EDITORIAL REVIEW GUIDELINES for BOOK EDITORS _______________________________________________________________________________ This document provides guidelines which will assist you throughout the editorial review process. The document contains valuable information and recommended procedures for a successful completion of the editorial process. THE BOOK The agreed Book project will be a research publication that will cover original research on developments within specific fields of study. The Book will be a collection of reviewed scholarly contributions written by a number of authors and edited by the Book Editor. Each scholarly contribution will represent a Chapter, and each Chapter is complete in itself but related to the major topics and objectives. The target audience comprises scholars and specialists in the field. BOOK EDITOR'S MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES 1. The Book Editor suggests the topic, the title of the book and provides possible topics and keywords related to the book project. 2. The Book Editor bears the responsibility for the published content and is expected to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Review and select chapter proposals Conduct plagiarism check Review full chapters Define the book sections and structure the table of contents Write the preface Define the final title
INTECH'S SERVICE BENEFITS TO THE BOOK EDITOR An opportunity to make a significant contribution by working on a scientifically relevant project A highly rewarding position that increases scientific impact and visibility among scientific communities Editors are presented with a personal picture and a short CV on the back cover of the book Online publishing on a platform with more than 170,000 visits per week International dissemination of the edited book and free access to your work thanks to the Open Access model Three complimentary hard copies of the book Complete book in .pdf Full support to your editorial work
COMMUNICATION WITH AUTHORS For questions related to technical aspects of the publishing process, the sole point of contact of the Authors is the assigned Publishing Process Manager. It is the task of the Publishing Process Managers to provide authors with all publishing guidelines, together with technical requirements for submitting their manuscript.
EDITORIAL REVIEW PROCESS
All submitted chapter proposals are uploaded to the Manuscript Tracking System (MTS). The MTS is a program that allows submission of manuscripts with tracking of their progress until the end of the publishing process. Authors and Editors have access to the MTS and can view the process steps, documents and next steps at any time. The review is performed online, through the Book Editor Panel, a Panel included in MTS. The Book Editor Panel is designed to significantly facilitate the review process, and to simplify the complex work-flow behind the publishing process. The Editor can access it by logging in on the following link: htp://www.intechopen.com/account/login and clicking on Your Panels section (Editor Panel) located on the top of the screen.
The main steps of the review process are: STEP 1- Preliminary Step STEP 2- Chapter Proposal Review STEP 3- iThenticate Control and Full Chapter Review STEP 4- Defining Book Subject and Book Sections STEP 5- Defining Book Title and Uploading Preface
STEP 1- PRELIMINARY STEP Before starting the Editorial Review Process the Book Editor is requested to read and accept the Book Editor Agreement. This is an official document defining the Copyright terms and conditions of the book project. Only after the Book Editor accepts the terms and conditions stated in the Agreement can s/he commence the Editorial Review Process.
STEP 2- REVIEW CHAPTER PROPOSALS 2.1. The Editor gains access to his/her Book Editor Panel two (2) weeks after the chapter proposal submission deadline. Chapter proposal review process must be finished within fourteen (14) days. 2.2. The purpose of this preliminary review is to determine if a submitted chapter proposal suits the overall content of the book. However, Editors must acknowledge that chapter proposals which might not suit one book should be rejected. Also the Book Editors are encouraged to propose topics that might be a suitable addition to the book in order to make it book more coherent in content.
A chapter proposal consists of: a tentative title, Author name(s) and a short description of the proposed chapter, clearly explaining the aims and concerns of the chapter (length: 1-4 pages). InTech provides Authors with a chapter proposal form. The Publishing Process Manager will provide the Book Editor with a sample form. 2.3. By clicking the Review button next to each chapter proposal title, the Editor gains access to the Review Form where he/she is able to download and read the submitted documents.
2.4. The review form includes multiple choice questions related to the chapter proposal under review. Editors have an overall responsibility for the publication's scientific content. Once the Chapter Proposal Review process is completed, the Status column on the Book Editor Panel shows whether the chapter proposal is Accepted or Rejected. All chapter proposals have to be reviewed before the system can proceed to the next step. As soon as the second step has been completed, Authors will start preparing their full chapters (they have approximately two months for the preparation).
STEP 3 – ITHENTICATE CONTROL AND FULL CHAPTER REVIEW 3.1. Next step in the review process is the Full Chapter Review. Every time a new chapter is uploaded for review, Editors are notified by e-mail. The Editor gains access to read and review the manuscripts as soon as they are submitted and uploaded on the Book Editor Panel. The Editor has six (6) weeks to review all the submitted chapters. Very often there is a long time interval between the first and the last manuscript. Therefore, the Editor is expected to read and review the chapters one by one, as soon as they are uploaded. 3.2. Before the Book Editor reviews the content of the full chapter he/she needs to upload the file in iThenticate and conduct a plagiarism check. The access to iThenticate and the guidelines for the plagiarism software will be provided by the Publishing Process Manager. 3.3. Only after the chapter is uploaded and analyzed through iThenticate can the Book Editor analyze the scientific content of the chapter. On the Editor Panel you will find the Author Guidelines. These will help you asses and review the format and the structure of the full chapter submitted.
3.4. The review report After you've screened the full chapter you are required to include your findings in the review report. The focus of your review should be the scientific content of the chapter. In the review report you must:
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be constructive (contain clear instructions on how to improve the overall manuscript quality)
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include iThenticate report findings - Similarity index: __% - Is the chapter acceptable in its current form? Yes / No - If not, how severe is the plagiarism? Mildly / Moderately / Significantly - What revisions are required to rectify the mistakes: ____________________. (write down your recommendations for improving the manuscript with regards to potentially malicious plagiarism)
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have a minimum of 160 characters
3.5. The Book Editor(s) reviews the full chapters, evaluating its scientific merit, and ultimately deciding whether it is suitable for inclusion in a book or not. He/she has the possibility of accepting/rejecting/asking for revisions of the full chapter. Once revised, the Book Editor gives his/her final decision. The final decision should take into the account the plagiarism review report and the scientific review. The full chapter can be: Accepted Rejected Needs Revision (Revised submissions go through final review conducted by the Book Editor(s)). Once revised, if review reports deem the chapter to be unacceptable, authors are informed that their chapter has not been accepted for publication. If the review report result requires the chapter to be revised the Authors are informed on the matter and are required to revise their chapter in order to make it suitable for publication. (Revised submissions go through final review conducted by the Book Editor(s)). When the manuscript meets all Editor's requirements, it is accepted for publication. The Authors are informed about the acceptance of their chapter. The Editor’s comments for Authors must be constructive and polite, since they are sent to the Authors through the chapter proposal review form directly. At the end of each review form, Editors can write notes to the Publisher as well. Comments for Publisher are confidential and will not be shared with the Authors.
3.6. The publisher monitors the review process and tries to keep the refereeing delay within 3 months. InTech book Editors’ choices during the editorial review are independent from the publisher. InTech does not interfere with the Editors' work under any circumstances. IMPORTANT: If any unavoidable delays in the review process appear, the Editor should notify his/her Publishing Process Manager. All chapters must be reviewed before the system can proceed to the next step. The chapters once reviewed and revised by the authors, will be sent to Language Copyediting and to the Technical Editors for formatting.
STEP 4 – DEFINE BOOK SUBJECT AND BOOK SECTIONS 4.1. Once the full chapters have been reviewed and approved, the Editor is responsible for defining the book subject arranging all the contributions into Sections and in this way creating the Table of Contents. 4.1.1. Book subject Defining the category and subcategory will help us match the book to its correct subject fled. Online book editions are presented on our web page according to these categories so that the audience can find the material within their area of interest more easily.
4.1.2. Book sections To perform this operation, the Editor is asked to create content sections, one by one. To structure and organize the chapters within the book, the Editor divides them into sections by dragging and dropping titles from the list to the section previously created by clicking on “Add New Section ”. Each section must be given a Title.
IMPORTANT: If the Editor does not wish to create multiple sections, he/she can also group all the chapters into one section. In this case, the section title can be identical to the title of the book. Sections and chapters can be arranged in whatever order the Editor desires and a Preview of the Table of Contents is available. Chapters can be freely moved from one section to another. The Editor can also rearrange the order of the Sections within the table of contents by dragging one section above or under another. Upon completion of the task, the Editor is asked either to save the changes with the aim to make further corrections, or to proceed to the next step if the version of the table of content is the final one.
STEP 5 – BOOK TITLE AND PREFACE 5.1. After completing the review, the Editor should define the Book Title more precisely. 5.2. Finally, the last task of the Editor is to write the Preface - an essay that briefly presents the purpose and the contents of the book. The preface often closes with acknowledgement of those who assisted in the project, and is always signed.
5.3. As soon as the Editor’s Preface is uploaded and the book title has been changed, the Editor can finalize the process by clicking “Mark Finished ”. After that, further online access to the book will not be possible. The book is then passed to the Technical Editors who prepare it for online publication and print.
IMPORTANT: Editor’s last assignment is to send to his/her Publishing Process Manager: his/her short CV (max. 120 words) back-cover text (max. 120 words) photograph (resolution of at least 300 dpi) delivery address (including a telephone number)
Without the above the book cannot be sent to print. For any further questions or suggestions please contact the Publishing Process Manager.
EXPLANATION OF INTECH'S SERVICES Project management. InTech will assign to the Book Editor and to the corresponding Authors of each Book a designated Publishing Process Manager. The Publishing Process Manager offers full support by handling the complete communication with the participating authors, providing publishing guidelines, answering authors' questions and giving them all the information they require to complete the submission of their work. Our staff is at the Editor and authors' disposal at all times. Online publishing technology. Book Chapters will be uploaded, reviewed and managed electronically only through the Manuscript Tracking System (MTS). The MTS is a program that allows submission of manuscripts with tracking of their progress until the end of the publishing process. Authors and Editors have access to the MTS and can view the process steps, documents and next steps at any time. InTech makes every effort to ensure that the publishing workflow and the editorial process is intuitive, efficient and pleasant. Technical corrections, cover design and Book layouting. InTech is responsible for the technical preparation of the material prior to publishing (text layout, images, graphs, charts and tables), for the design and preparation of a Book cover and for management of all pre-press activities. To complete the Book cover the Book Editor is asked to send a face or chest-up portrait photograph of himself/herself in .JPEG file format. Photos must be in high resolution (300 DPI).
Online publication. InTech will prepare the Book for publication and will make it freely available to be downloaded and read online on the Publisher's webpage www.intechopen.com. Online hosting and archiving will also be performed by the Publisher. Dissemination. Once published, the book will be made available through InTech's reading platform, indexed in scientific databases, and the author(s) and their work will be promoted by InTech online, universities, and in book fairs. Print. InTech’s scientific books are carefully designed and printed on premium quality paper, hard bound with the book block printed on uncoated paper. The cover is full color with a matt casewrap, hardcover binding. We collaborate with an award winning printing house for all ongoing book projects. Express postal shipment of three (3) hard copies of the Book. The Book Editor will receive three (3) hard copies of the Book via express worldwide postal delivery. Additional hard-copies can be ordered and paid for separately and will also be delivered by the express delivery service.
