Can I send peer-reviewed manuscripts to my production vendor via FTP?

If you're using Scholastica Peer Review, and your production vendor supports FTP (File Transfer Protocol) deposits, you can easily transfer manuscript files to your production vendor from Scholastica with just a few clicks.

Setting up your journal's manuscript FTP export

To transfer manuscripts to your production vendor you'll first need to set up the connection to the FTP server and indicate to which of your editors you'd like to grant the "export to FTP server" ability.

To set up your FTP connection, the admin editor for your journal will navigate to My Journals > Settings > Journal Settings > Configuration Options > Peer Review Integrations > then scroll down to "Manuscript Data FTP Export".

Screenshot of the

The admin editor will then click "Add credentials". You'll then be shown the following form:

Screenshot of the

Please note: It is required that you fill in the Hostname, Username, Password, and Port in order to complete the credential set up. File path is optional, but should be entered if the manager of the FTP server has requested that you deposit your manuscript files into a particular folder that they've set up on their end in the FTP server. If you do want to deposit to a particular folder, the folder must be created before you attempt to deposit your articles there or the deposit will fail.

Managing which editors can send manuscripts to the FTP server

Depending on your editorial team set up and workflow, you may find it valuable to permit or restrict certain editors from having access to the ability to send manuscripts to the FTP server that you've set up.

Once you've completed set up of your journal's FTP export, your journal's admin editor will see the option to "Manage editor FTP privileges" under My Journals > Settings > Journal Settings > Configuration Options > Peer Review Integrations.

Screenshot of the Manuscript Data FTP Export configuration option. It shows a green checkmark because it has been successfully configured. It also shows a blue

Once the "Manage editor FTP privileges" button has been clicked, the admin editor can then indicate which of your editors can and can't send manuscript files to the FTP server. Once they've made their selections, they'll click "Save" to save their changes.

Please note: The admin editor can always send files to the FTP server.

Screenshot of the page wherein the admin editor can manage which editors are able to send manuscript files to the FTP server. There are three editors listed: one is the admin and his name is greyed out and the checkbox next to his name is preselected and also greyed out because it cannot be unchecked, one has an unchecked checkbox next to his name, and the third has a checked checkbox.

Sending manuscripts to the FTP server

Once you've completed set up of your journal's FTP export, you can then begin sending your submission file(s) to the FTP server!

The files that are sent to the FTP server include:

  • The most recent file version of the Main Manuscript file
    • Please note: If the most recent file version of the Main Manuscript file is a .docx, then both the .docx and the converted .pdf version will be sent. If the most recent file version is a .pdf then only the .pdf will be sent.
  • The front-matter .xml for the submission
  • All of the most recent file versions of the supplementary file(s) like any tables, reviewer responses, etc. that are included in the Files table for this file version.
  • If a decision has been made (we strongly suggest that you only send manuscripts for which the peer-review process has been completed and you have issued a decision in Scholastica) then the decision letter will be sent.
  • If reviews were submitted for this version of the manuscript then the reviews will be sent.

Exporting individual manuscripts

To export a single manuscript to your FTP server, any editor on your approved list can navigate to the manuscript work area in question by going to My Journals > Manuscript > then searching for and clicking the title of the manuscript. Once on the manuscript work area for that paper, they'll click the gear-shaped icon and select "Export to FTP server".

Screenshot of the dropdown that opens when you click the gear-shaped icon.

You'll confirm that you want to send that manuscript to the FTP server in the pop-up that appears.

Please note: Once clicked, that action cannot be undone. If you have sent a manuscript package to the FTP server by mistake, please contact the manager of that server to let them know and request that they delete the package on their end.

Screenshot of the pop-up that shows once you've clicked

Once you click "Export to FTP" the manuscript will be on its way! You can check its progress in your FTP History page.

Exporting manuscripts in bulk

To export multiple manuscripts at once to your FTP server, any editor on your approved list can navigate to the manuscript table by going to My Journals > Manuscript > then checking the checkboxes next to the desired manuscripts. They'll then click the "Bulk actions" dropdown and select "Export to FTP server".

Screenshot of the bulk actions dropdown on the manuscript table page. The

Once selected, you'll be asked to affirm that you'd like to send that list of manuscripts to the FTP server. To confirm, click "Export to FTP".

After doing so, you can see the progress of their uploads in your FTP History page.

Indicating your deposited vs. non-yet-deposited manuscripts

To easily mark which of your manuscripts have already been sent to the FTP server and distinguish them from the ones that you may need to send later, we strongly encourage that your team add manuscript tags to the papers in your manuscript table.

Adding tags allows you to search and filter for the papers that are in a particular category like "Sent to vendor".

You can add tags to a single manuscript or to multiple manuscripts at once.

Viewing your FTP export history

To view any in progress FTP deposits as well as see your full history of successful and failed deposit attempts, any editors that have been granted FTP privileges can access the FTP Export History page by navigating to My Journals > Settings > FTP History.

Screenshot of the FTP Export History table with one manuscript showing as

There you'll see all "In progress" deposits at the top, if there are any, and all completed deposits in the table below.

Status definitions:

  • Success: The deposit was successfully completed and was delivered to the FTP server
  • Cancelled: The deposit was not successfully completed, either because there was an error which caused it to fail or because an editor cancelled the deposit attempt before it completed by clicking "Cancel" when it was still in the In Progress table.