introducing-research-exchange-rex
November 30, 2020
We hear regularly from authors that submitting a manuscript is a major pain point in the publishing process. It takes valuable time, and much of it involves copying and pasting pieces of the files they’re submitting into an online form. That’s why we’ve created a smarter, simpler submission platform for authors—Research Exchange (ReX)—which aims to reduce the work and time that goes into submission, making the process an easier and happier one. ReX plugs in to a journal’s ScholarOne site so your editorial and peer review workflows can remain unchanged, while the author only interacts with ReX.
You can try ReX for yourself by uploading a manuscript to our generic test site.
ReX is currently live for over 45 Wiley journals, and we continue to add more. Authors submit exclusively through the new platform, and their manuscripts export seamlessly to each journal’s ScholarOne site for check-in and peer review. Revisions are also submitted through ReX, so authors no longer need to interact with the journal’s ScholarOne site at any point during submission. Later iterations of the platform will include integration with Editorial Manager.
The first journals migrating to ReX will be those using ScholarOne Manuscripts and that have a Wiley Associate Managing Editor. There are a number of changes journals can start making now, however, to prepare to move on to ReX – these can be worked on collaboratively with support from your Editorial Office, who will know more about the intricacies of the journal’s submission system, and your Wiley Journal Publishing Manager. Please talk to your Wiley Journal Publishing Manager to get started:
- Harmonize article types: Journals will need to choose their article types from the set available in ReX. Harmonizing your existing article types with this list early is the biggest step you can take to make the move to ReX smooth and easy.
- Review custom questions: Review any custom questions you ask authors at submission and remove any which are outdated or redundant.
- Standardize file designations: Journals will need to use a standard set of file designations for when authors upload their manuscript files (i.e. “Main Document,” “Figure,” etc.). You don’t need to change these before moving to ReX, but they will be changed upon moving to ReX so it’s good to have identified what you want to use.
Each of these efforts is concerned with creating the best experience of the submission process for authors. While the three elements mentioned above are critical to enabling a journal to move to ReX, it is also worth considering that there are other ways that you can improve the author experience of submission. In particular, the free format initiative, although not required before joining ReX, is an easy and immediate way that you can optimize and improve the submission experience.
Interested in using Research Exchange for your journal? Reach out to your Wiley Journal Publishing Manager to register your interest and start taking steps to get your journal ready for ReX. You can also learn more about the platform here and review our additional resources for editors here.
Watch the video below to learn about the new platform:
