4.60 - Conflict of interest checks, improved flags

31 August 2023

Improved checks for conflicts of interest

Sometimes, editors submit their own articles, and should be prevented from handling peer review. When that happens, prominent warnings / blocks have been implemented.

Flags configuration: no value / any value

Flags on closed lists are now easier to configure.

For example, if you want to flag special issue articles, regardless of the special issue, you can do so by selecting "Any value" in the configuration:

Conversely, "No value selected" will flag articles where no special issue has been specified.

Fixing flags according to profiles

By default, configured flags were always visible, to all editors. This proved clumsy, because editors could see a flag without seeing the flagged data (more information on article visibility here).

For example, let us take a custom field used for administrative purposes: 'Page charges', which is masked to scientific editors.

In this case, any flag related to "page charges" will be also masked to scientific editors. It will be visible only by editorial assistants.

Searching editors with advanced search

It is now easier to look for editors with the advanced search. Instead of having to write names, Nestor will now propose the closed list of editors relevant to the selected criteria. This will prevent typos and missed searches.

Easier configuration of file types / custom fields

When configuring these, articles types and profiles are now directly visible and can be linked properly.