Transfer submissions to Central Editorial Service

Add relevant information for Central Editorial Service before transfer

Additional information and comments should be added as Manuscript Notes which will be visible to editors in the Central Editorial Service after transfer. The required information includes:

• Is this a priority submission (e.g. funded, has been commissioned, or does it address a priority question identified through a formal prioritisation process etc)? Or, why is the review important?
• Are there any deadlines that need to be met for publication (and if so the dates and people/organisations involved)?
• Who conducted/arranged the search for the article? 
• Has the CRG provided any support to the development of the review?
• Has Editorial Manager been used for the full editorial process so far? 
• If transferring before peer review: Do the CRG or authors have recommendations for clinical/content, or consumer peer reviewers (not mandatory)?
• If transferring before peer review and/or acceptance: Do the CRG have recommendations for a sign-off editor (sign-off editors should not have been involved in any aspect of the development of this article prior to submission - e.g. assisting authors, advising on protocol development etc)?
• If transferring after acceptance (for production only): any editorial decisions or choices that affect the final version of the review, particularly any agreed use of non-standard methods or formatting. Copy Editors are familiar with Cochrane standards and spot discrepancies which can lead to queries in production. You can pre-empt queries by sharing information.  
• Whether your CRG usually has preferred language spelling on publication, of British (i.e. UK), American (i.e. US), or no preference. Please note: if no information is provided the Central Editorial Service will specify no preference.
• Any other important information the CRG would like to share with the Central Editorial Service such as comments made by editors (including minor comments that still need to be addressed by authors), any revisions already made by authors, and any problems encountered prior to submission including whether the editorial process started outside Editorial Manager and any potential conflict of interests. Files can be shared.

Open the Details on the Action menu and scroll down to Manuscript Notes. Enter information and Save and Close.

You can also add File attachments on the Details screen if you have additional documentation or checklists to share.

When you transfer additional documentation associated with the editorial process, please use the naming conventions listed below and include the date in the DDMMYYYY format. This is particularly important if parts of the editorial process have been managed offline.

• Collated editorial and peer reviewer comments_DATE E.g. Collated editorial and peer reviewer comments_06072023
• Author rebuttal to peer review_DATE 
• Editorial check of author rebuttal_DATE 

Note: Production notes aren’t currently transferred automatically. When available, any relevant production notes should be copied over to the Manuscript Notes field before transferring. Please also add the heading 'Production Notes' to differentiate from manuscript notes.

Transfer a submission

Cochrane Support can transfer the submission directly to the Central Editorial Service. This reduces the burden on authors as the Corresponding Author does not need to log in and approve the transfer.

The authors will receive a notification to let them know their submission has been transferred. 

Best timepoint for transfer:  

• When a submission is new and no action has yet been taken on it (all new submissions from 1 September 2023)

If a submission is already in process but you are unlikely to reach an accept decision by 31 December 2023, the best timepoints for transfer are:

• Before inviting peer reviewers
• Before making a revise decision and sending comments back to authors 
• After making the accept decision (before initiating production)