Some New Features and Developments at ANESTHESIOLOGY

FOR over 3 yr, ANESTHESIOLOGY has provided authors with an on-line method for checking the status of their submitted manuscripts. We know that nearly 90% of our authors utilize this system at some time during the peer review process. For roughly a year and a half, we have been encouraging authors to submit their manuscripts electronically via our Web site, diskette, or e-mail. By the end of 2002, almost 90% of our papers were arriving via one of these routes. In January 2003, we made electronic submission mandatory for all manuscripts. This transition appears to have been totally painless. Since January, only about one manuscript per month has arrived in a paper format—and obtaining an electronic version from the authors has been straightforward. There are enormous advantages to this transition. Most importantly, having all manuscripts in an electronic format has made it possible for us to substantially speed the review process, at least for initial submissions, and it has resulted in a 7-day reduction in our median times to first decision, as well as the nearly complete elimination of truly delayed first decisions (as compared with the last few months of 2001). This month, we take this process one step further. Since the editorial office was established in Iowa, we have used a proprietary database for managing our manuscripts. We are now switching to a Web-based commercial system (Editorial Manager [EM], Aries Systems Corporation, North Andover, MA). Authors will still be able to submit their articles via our “old” Web system and via e-mail and disk. However, they will also have the option of submitting via EM, and all subsequent communications with authors and reviewers will be handled through this system. This has a number of implications for both our authors and our reviewers. Most importantly, it means that both will now need to have e-mail addresses and Web access. Reviewer packets will no longer be sent to anyone via “snail mail,” and printed reviews (either mailed or sent via fax) will no longer be accepted. I realize that some may view this as a burden. However, most major journals have taken this approach, and have done so successfully. One of our key goals is to serve our authors better—and we believe that this is an appropriate step toward meeting this goal. One other change will be taking place over the course of the remainder of the year, although it won’t be obvious to many people. Major changes have been and are being made in the production process at Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), changes that will enable substantial reductions in the time between when we forward a completed manuscript file to LWW and the article’s appearance in print. Authors may already have noticed that page proofs (“galleys”) are now being handled electronically. For many years, we’ve worked on an 11to 12-week production schedule. This will quickly be shortened to about 8 weeks, and we are actively pursuing methods that may allow articles to be electronically published (on our Web site) even more rapidly.