to the research community for evaluations. In the future, we hope to be able to offer CME credits for reviewing. We will keep the membership informed on the progress we are making toward that end.