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Workflow of interactive journals reorganized

10 December 2015

A couple of weeks ago, we informed about the upcoming changes to our interactive journals (i.e. journals including the Interactive Public Peer Review™) by the end of the year: discussion papers published from 1 January 2016 onwards will no longer undergo typesetting and proofreading; instead, the PDFs uploaded by the author will be published, and the article processing charges (APCs) will be levied for the publication of the final revised paper in the journal.

Such a significant modification to the workflow combined with the launch of a new library layout will be accompanied by some constraints in the next three to four weeks. The following lists the milestones.

  1. Wed, 16 December: The last discussion papers will undergo a production file upload with text and figures. These discussion papers will receive typesetting and proofreading. If they are published before 22 December, the publication will be the same as in the past. If they are published in January 2016, the typeset version will be published but will follow the new standard for discussion papers (no subsequent pagination anymore and payment of APCs upon publication of the final revised paper).
  2. Thu, 17 December: Discussion papers with a production file upload from 17 December will be uploaded as the author's PDF file only. They will not be published in 2015. Their publication in January 2016 will follow the new standard for discussion papers (no pagination anymore and payment of APCs upon publication of the final revised paper).
  3. Mon, 21 December: Monday, 21 December will be the last day we publish articles for 2015, discussion papers as well as final revised papers. From this day on, we will still work on manuscripts currently in the typesetting and/or proofreading process, but publication of the papers will take place after 1 January 2016.
  4. Thu, 24 December to Sun, 27 December: Our offices will not be staffed due to holidays.
  5. Mon, 28 December to Wed, 30 December: Our offices will be staffed. We will still work on manuscripts currently in the typesetting and proofreading process, but publication of the papers will take place after 1 January 2016.
  6. Thu, 31 December to Sun, 3 January: Our offices will not be staffed due to the holidays.
  7. Mon, 4 January 2016: All offices will be fully staffed, and we will start to publish the first papers in the new library layout. Discussion papers with a production file upload before 17 December will be published in their typeset and proofread version but without subsequent pagination. Discussion papers with a production file upload from 17 December will be published as the author’s PDF file with a citation header added by us. In this case, the payment of APCs will be due upon publication of the corresponding final revised paper.

Please note that the reorganization of the workflow required a refactoring of our library publishing and distribution system. Therefore, we will start the new libraries with the following sections: recent papers, volumes, special issues, and discussion papers. In January, the following library sections will be added: by topic, by manuscript type, highlight papers, most commented papers, and most downloaded papers. We kindly ask for your patience at this time.

The new library will focus on the final revised papers. Discussion papers in open discussion, without a final revised submission so far, those in which the peer review has been stopped, or papers rejected after discussion are listed in the library section discussion papers. All others – this means discussion papers with a corresponding final revised paper published – will be included in the presentation of their final revised paper. In its "peer review" tab, the final revised paper summarizes the discussion paper, the comments posted during the public discussion, and for most journals also the reports and decisions of the peer-review completion phase.

We kindly ask all readers, authors, editors, and referees to accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused during this reorganization phase. Thank you very much for your understanding.

Kind regards,
Martin Rasmussen
Copernicus Publications