PTP
 


PTP Online Submission and Review System


Operation Manual for Referee


         1.   Registration for referee
         2.   Reviewing a paper
         3.   Review of a revised paper
         4.   Reminder


1. Registration for referee
  1. Referees are registered by the publication office or the editors.   You will get an ID, password and URL via E-mail each time we ask you to review a paper.   Please log in to the referee's page.

  2. The first time you log in to your page, please click "Edit Your Information" at the upper right of the screen and enter your information such as address, telephone and fax., etc.

  3. If you are Japanese, please input alphabetically one-byte characters for all items except the Kanji characters for your name.   Also input your affiliation in English.

  4. Moreover, click "Subject Index" in "Edit Your Information", and register all subjects you can review.   Check boxes are displayed in the 3rd step after clicking "Subject Index".   Please click and mark the boxes for registration.  When you want to remove your selections, clear check marks.   There is no limit on the number of subject indices that you can register.   Editors search referees for the paper by referring to your registration.   Kindly register all subject indices you can review.   Thank you for your cooperation.

  5. Whenever your information changes, please update the information in "Edit Your Information".

2. Reviewing a paper
  1. When you have received an e-mail from the editor asking for the review of a paper, please log in to the URL written in the e-mail with your ID and password.

  2. Please click "Reply to this request" in red letters.

  3. Click "View manuscript" and see the context of the submitted paper in PDF format.   Information about the manuscript (authors' name(s) and subject index, etc.) is viewed in "Manuscript Information" at the lower part of the screen.

  4. After checking the paper, please send your reply to the question whether you accept or decline the request as follows.
  1. Decline
    Click "Reply to Editor".
    If you decline the request, check "I do not accept this request".   A message of decline will be displayed.   Please let us know the reason you have declined our request, and also please recommend other reviewer(s) if possible.
    After clicking "Next" and confirming that your reply is correct, send your reply by clicking the "Send" button.   This is the end of the operation for declining a request.

  2. Accept
    Click "Reply to Editor".
    If you accept the request, please check "I accept this request".   A message of acceptance will appear.   After clicking "Next" and confirming that your reply is correct, send your reply by clicking the "Send" button.

    • When you finished reviewing the paper, please send your review report. Click "Enter the Referee's Report" and write your report on the page.

    • Please select the following A) to D) in the Judgment box. Authors are not informed of this information.
      (Accepted for Publication)
        A) The paper can be accepted for publication without change or with only minor changes in wording (further review is not necessary).
      (Needed Revision)
        B) After revision, the paper should be resubmitted for referee review.
        B*) After revision, the paper can be accepted for publication.
      (Rejected for Publication)
        C) The content of the paper is lacking in merit for publication.
        D) The paper does not have worth as a scientific work, and publication is not possible.

      In case the submitted paper is in the "Letters" category, C) is a little different.
        C) Because the paper is too short for the content to be properly understood as it stands, it should be resubmitted as a full paper after the addition of necessary explanation and elaboration.

    • "Comments to the Author" box
      Enter your review comments to the author in text-entry mode.   When you use Greek characters and mathematical formulae, please use TeX command. Or you can upload the single PDF file of your review comments to the system.

    • "Confidential Remarks for the Editor" box
      You can write your comments for the editor if you want.   The author cannot read this comment.

    • You can save temporarily the entry by clicking "Save as draft".
      Your entry will be saved even when you log out.   When you start again, please log in and click "Complete the Referee's Report", and the window for input will open.

    • After clicking "Next" and confirming that your report is correct, click the "Send" button.

    • The editor may ask you to revise your report if there is any problem with it.   In the case, the editor will tell you what the problem is via e-mail.   Please log in the Referee's page and resend your report.

3. Review of a revised paper

      The editor may ask you to review again the revised paper which you have reviewed before.
  1. If you receive the e-mail from the editor, please log in to the URL written in the e-mail with your ID and Password.

  2. You can see the revised paper in PDF format and the "Author's Reply and Summery of Changes" after logging in.

  3. The number of referees for a submitted paper to our journal is normally two, but sometimes just one person.   It depends on the editor's decision.   It is possible to ask a 3rd referee to review a paper when the judgment of two referees is completely different.
    Therefore, when the number of referees is more than one, the comments in "Author's Reply" may be written separately as follows:
          Reply to Referee A:, Reply to Referee B:, Reply to Referee C: ...
    Please confirm the reply to you in the "Author's Reply".

  4. The editor will decide finally if the paper is appropriate to be published or not.   When all the reviewing is done, the word "finished" is displayed in the "Status" box of "List of Paper(s)" in your page.   While the reviewing continues, "Editor" or "Author" appears in that box. This means that you may be asked to review again.

4. Reminder

      The deadline for each precedure are setlled as follows.
      The PTP Office will send reminders to editors or referees when the deadline has passed.

Editor
    • Editors should send the submitted manuscript to one or more referee within 5 days.
    • Editors should send the receipt to the referee within 5 days of receiving the referee's report.
    • Editors should request the revised manuscript to the author or send the final judgment to the office within 5 days of receiving the referee's report.

Referee
    • Referees should accept/decline the assignment within 5 days of the editor's request.
    • Referees should review Papers in 4 weeks (Letters in 3 weeks) at most (from the date of the editor's review request).


Last Updated December 10, 2009.

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