How do I create and edit a journal peer review form?

A journal is able to have multiple peer review forms active at the same, meaning that different article types can have their own review criteria. Different article types can have a different review form set as their default form. This process is described below.

Creating a peer review form

To create a new review form, go to the Workflow setting, then Review and finally, Review Forms.  Click Create Review Form, this will take you to the first stage of Editing a review form below.

How to edit an existing peer review form

Once a review has been used and completed by at least one reviewer, it is no longer possible to edit the form.

Instead, you will need to create a new copy and edit this before deactivating the old version and assigning the new form to the relevant Sections (Article Types).  As the system will retain all completed forms, it is advisable to only make changes when absolutely necessary and not on a regular, ad hoc basis.

To create a copy, simply go to the Workflow setting, then Review and finally, Review Forms.  Clicking on the blue arrow next to the title will open a drop-down menu, from which you can select Copy.

Once you have created a copy, clicking on the arrow for the dropdown menu, will reveal the option to Edit the form.

Editing a peer review form

In editing a form, you have two main tabs to edit, the third tab is a preview option that you can use to view your form as it will appear to a reviewer.

The Review Form: here you can edit the form title as well as the brief description and instructions that appear at the top of the form - please note that this is not the same as the reviewer guidelines, these will be visible to the reviewer during this process and can be found on the ]u[ Ubiquity Journal System by going to Reviewer Guidance rather than Review Forms.

Once you have made your changes, click Save.  This creates the form and you will need to click on the blue drop-down arrow next to the new review form’s title and select Edit (see screenshot above) in order to continue creating your form.  If you are editing an existing review form, this will also close the form and so you will need to open it again in order to edit the Form Items.

In Form Items, you can design your review form and add questions for reviewers to answer.  You can also choose to edit existing questions or delete them by clicking on the blue drop-down arrow.  In both options, it will open a pop-up menu with the following features.

Form items all have an Item, this is either the question or question title and will always appear as a bold heading text.

Beneath this is the Description, this is text that can add further clarification and will appear as a fainter grey text.

You can then decide whether the question is mandatory (marked by a red asterisk on the form) and also whether it will be visible to the author as part of the review comments that you can add in your decision letters.

At the bottom of the pop-up, you can choose what kind of response should be given by the reviewer in the drop-down menu. For certain options, you may also need to provide the responses from which the reviewer selects by clicking on Add Item.  You have the choice of the following options:

• Single word text box - a short text box for single word answers
• Single line text box - a slightly longer text box, again for short answers only
• Extended text box - a larger text box that can be further extended by clicking on and dragging the bottom right hand corner of the box
• Checkboxes - you provide the answers and the reviewer can select one or more response
• Radio buttons - you provide the answers but the reviewer can only select one response
• Drop-down box - you provide the answers but the reviewer can only select one response, typically useful when there are several responses which would take up a lot of space on the form

Once you have edited your Form Items, and are happy with the preview, return to Review Form and click Save.

Setting a peer review form as the default for a Section (article type)

When you are ready with your review form, you will need to deactivate the old form.  Doing so will not remove the form from any active reviews, it will only prevent it from being selected for any new reviews.  You will then need to activate your new form.

To activate a form, simply tick the box under Active and untick it, if you wish to deactivate a form.

You will now need to set your new form as the default for the relevant Sections (article types).  Go to the Journal settings option on the left hand side of the screen, then select Sections.

Click on the blue drop-down menu and click Edit.  Select your new form in the Review Form drop-down menu and click Save.

Your review form will now be set as the default for any new review invitations sent out for that type of article.

We do not advise changing a review form once a reviewer has accepted, as they may be part way through the review and this would lose them their progress.  However, if a reviewer has not yet accepted, then you can do so by going into the submission, clicking the blue drop-down arrow by the reviewer’s name and clicking Edit.  At the bottom of the pop-up box, you have the option to select a different review form.