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Ann Thorac Surg 2003;75:11-14
© 2003 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
* Address reprint requests to Dr Edmunds, Editor, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 5000 Ravdin Court, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4382, USA.
e-mail: ats{at}uphs.upenn.edu
If you look carefully, you will notice a change in the cover of The Annals; the logos of our parent societies and the new internet address of our "virtual" editorial office have been added. The cover changes are intentionally small, but we have made big changes in how we process your manuscripts. For the past 11 months, The Annals has worked with HighWire Press to customize their Bench>Press manuscript tracking system to process our annual workload of approximately 3,500 manuscript submissions and revisions and 5,000 reviews. With this issue The Annals introduces our version of the Bench>Press system, a list of keywords, and our online editorial office. The new system allows you to electronically submit manuscripts, track your manuscript through the review process, review manuscripts, and update your personal file at anytime.
Our online office is located at http://www.atseditorialoffice.org. Beginning January 1, 2003, all functions of the editorial office will take place at this website and we will not be able to process new manuscripts that are not entered into the Bench>Press system. Authors who submit manuscripts on paper will be instructed to resubmit using the online Bench>Press system. Necessarily, we will continue to process manuscripts received before January 1, 2003 using the old system. The old and new systems are incompatible; therefore, all manuscripts received after January 1 must be entered into the Bench>Press system.
We urge everyone to register now with the new system even if you are not submitting a manuscript. To participate you will need a current email address, a password that you create, and a computer and browser that connect you to the internet. Be sure your browser accepts "cookies" (identifying data that are automatically sent from computer to computer).
Our home page (Fig 1) welcomes you to the editorial office and immediately asks if you have already registered with another journal that uses the Bench>Press system, such as the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. If you are already registered, you should use the same email address and password to sign in to the editorial office of The Annals. If you have not previously registered, and most of you have not, we ask you to "create a new account."
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Step 2, the verification process, ensures that the e-mail address you entered in Step 1 leads us back to you so that we can confirm your current e-mail address. When you complete step 1, you will receive an e-mail message from us containing a link back to our website. When you click on the link, you will be told that your address is verified. If your e-mail program does not allow you to click on links, you may have to cut and paste the link address from the e-mail message into the address window of your browser. This will send the message to our website verifying your address.
Once your address is verified, the system prompts you to supply and/or edit your personal information, ie, your contact information. Because we transferred information from our old database, many of you will find some information already entered. If so, please edit as necessary. If no information is listed, please provide it. Required fields in your personal information file (as with all required fields throughout the system) are highlighted in blue. You need to keep your basic profile updated; after you have created an account (ie, registered) you can change this information, including your e-mail address, at any time.
There is also a box on the Personal Information page titled, "My expertise identified by keywords." If you would like to be a reviewer for The Annals, double click on "keywords." A list of 364 keywords that describe the content of The Annals and our collective professional knowledge base appears. The ability to use keywords to identify the content of manuscripts and the expertise of reviewers is one of the most exciting features of the Bench>Press system. The quality of reviews increases with the degree of expertise and interest of reviewers. Therefore, matching manuscripts for review with reviewers with similar expertise and interests offers an important opportunity for The Annals to improve the scientific quality and content of every article.
There are, however, some constraints that all authors and reviewers must realize. Matching cannot be done if the keywords used to identify subject matter differ from the keywords used to identify expertise. Therefore, only one list of keywords can exist and this list must be used by both authors and reviewers. The system does not allow anyone to enter keywords free-form. The keywords must be chosen from the list provided.
Authors must also realize that no one keyword is likely to identify the content of their article; however, a group of keywords (up to five) does a pretty good job. For example, if an author writes a paper on treatment of cancer of the esophagus in patients over 70 years of age, he/she may choose the following keywords: esophageal cancer; elderly; adjuvant therapy; esophageal surgery; risk analysis. Individually, each word is too broad, but collectively they satisfactorily describe the content of the manuscript.
The list also has to consider the number of manuscripts submitted on each subject. The Annals receives scores of manuscripts related to the aorta, cardiopulmonary bypass, congenital heart surgery, coronary artery surgery, lung cancer, valvular heart disease, etc; thus it makes sense to subdivide these broad topics to the degree that allows us to more specifically identify content and expertise. We receive only an occasional manuscript on Barrett’s esophagus, fungal infection, myxoma, interrupted arch, and parathyroid tumors; thus these subjects need to be described by careful selection of a group of keywords.
The Annals is starting with a list of 364 keywords, which has been reviewed and modified by editorial board members. The more specific the keyword, the longer the list becomes. Therefore, Clagett operation, Ross operation, and Fontan procedure are not included, but "surgical operation" is on the list. Likewise, the shorter the list, the less specific the area of subject matter is described. Our list is constructed with the hope that it is long enough to allow authors and reviewers to indicate subject matter and expertise, and yet is short enough to not exhaust the attention spans of either. Thus we estimate that between 20 and 40 keywords will describe the major areas of expertise for most of you; however, there is no limit to the number a reviewer may check.
Reviewers will check the keywords that best describe their interests and expertise, and their list is stored in their individual personal information files. Authors will check up to five keywords from the list presented to them when they submit their manuscript. The checked words become part of the manuscript package. The list of keywords also appears in print under "Information for Authors" published in each issue of The Annals.
Once you have supplied your personal information and have or have not selected keywords, you have finished the registration process.
The procedure for submitting a manuscript is fairly straightforward, but a few words of explanation may help. To start, check "Author area" on the Home page and sign in. When you choose "Submit a new manuscript," a new page, "Entry data" appears (Fig 2). Note the checklist on the left under "Submission status." This checklist accompanies you as you navigate the subsequent web pages, tracks the steps that you have completed, and lists the steps to be done.
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Under "Entry data" you record basic information about your paper such as number of authors, category, title, abstract, and cover letter. Save time by copying and pasting such items as your abstract from your electronic copy. When you complete these entry data, the system assigns a manuscript ID number to your paper, which appears at the top of every page through this menu.
Next, choose 2 to 5 keywords for your paper from the list of 364 keywords. Then, enter the names of all of the authors in the order they appear on the title page. Designate which author is the corresponding author. All further contact from our office is with the corresponding author and only the corresponding author is able to submit a revision of the manuscript.
The next step in the submission process involves uploading or electronically transferring your manuscript from your computer into our system. You can submit only one manuscript file for the text, but multiple files containing images or figures. The manuscript file should contain all of the text from title page to figure legends and include acknowledgements, references, and tables. The system handles most common word processing formats, but Word is preferred, using Times New Roman or Arial font for the text. Use the Symbol font for special characters. You may submit a single image file containing all of your figures or you may submit separate image files for each figure. Label each image or figure using the figure number (eg, Figure 1A) as the filename for that image. Image file formats accepted are: TIFF and EPS. Powerpoint (.ppt) files are also accepted; however, you must use a separate Powerpoint image file for each Powerpoint figure. In addition, send two sets of illustrations on glossy paper to the Editorial Office as insurance that the resolution of your image files is adequate for publication. Please label the illustrations with the manuscript number, first author, and figure number.
Once you have uploaded your files, they are converted into a single portable document format (PDF) file that contains all of your text and images. Reviewers review the PDF file. The conversion process takes between 15 minutes to two hours; therefore, you will be prompted to close your browser at this point and await an e-mail message indicating that the conversion is done. The e-mail message leads you back to the website where you can complete the final step of the submission process—proofreading and approving the PDF file and attendant "Entry data." You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files and there are links to download Adobe during proofreading. The system allows you to correct any errors and this is your best chance to do so. Once you approve the PDF and "Entry data," your manuscript is officially submitted and will be acknowledged by e-mail.
Like most new procedures the process appears daunting, particularly when described in words. However, we hope that you soon register and become familiar with the system so that you can easily submit your manuscripts. Bench>Press has many advantages: instantaneous communication between you and the editorial office via email; the ability to check the status of your manuscript yourself online; faster turnaround time on reviews; quicker and more reliable transfer of manuscripts, images, and reviews between participants; and better matching of reviewer expertise with manuscript content.
Bench>Press is a dynamic system, supported by a talented team of technicians and programmers at HighWire Press who are constantly improving the system and developing new features in response to user feedback. The staff of the ATS Editorial Office is dedicated to making this new system work for you. If you have trouble, there are buttons throughout the system to send us feedback. You can also contact us the old-fashioned way by phone during business hours (8 AM–6 PM, Monday through Friday, Eastern U.S. time) at 215-349-5542 or any time by FAX (215-614-0416) or e-mail (ats@uphs.upenn.edu). We will help you resolve your problem and do whatever it takes to get your manuscript into the system and to our readers.
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