Using Custom Submission Questions and Questionnaires in Editorial Manager™ Created by J. Strusz (9/21/2010)

Custom Submission Questions and Author Questionnaires The ‘Additional Information’ submission step The ‘Additional Information’ submission step allows the publication to display a set of custom ‘questions’ that can be answered by the Author during the ‘Submit Manuscript’ process. These questions can also be configured to display on the Transmittal Form and the Details page. Publications can create a ‘master list’ of questions via the ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’ page in PolicyManager. Once the master list is created, then the publication can create Author Questionnaires which contain one or more of those questions. Questions can appear on multiple questionnaires. Each question on a questionnaire can be marked as required for that questionnaire only. Author Questionnaires can be configured for use with specific article types. To build Custom Submission Questions that can be added to Author Questionnaires, go to PolicyManager, and then to ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’. You may either edit an existing question or add new questions. Once you have added the Custom Submission Questions, click on Create Author Questionnaires to create the questionnaire that will appear on the Additional Information page of the submission process.

Create Custom Submission Questions Note: You may Edit an existing Question by changing the response type and/or responses available. The content of a question CANNOT be edited once it has been used. Enter the following information on the ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’ page (continued on next slide):  ‘Question’ Enter the text of the question you would like to create in this textbox.  ‘Instructions for Author Response’ The text you enter here will be available to the Author via the Instructions hyperlink next to the Question on the ‘Additional Information’ submission step.  ‘Hide’ checkbox A Question may become outdated over time. You can ‘retire’ a Question by selecting the ‘Hide’ checkbox. The Question must be removed from all Questionnaires before it can be hidden. Hidden Questions are not available for selection on the ‘Configure Author Questionnaires’ page.  ‘Response Type’ This indicates how the Author is expected to respond to the Questions at the ‘Additional Information’ step (i.e. Will he choose an option from a drop-down list? Does he have to enter a date? Can he enter text?). This drop-down list allows you to choose from one of the following options:  ‘Text’ (selected by default) - If this Response Type is selected, the Author response entered on the ‘Additional Information’ step can contain any combination of characters and numbers.  ‘Notes’ – Author response may contain any combination of characters and numbers. This is just like ‘Text’, except the Author has a larger area in which to type.  ‘Date’ - Author response must be entered in an ‘mm/dd/yyyy’ format. The calendar icon feature is displayed to provide a convenient way for the user to adhere to this format.  ‘Integer’ - Author response must be a number.  ‘Decimal’ - Author responses can contain only numbers and a decimal point.

Create Custom Submission Questions To build Custom Submission Questions that can be added to Author Questionnaires, go to PolicyManager, and then to ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’. You may either edit an existing question or add new questions. Note: You may Edit an existing Question by subtly changing its wording. You should take care not to change the meaning of a previously used Question in such a way that past Author responses to the Question are affected. Enter the following information on the ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’ page:  ‘Response Type’ (continued from previous slide) ‘List’ - Author response requires the Author to select from a list of pre-configured choices (this is described further below). If you select the ‘List’ option for a question, the page will refresh with a ‘View/Edit Values for List’ link. Clicking this link opens a page where you can enter values to display to the Author. Lists can be displayed in the following formats: ‘Drop-down list (Allows for a null or single value selection)’ – The Author would see a drop-down list of allowable values to choose from. He can select one value from the drop-down list. ‘Radio Buttons (Allows for a single value selection; requires a default value)’ – The Author would see a set of radio buttons, where he must select one answer. ‘Checkboxes (Allows for multiple value selection; good for 1-5 values)’ – The Author will see a list of selectable checkboxes, where he can select one or more answers. You can also specify the minimum/maximum number of selections the Author is allowed to make. ‘Scrolling Selector (Allows for multiple value selection; good for more than 5 values)’ – The Author would see a scrolling selector box, where he can select one or more answers. You can also specify the minimum/maximum number of selections the Author is allowed to make. Clicking the ‘View/Edit Values for List’ link navigates the Administrator to one of two versions of the ‘Configure Values for List’ page, depending on whether the List Display option selected on the previous page requires definition of a default value. From these pages the Administrator can customize the options available for Author responses from a list, indicate the order in which the answer choices are displayed, and specify the default value.  ‘Options’ – This area allows for you to configure if the question should display or be hidden on ‘Manuscript Details’ and on the Transmittal Form.  If the field should not display on ‘Manuscript Details’, click the checkbox labeled ‘Hide’  If the field should not display on the Transmittal Form, click the checkbox labeled ‘Hide’ next to the Transmittal Form label.  If the field is displayed on the Transmittal form, determine if the field should be editable and if it should be required by clicking the appropriate checkbox.  For both of these two Options, you may enter Help text available to users when they click the ‘Help’ link on the respective page.

Create Author Questionnaires Once your Custom Submission Questions are configured, you can either click the ‘Create Author Questionnaires’ link from the ‘Create Custom Submission Questions’ page, or navigate through PolicyManager to the ‘Create Author Questionnaires’ page.

To create a new Questionnaire, click the ‘Add’ button. Next, enter the ‘Author Questionnaire Name’ and click the ‘Add Custom Submission Questions’ button.

Select the Questions you want to add by selecting/checking the box next to each question. Then, click the ‘Add to Questionnaire’ button.

After clicking the ‘Add to Questionnaire’ button, you are returned to the ‘Configure Author Questionnaire’ page, where you can adjust the order in which the Questions are displayed to the Author and indicate whether an Author response is ‘Required for Submission’. If this checkbox is selected, the Author will not be allowed to build complete the submission without answering the Question. Make sure to click the ‘Save’ button to save your changes.

Assigning Author Questionnaires to Article Types Once your Author Questionnaire has been configured, go back to PolicyManager and click on Edit Article Types. For each article type for which you’d like to use an Author Questionnaire, click Edit, then scroll down to the Article Type Parameters section. Select the questionnaire you’d like to use from the drop-down menu provided for ‘Set Additional Information Author Questionnaire Preferences’. Then, click Submit to save your changes.