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Role
Role
The main role of the Associate Editors is to lead and supervise the peer review process. They make a decision about each manuscript informed by the recommendations provided by the Assistant Editors and the peer reviews. Learn more about the role of an Associate Editor on the page entitled Roles, and more about our team on the page entitled Who is ICB.
Tasks
Tasks
Tasks 1 to 3 described below are completed using ScholarOne, an online platform for managing manuscripts.
Task 1 Pre-assess new submissions
Task 1 Pre-assess new submissions
make a recommendation:
typically takes 15 minutes per manuscript
complete within 24 hours
options: peer review | reject with invitation to resubmit | reject outright
symposium and invited manuscripts are sent out for peer review unless there the editor finds flaws that prevent the manuscript from being peer reviewed (such as figures mangled during the conversion to pdf format)
contributed manuscripts require more scrutiny because they have not gone through the pre-submission vetting process of invited and symposium manuscripts
Each new submission is assigned to an Assistant and an Associate Editor by the Managing Editor, according previously agreed portfolios. Be available to the designated Assistant Editor for consultations on recommendations, in particular recommendations to reject without peer review.
The Assistant Editor pre-assesses each new submission to judge whether it is ready for full peer review, and will make a recommendation for you to inform your decision. Although rejection without peer review is rare (fewer than 1% of symposium submissions), manuscripts may be rejected at this stage on grounds of poor quality. New Associate Editors are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the quality standards and scope of ICB, and the type of papers ICB publishes.
If you decide to reject without peer review, please consult with the Editor before committing the decision.
Task 2 Make a decision
Task 2 Make a decision
typically takes 10 to 20 minutes per manuscript
complete within 2 to 3 days
make a decision. Options: ‘Accept as is’, ‘Minor revision’, ‘Major revision’, ‘Reject’ or ‘Reject and allow resubmission’
The Managing Editor will alert you when the Assistant Editor’s recommendation is submitted. You re-assess the manuscript, taking into account the reviewers’ comments and the Assistant Editor’s recommendation, and provide a decision of ‘Accept as is’, ‘Minor revision’, ‘Major revision’, ‘Reject’ or ‘Reject and allow/encourage resubmission’.
If you decide to reject, please consult with the Editor before committing the decision.
Task 3 Write a decision letter to the authors
Task 3 Write a decision letter to the authors
typically takes 30 to 60 minutes per manuscript
complete within 1 to 2 days, preferably immediately after Task 2
Refer to the recommendations by the Assistant Editor to provide clear instructions to the authors on how to revise their manuscript. Given our tight timeline, we discourage multiple rounds of revision. Hence it is important that you provide authors with clear guidelines on how to revise their manuscript in order to make it suitable for publication. Clearly indicate which recommended revisions are mandatory (the manuscript will be rejected if the authors do not comply with the recommendation) and which are optional (the authors may opt not to follow this recommendation).
For more detailed advice, please refer to the page on Peer review challenges and refer to the page on Decision letter template language for communicating effectively with authors concerning particular challenges.
Symposium organizers are invited to write an Introduction to the Symposium. Some Introductions merely explain the symposium topic and summarize the symposium papers; these are reviewed only by the editors. Introductions that are fully developed review or perspective papers will be sent out for full peer review.
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