Select an editor from those listed in the system as being available and, if possible, not currently handling another paper. Select the “Assign Editor” template from the “Your Notepad” menu, insert the wording into the comments box, and, as necessary, change any wording.

The system will recommend target dates for the editor and the reviewers. (You can change these recommendations in your control panel – see Figure 44.) These target dates are used by the system to know when to send reminders. We suggest that you leave the target date for reviewers at 14 days in the future to allow time for the system to send a few “review is past due” reminders. And we recommend leaving the target date for editors as 21-28 days in the future for the same reason.

Then select the maximum number of reviewers. The system will prevent you from assigning additional reviewers once you have assigned this number. Select reviewers from those listed in the system as being available and not currently reviewing another paper. The system initially lists the reviewers for selection in order of topic fit. As the paper should be readable and understood by academics outside the field, we recommend that you also select a few reviewers having a 20-40% match. Select both those with a good record and those without a good record.

 Important note: Editors should not also be a reviewer (but for exceptional cases).