Clarify the publication workflow

[robyngit]

We need to refine and make the publication workflow more intuitive for MetacatUI users. Along with making the publication process more explicit and user-friendly, we should also allow each repository to customize their own workflow to reflect their publishing process and suit the needs of their community.

For example, as @mbjones suggested, the ADC's publication workflow would involve the following steps:

graph LR
    A[Start submission] --> B[Save drafts]
    B --> C[MetaDIG checks]
    C --> D[Submit for review]
    D --> E[Curator/PI save revisions]
    E --> F[Approval]
    F --> G[Publish with DOI]

Clarifying the publication workflow will likely comprise multiple smaller tasks and issues. This overarching issue serves as the initial platform to kickstart the discussion on the necessary changes and improvements. Some points to consider include: How can we visually represent the workflow in the UI in a way that is intuitive to users? How will the workflow differ between repos? How can they customize and extend the workflow?

Any and all feedback welcome!

Related issues

Some of these should be tackled in the course of this work.

• Metadig checks:

  • 1820

  • 886

  • 1429

• Publish button / DOIs:

  • 1642

  • 1894

  • 2050

  • 2202

  • 1380

• Drafts:

  • 1949

  • 1714

  • 1228

  • 687

  • 191

• Submit/Save button:

  • 684

  • 316

  • 1522

[robyngit]

From https://github.com/NCEAS/metacatui/issues/1380#issuecomment-1767194626

Some quick thoughts on lifecycle representation in the app for discussion...

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Draft: New
    Draft --> Draft: Save
    Draft --> [*]: Delete
    review : In review
    rev_request: Review requested
    Draft --> rev_request: Review
    rev_request --> review: StartReview
    review --> Draft: RequestRevision
    review --> Approved: Approve
    Approved --> Published: Publish
    Published --> Draft: Edit
    Published --> [*]

[mbjones]

Comment from an Arctic Data Center user today, which highlight the need to clarify "Save" versus "Submit" conceptually:

I was in the process of uploading a data set and didn't realize that the save dataset button was to submit the dataset rather than save my progress. Is there a way to edit or take down my dataset that was submitted? Or do I just wait for it to not be approved and resubmit it?