The Review page
Where a reviewer reads a submission and writes their review.
Reviewers do not browse to this page. They are invited to review a specific manuscript, and the invitation is what takes them here.
Getting there
Section titled “Getting there”A reviewer signs in and opens the Dashboard. Their invitations are on the Review Assignments tab, alongside My Submissions and Editing Queue.
Each row offers an action, and the action depends on where the reviewer is in the process:
| What the row offers | What it means |
|---|---|
| Accept / Decline | A new invitation. Both ask to confirm — “Accept this review invitation?” |
| Do Review | Accepted, not yet started. Opens the Review page |
| Continue Review | Started and saved, not yet submitted |
| View | Submitted. The page opens read-only |
An invitation can also be accepted from the link in the invitation email, which arrives at the same place.
The statuses a reviewer moves through
Section titled “The statuses a reviewer moves through”| Status | Shown as | How it is reached |
|---|---|---|
invited |
Invited | The editor invites them |
accepted |
Accepted | They accept |
inProgress |
In Progress | They open the review |
completed |
Completed | They submit |
closed |
Closed | A collaborative review is locked |
rejected |
Declined | They decline |
The value stored for a declined invitation is rejected, but nothing on screen
says “rejected” — readers and editors both see Declined.
The screen
Section titled “The screen”A bar across the top switches between versions of the manuscript. It lists only the versions this reviewer was a reviewer of — a reviewer brought in at round two does not see round one.
Below that are tabs. Which tabs appear depends on the manuscript and on the group’s configuration:
Metadata — the submission as the author filled it in, read-only. Fields marked editor-only are not shown to reviewers.
Manuscript — the manuscript text itself, read-only. This tab appears only where there is manuscript text to show. A submission made by URL, or one whose file Kotahi cannot convert, has no Manuscript tab at all. See Submission page for which file types convert.
Review — where the review is written. This is your group’s own review form, so what it asks for is whatever you have built. See Build your forms.
Other Reviews — appears only when another reviewer’s review has been shared with this one. If nothing has been shared, the tab is absent.
The decision form — appears only on groups that show it, and only once a decision exists. Before the manuscript reaches a decision, its contents are withheld even where the tab is present.
Writing and submitting
Section titled “Writing and submitting”There is no save button. The review is saved as it is typed, which is why a part-finished review comes back as Continue Review rather than being lost.
The submit button sits at the end of the form and reads Submit.
Submitting does two things: it sets the reviewer’s status to Completed, and it returns them to the Dashboard. After that the page opens read-only — the review can be read, but not changed.
A review can also be collaborative, shared between co-reviewers who write into it together. Where a group uses that, the review is edited by more than one person at once rather than passed between them.
Where it goes next
Section titled “Where it goes next”A submitted review reaches the editor on the Control page, where it is read alongside the others and a decision is made.
Whether the author ever sees an individual review is a group setting, and individual reviews can also be hidden one at a time. See Settings: Workflow.