Allow users (authors, reviewers, editors, administrators) to create and manage accounts with role-based access control.
Implement secure authentication methods, including password recovery and multi-factor authentication.
Paper Submission and Management:
Enable authors to submit papers or manuscripts for review, including uploading documents, providing metadata (title, abstract, keywords), and selecting relevant categories.
Allow authors to track the status of their submissions, including review progress and decisions.
Reviewer Assignment:
Provide tools for editors to assign reviewers to submitted papers based on their expertise and availability.
Allow automated or manual matching of reviewers with submissions.
Review Process Management:
Facilitate the review process, including submission of review reports, comments, and recommendations.
Support multiple rounds of review and revisions, allowing reviewers to update their assessments and feedback.
Review Feedback and Decision Making:
Allow reviewers to provide feedback and recommend decisions (e.g., accept, revise, reject) on submitted papers.
Enable editors to review feedback, make final decisions, and communicate decisions to authors.
Editorial Workflow:
Support the management of the editorial workflow, including paper tracking, review scheduling, and communication with authors and reviewers.
Provide tools for editors to manage deadlines, revisions, and follow-up actions.
Document Management:
Allow users to upload, store, and manage review-related documents, including submissions, review reports, and correspondence.
Support version control for document revisions and updates.
Communication and Notifications:
Send notifications to users for important events, such as submission deadlines, review assignments, and status updates.
Provide messaging functionality for communication between authors, reviewers, and editors.
Review Analytics and Reporting:
Generate reports and analytics on review metrics, such as review turnaround times, acceptance rates, and reviewer performance.
Provide dashboards for tracking submission and review statistics.
Conflict of Interest Management:
Implement tools for managing conflicts of interest, including disclosure forms and automatic conflict checks based on reviewer and author information.
User Access and Permissions:
Implement role-based access control to restrict or grant permissions based on user roles (e.g., authors, reviewers, editors, administrators).
Allow administrators to manage user roles and permissions.
Integration with Academic Databases:
Support integration with academic databases and indexing services for seamless data exchange and citation management.
Provide APIs and connectors for integrating with other scholarly tools and systems.
Data Export and Import:
Allow users to export review data, reports, and analytics in various formats (e.g., CSV, Excel, PDF).
Support data import for integrating with other systems and tools.
Non-Functional Requirements
Scalability:
The system should handle increasing numbers of submissions, reviews, and users without performance issues.
Support for scaling infrastructure to accommodate growth and peak usage periods.
Performance:
Ensure fast and responsive interactions, with quick document uploads, review submissions, and data retrieval.
Optimize performance to handle large volumes of review data and concurrent users efficiently.
Reliability and Availability:
Ensure high availability with minimal downtime, supported by redundancy, load balancing, and failover mechanisms.
Implement regular backups and disaster recovery procedures to maintain service continuity.
Usability:
The user interface should be intuitive and user-friendly, accommodating users with varying levels of technical expertise.
Provide a consistent and seamless experience across different devices and platforms.
Security:
Implement robust security measures to protect user data, review content, and sensitive information, including encryption, secure authentication, and access controls.
Protect against unauthorized access, data breaches, and cyber threats.
Maintainability:
Ensure the system is easy to maintain, with clear documentation, modular design, and support for regular updates and bug fixes.
Implement automated monitoring and logging to identify and address issues promptly.
Compliance:
Ensure the system complies with relevant regulations and standards, such as data protection laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and academic publishing standards.
Provide features to support auditing, data retention, and regulatory reporting requirements.
Data Integrity and Accuracy:
Ensure that all data collected and processed by the system is accurate, consistent, and up-to-date.
Implement validation checks and data integrity mechanisms to prevent errors and data corruption.
Localization and Internationalization:
Support multiple languages and regional settings to cater to a global user base.
Allow easy adaptation of the system to meet local regulations and cultural practices.
Accessibility:
Ensure that the system is accessible to users with disabilities, following web accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG).
Provide features such as screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, and adjustable text sizes.
Privacy and Data Ownership:
Ensure that users retain ownership of their data and can easily control, access, and delete their information.
Provide transparency regarding data usage, sharing, and storage practices, with clear consent mechanisms.
