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pkp / pkp-lib

The library used by PKP's applications OJS, OMP and OPS, open source software for scholarly publishing.
https://pkp.sfu.ca
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Section editor with limited assignment privileges can't make a recommendation pre-review #6987

Open kshuttle opened 3 years ago

kshuttle commented 3 years ago

Describe the bug Please tell us what happens, what you expected to happen, and why you think it is a bug in the software.

When a managing editor limits the assignment privileges of a section editor so that they can only recommend an editorial decision but require an authorized editor to record decisions, the section editor has the "Send to Review" option available in a submission, but no option appears to allow them to recommend a different decision (such as decline the submission, or accept and skip review). There is also no option in the discussion feature allowing them to contact the journal manager to share their recommendation in a message.

When the section editor selects "Send to Review" (the only option available to them), they then have the option to "Make Recommendation." However, these recommendations are for the editorial decision made made after the review has happened - Request Revisions, Resubmit for Review, Accept Submission, or Decline Submission.

What does the section editor do if they are assigned to a submission that they do not believe should be sent to review? How can they notify the managing editor of this recommendation?

To Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behavior:

  1. As a journal manager, set the section editor permissions so that they can only recommend decisions

image

  1. As the section editor, visit a new submission that needs a decision regarding sending to review / rejecting / skipping review

image

Note that the section editor has only one option - to send to review.

  1. As the section editor, click "Pre-Review Discussions." Note that there is no option to contact the managing editor to share a recommendation.
add-discussion
  1. As the section editor, click "Send to Review." Note that the section editor now has an option to make a recommendation - but these are intended to be made after peer review. image make-recommendation

What application are you using? OJS 3.2, tested in https://demo.publicknowledgeproject.org/pkpschool/ojs3/index.php/ksj/index

NateWr commented 3 years ago

@kshuttle did you encounter a use-case for this (ie - a client request)? I'll copy the comment on Slack here so it's available for wider discussion.

I think the original intent was for recommend-only to apply to the review stage decisions. The typical use-case is an editor/assistant who "manages" the editorial workflow, but where a senior editor must provide oversight for the crucial accept/reject decision.

That's mentioned here: https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/issues/3436 and the backstory for the feature is at https://github.com/pkp/pkp-lib/issues/2433.

So I think the use-case is for recommend-only editors to be able to move a submission through the editorial workflow except for the review-stage accept/reject. If there's a new use-case that's different, we can evaluate that but we'll need to weigh it against the existing case and decide whether we need additional configuration or not.

It seems reasonable to apply this recommend-only behaviour to rejection in the submission stage, however I'm not sure whether this is a common workflow. I think in most cases the oversight is only required at the review stage.

kshuttle commented 3 years ago

Hi @NateWr, Thank you for sharing some of the background and context on this feature. My comment came from the email template revision project that I am currently working on, and is a hypothetical use case (rather than a request from a user). I am working on the email template for the message that a journal manager sends to a section editor asking them to see a submission through the editorial workflow, and I'm looking for clarity on the instructions that should be provided to section editors, and whether a separate email template is needed for section editors that can only recommend decisions. While the background information on this feature is useful, I am still wondering about a possible scenario where a section editor can only recommend a decision, but feels that a submission assigned to them should not be sent to peer review. Currently a section editor in this case must send the item through peer review, as the "Decline submission" and "Accept and skip review" options are not available to them - either as decisions or recommendations. Are managing editors aware that they should pre-check submissions before assigning them to a section editor to make sure they meet the minimum requirements of the journal for being sent to peer review? Or is there a possibility that a section editor may be assigned a submission that has not been pre-vetted, realize it isn't suitable to move to peer review, but then find themselves stuck and unable to contact the managing editor to recommend the item not be sent to peer review, for whatever reason? I didn't see any information about this particular use case in the previous conversations, but my apologies if it is there and I just missed it. Thanks for your help!

NateWr commented 3 years ago

Thanks @kshuttle. I think the scenario that you describe is possible, but in most cases journals will have a procedure they follow. If a recommend-only editor does get caught in the submission stage with a submission that they should decline, they ought to be able to contact someone at the journal through outside means to ask for assistance. I think this is pretty common and not a bad thing, as long as the key actions (eg - who declined the submission) are still captured by the activity log.

I'll leave this open so that it can attract feedback from other members in our community. If it is a common issue, we're likely to see additional comments from others.