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In conventional manuscript assessment, authors receive
a report on their manuscripts but are given little or
no opportunity to raise questions with their assessor
or seek clarification or extension of the points raised
in the report. End of story. This is frustrating for
authors and it remains the consistent complaint made
against assessment services.
Manuscripts Online reverses this situation. It
makes assessment a two-way conversation, a genuinely
consultative process. Manuscripts
Online is committed to talking with not at
authors.
In interactive assessment:
- Authors receive a succinct
detailed written report on their manuscript.
- Authors
are then invited to raise questions about issues raised
in the report, and to seek further guidance according
to their specific needs, or indeed to raise any matter
concerning writing and publishing.
- The assessor then responds to the author's questions
and comments as comprehensively as possible within an
allotted time frame.
- Finally authors are invited to
'debrief' with the administrator of the service through
a conversation in which any outstanding matters are
addressed and a clear direction for the work is established.
- Authors also can elect to go through a second round
of consultation with their assessor, subject to negotiation
of time and fees with the service.
The consultation
serves to make assessment as relevant and effective
as possible.
And as our name suggests, we have expanded assessment
further by exploiting the Internet and related technology.
By operating 'online' we aim to provide a service that
is fast, economical and unmatched in flexibility of delivery,
allowing for electronic submission and handling of manuscripts. Authors can submit their manuscripts as printed hard copy or as disk copy or as an email attachment.
The Internet provides further opportunities
for promoting authors' work. Click here to see how authors can get a web presence at Manuscripts Online, including having an excerpt of their work posted on the site.
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