Online peer review system and method

Abstract

An online document management system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the online document management system comprises: one or more editorial computers operated by one or more administrators or editors, the editorial computers send invitations and manage peer review of document submissions; one or more system computers, the system computers maintain journals, records of submitted documents and user profiles, and issue notifications; and one or more user computers; the user computers submit documents or revisions to the document management system; wherein one or more of the editorial computers coordinate with one or more of the system computers to migrate one or more documents between journals maintained by the online document management system.

1 .- 40 . (canceled) 
     
     
         41 . A method for conducting a waterfall process on an article submitted for publication that has been rejected from a journal, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a processing device, a first input, from an author of the article, wherein the first input comprises a request to initiate a waterfall process for the article;   providing, by the processing device, a notification of the first input to a receiving journal device;   receiving, by the processing device, a confirmation to proceed from the receiving journal device;   transforming, by the processing device, the article into a waterfalled article;   transmitting, by the processing device, data comprising a submission to the receiving journal device, wherein the submission comprises the waterfalled article and metadata;   receiving, by the processing device, a transmission from the receiving journal device, wherein the transmission comprises a rejection of the submission and an option to continue the waterfall process with a second receiving journal; and   when an affirmation of the option to continue the waterfall process with the second receiving journal is received:
 transmitting, by the processing device, one or more journal recommendations to the author of the article, wherein the one or more journal recommendations comprise one or more potential receiving journals that contain articles having a high similarity with the waterfalled article, 
 receiving, by the processing device, a second input from the author of the article comprising a selection of the second receiving journal, and 
 forwarding, by the processing device, the waterfalled article to the second selected journal. 
   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the processing device, a second transmission from the second selected journal, wherein the transmission comprises an acceptance of the waterfalled article; and   assigning, by the processing device, a submission ID to the waterfalled article.   
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising:
 determining whether the second selected journal requires additional information; and   when the second selected journal requires additional information, querying, by the processing device, the author to obtain the additional information.   
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the processing device, a request for additional information from the receiving journal device;   querying, by the processing device, the author for the additional information; and   when the author responds to the query with the additional information:
 assigning, by the processing device, a system ID and a file ID to the additional information, 
 generating, by the processing device, a common readable format (CRF) file, and 
 transmitting, by the processing device, the system ID. 
   
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising:
 transmitting, by the processing device to the author, a waterfall notification that the waterfalled article will be submitted to a particular journal.   
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising:
 creating, by the processing device, a fingerprint of all published articles of a particular journal;   comparing, by the processing device, the fingerprint with a second fingerprint for the waterfalled article;   determining, by the processing device, a match rate based on the comparing; and   sorting, by the processing device, the one or more journal recommendations based on the match rate.   
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein transmitting the one or more journal recommendations further comprises transmitting one or more aspects of the one or more potential receiving journals, wherein the one or more aspects are selected from an impact factor, a speed of publication, and an acceptance rate. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the article is an article that has been rejected from a particular journal. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein the article is an article that has been withdrawn from submission by the author from a particular journal. 
     
     
         50 . A system for conducting a waterfall process on an article submitted for publication that has been rejected from a journal, the system comprising:
 a processing device; and   a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium, the non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium comprising one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 receive a first input, from an author of the article, wherein the first input comprises a request to initiate a waterfall process for the article, 
 provide a notification of the first input to a receiving journal device, 
 receive a confirmation to proceed from the receiving journal device, 
 transform the article into a waterfalled article, 
 transmit data comprising a submission to the receiving journal device, wherein the submission comprises the waterfalled article and metadata, 
 receive a transmission from the receiving journal device, wherein the transmission comprises a rejection of the submission and an option to continue the waterfall process with a second receiving journal, and 
 when an affirmation of the option to continue the waterfall process with the second receiving journal is received:
 transmit one or more journal recommendations to the author of the article, wherein the one or more journal recommendations comprise one or more potential receiving journals that contain articles having a high similarity with the waterfalled article, 
 receive a second input from the author of the article comprising a selection of the second receiving journal, and 
 forward the waterfalled article to the second selected journal. 
 
   
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 receive a second transmission from the second selected journal, wherein the transmission comprises an acceptance of the waterfalled article; and   assign a submission ID to the waterfalled article.   
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 determine whether the second selected journal requires additional information; and   when the second selected journal requires additional information, query the author to obtain the additional information.   
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 receive a request for additional information from the receiving journal device;   query the author for the additional information; and   when the author responds to the query with the additional information:
 assign a system ID and a file ID to the additional information, 
 generate a common readable format (CRF) file, and 
 transmit the system ID. 
   
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 transmit, to the author, a waterfall notification that the waterfalled article will be submitted to a particular journal.   
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further comprises one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to:
 create a fingerprint of all published articles of a particular journal;   compare the fingerprint with a second fingerprint for the waterfalled article;   determine a match rate based on the comparing; and   sort the one or more journal recommendations based on the match rate.   
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the one or more programming instructions that, when executed, cause the processing device to transmit the one or more journal recommendations further cause the processing device to transmit one or more aspects of the one or more potential receiving journals, wherein the one or more aspects are selected from an impact factor, a speed of publication, and an acceptance rate. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the article is an article that has been rejected from a particular journal. 
     
     
         58 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the article is an article that has been withdrawn from submission by the author from a particular journal.