A new submission system for The Company of Biologists' journals
All journals from The Company of Biologists (Development, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Experimental Biology, Disease Models & Mechanisms, and Biology Open) are moving to a new manuscript submission and peer review system, called Editorial Manager. Here you will find more information about the system and how it is being introduced.
Why are you introducing a new submission system?
Editorial Manager is a long-established cloud-based manuscript processing system for scholarly publications. We believe that moving to this system will benefit our authors, editors and peer reviewers, and will offer them an improved user experience.
What are the benefits of Editorial Manager?
- Editorial Manager is easily accessible to authors, editors and reviewers from anywhere in the world at any time.
- Editorial Manager’s submission process is simple and user-friendly, offering drag and drop options for uploading files, and pre-population of submission forms by extracting key data from the manuscript file.
- Editorial Manager is used by many other journals in the life sciences field, meaning that many of our authors, editors and reviewers will already be familiar with the system.
- With over 7,000 journals using Editorial Manager, new features and enhancements are constantly being developed that will allow us to deliver improvements to our authors and reviewers sooner.
- Our journals already use Editorial Manager’s manuscript tracking system for the article proofing and production processes (ProduXion Manager), so authors will only need to access one system at any stage of the manuscript process, from submission through to publication.
When are you moving to Editorial Manager?
We will be enabling the submission of new manuscripts in Editorial Manager from 18 June 2024. All manuscripts that were submitted before this date will be handled in our previous BenchPress system and we will let authors know at revision which system they should submit to. This means that there will be a transition time, in which we will be using both the old and the new system.
What happens to my manuscript if I submitted it before 18 June? Will it move from one system to another?
If you submitted your manuscript before 18 June it will be handled initially in the previous system. If we invite you to submit a revision, you may be asked to submit your revised manuscript to Editorial Manager. The journal Editorial Office will keep you informed of the correct submission site to use.
I am an author – are there any guidelines for submission on the new system?
Our guidelines to authors are not changing with this migration, though some of the details of the submission process will be slightly different. Please refer to the journal manuscript preparation guidelines before submitting your manuscript.
I am a peer reviewer - will I need to review manuscripts in both systems?
There will be a short transition phase in which we will be handling manuscripts in both the previous BenchPress system and Editorial Manager. This means that, for a small number of reviewers, you may be asked to review an original submission in BenchPress and a revised manuscript in the new system. To facilitate this, our Editorial Office will send you details of where to access the manuscript, using an easy registration and login link.
What will happen to my BenchPress account?
Your BenchPress account for our journals will remain active until the end of the year and may be accessed to view your submission and reviewer history. If you have BenchPress accounts for other journals, these will remain unchanged.
I already have an Editorial Manager account - will I need to create a new login?
If you have recently published with us and were the primary corresponding author, you may already have an Editorial Manager account, as we have been using EM’s manuscript tracking system for article proofing since 2018. In this case, you may log in with your existing username and password and verify your account details.
How do I get help using the new system?
If you have any queries on which system to use or how to submit your manuscript or review, please contact the journal Editorial Office who will be able to help you.
Contact Journal of Cell Science
Contact Journal of Experimental Biology
