To add individual author names to a submission:

• Begin typing the first name, last name, email address, or institution of the author. If the author was previously entered into the system, an entry for the author will appear in the drop-down. Click the correct entry, and the author’s name will be added to the submission.
• If an entry for the author does not appear in the drop-down, you can add the author manually by filling out the available fields.
• Click Add Author and repeat this process to add coauthors.
• To edit an author, click the pencil icon to the right of the name.
• To remove an author, click the “x” icon to the right of the name.
• To reorder authors, change the number in the box above the author name.   
  

To add corporate or institutional authors to a submission:

• Begin typing the name of the corporation or institution. If the information was previously entered into the system, it will appear in the drop-down. Click the correct entry, and the name will be added to the submission.
• If an entry for the corporation or institution does not appear in the drop-down, you can add it manually by checking the Corporate box near the Institution field and filling in the corporation or institution’s name.
• Click Add Author and repeat this process to add more corporate or institutional authors.
• Use the pencil icon to the right of the name to edit an author or the “x” icon to remove an author. 
  

If your submission includes an electronic file or a link to one, you may add it here. Choose one of the following:

• Upload a file: If you have the full-text file on your computer or network, select this option, and use the Browse button to locate and upload the file into the series. PDF is the default format for text documents. If you provide a Word or RTF file, the system will convert it to PDF. (To make original files available instead when they are present, use the Allow original file download setting described in the “Series Configurations” section below.)
• Import file from remote site: If the file is publicly accessible, select this option, and paste the URL of the file in the text box that appears.
• Link out to remote file: To point to a web resource, or to a file that is online but not publicly accessible, select this option. Paste the URL in the text box that appears. A Link to Full Text button will appear on the article page instead of a Download button.

Title:

Enter the title of the submission exactly as you would like it to appear on the web (including the correct capitalization and punctuation).

Abstract:

The abstract provides a summary of the subjects covered in the document. By default, the abstract field is enabled to accept basic rich HTML. You can type or cut and paste text that you would like to include in the abstract field. Format elements of the abstract using the field’s toolbar. Choose the HTML option to enter your own code.

Comments:

If present, enter any comments that you would like to appear on the web page for the submission. For example, “Forthcoming in Harpers, 2027.”

Disciplines:

These allow the submission to be grouped with others in the same field on the Disciplines page of your repository. For more information about disciplines see Disciplines: Digital Commons Three-Tiered Taxonomy of Academic Disciplines.

Keywords:

The words you enter/select will help visitors find accurate results when they search the repository. Separate keywords with commas.

Publication Date:

If you know the year of publication, you may enter it here. The other fields are optional. If your series is sorted by publication date, this will affect where on the series index page the document will show.

Publication Status:

If present, use the yes/no buttons to indicate whether the submission was published in a journal.

If yes, the system will automatically generate an OpenURL and post a Find in Your Library link on the article page. The OpenURL is helpful if a document is already online (e.g., a publisher’s website), and for copyright reasons, the author cannot upload it to the repository. If this option is enabled, visitors will be directed via the OpenURL to the available copies of the document.

The Manage submissions page defaults to display documents which have not yet been posted. Use the State drop-down menu to adjust the list of submissions shown. Options include: Not yet posted, All, Queued for update, Posted, Rejected, and Withdrawn.

You may also search for documents based on criteria available in the field drop-down menu. Click on the underlined column headings to sort results or to reverse the sort order.

To add or arrange columns to suit your workflow, use the Table Preferences link above the table. Changes to preferences only affect the current administrator’s settings, and don’t modify what other series administrators see.

Manage submissions page:

From the Manage Submissions page, click the title of a submission to reach its Submission details page.

The Submission details page shows comprehensive information about the submission, as well as links to download any files that were included.

Most of the data shown under the title will be self-explanatory, but the following tips may be helpful:

• Waiting for Administrator: Here and in the main Manage submissions table, the system automatically displays “Yes” for a submission that may require administrator attention (e.g., the author uploaded a revision, a reviewer posted a review, etc.). You may override that designation by changing the menu here from Yes to No, or vice versa.
• Locked by Administrator: If you change this to Yes, the author will be immediately unable to use the Revise submission link shown in their author tools. To restore the author’s ability to revise the submission, change the menu back to No.
• Download: Depending on your series configuration, you may see different options under Download. The default is to display the most recent PDF version of the submission, including a system-generated title page and header/footer. The original file is also available for download, if present.

The left-hand sidebar of the Submission details page provides the following options to post, revise, and track progress for the submission.

Use the Post option in the Submission details sidebar when you are ready to post a document publicly. Then select Publish saved changes in the sidebar to finalize.

This option is typically used when an author uploads a submission, since author submissions must be approved by an administrator before they are published to the repository. If a different administrator uploads a submission, but doesn’t publish it, this workflow will also apply.

The other way for an administrator to post a submission is to use the Publish & Update selected button, which appears on the confirmation screen after completing the submit form. That method combines the post and update steps into one.

To make a change to a submission, you may submit a revision. If your series allows it, you may also display previous versions of a submission on the site (see “View revisions” below).

1. From the Submission details page, click Revise submission in the left sidebar.
2. Change the necessary elements on the form, enter a brief summary of changes in the Reason for update field, and click Submit.
3. If the document is already posted to the site, select Publish saved changes in the sidebar to ensure that changes display publicly.

The View revisions link in the Submission details sidebar provides access to multiple tools for managing the submission's files and versions.

The Download link behavior tool allows you to change which file is available publicly via the Download button on the article page. You can also select metadata-only using this tool. Select Save to apply your selection. An option labeled Native will appear when a non-PDF file such as a Word document has been uploaded to the submission. The PDF option appears when either a PDF has been uploaded directly or when a document such as a Word file has automatically converted to PDF. 

Also on the View revisions page is the Revision History table, which provides information about the original submission and each revision that occurs, including the user and the time of the submission/revision. 

When a revision includes a file such as a PDF, that file is automatically made available via the Download button in place of the earlier file, once you publish saved changes. You can select the button for a previous file in the table if you'd prefer to make an earlier version available for download instead.   

If desired, you can also enable a Previous Versions feature for a series by contacting Consulting Services. This option allows you to display earlier drafts in a “Previous Versions” section of the public article page by selecting Show from the drop-down menu in the Previous versions column. The text field next to the menu allows you to input text to describe the previous version (e.g., First draft, December 2025); otherwise, the system displays the date it was originally posted.

If there is supplemental content that should accompany a submission, the system allows you to add it in an Additional Files section of the article page. You may submit additional files at the time you make the original submission or add them via the Submission details page at a later date.

To add, remove, or revise additional files for existing submissions:

1. Select Additional files in the sidebar of the Submission details page.
2. Select and upload a file from your hard drive or network using the Choose File button.
3. Enter a description for the file, if desired.
4. Use Sort if you wish to change the order of multiple additional files.
5. If you do not wish the file to show on the live site, uncheck the Show option.
6. When all of your additional files are uploaded and in the correct order, click Save.

To see whether a submission has additional files: 

The Submission details page for each submission lists any additional files at the bottom of the metadata summary.

The Withdraw submission link allows you to withdraw an entire submission on behalf of an author. This is helpful if the author has made duplicate submissions. After a submission has been posted, the Withdraw submission link changes to Remove submission.

To withdraw a submission that has not been posted:

1. On the Submission details page, select the Withdraw submission link in the sidebar.
2. Select Do not notify authors to confirm without sending the letter shown on the page, or select Notify authors to confirm and send the letter to the author, if an email address was provided with the submission.
3. Select Withdraw Submission to complete the withdrawal.

To remove a posted submission:

1. On the Submission details page, select the Remove submission link in the sidebar.
2. In the message to the authors, replace the placeholder text (“ADMINISTRATOR: ENTER THE REASONS FOR MAKING THE CHANGE HERE”) with your reason. Select Remove to remove the submission and send the message, or select Remove, no notification to remove the submission without sending it.
3. Select Publish saved changes in the sidebar to remove the submission from the published site. The submission’s metadata remains at its current URL, but the link to download the file is replaced with a notice to visitors that the document has been withdrawn.

Withdrawn and removed submissions move to the “Withdrawn” state. If a submission was withdrawn or removed by mistake, contact Consulting Services to request that it be returned to pending status.

Note: To give visitors more information about a posted submission that has been removed, first use the Revise submission link to update the Comments field (for example, “As of Dec 12, 2013, this manuscript is available only through the publisher’s website at…”). Then remove the submission using the steps above.

Additional options in the Submission details left navigation are listed below.

Administrator notes:

To leave a reminder for yourself or another administrator, add notes here. The most recent note will show on the Submission Details page but will not be published on the web.

Administrator report:

This tool allows administrators to generate an Excel spreadsheet with selected information about submissions in the series. (For download reports, refer to Digital Commons Dashboard)

View published site:

Brings you to the series homepage.

History:

This page provides an overview of the submission’s activity and allows you to add notes for later reference. The notes will not be visible to the author.

Preview changes:

Allows you to view the series homepage before changes are live. Note: The preview will only show submissions that have been posted and then updated. If you would like to see a submission’s article page before it is posted, click on the Preview submission link, also in the sidebar.

Preview submission:

This link displays the submission as it would appear in your repository once published. Some information may be unavailable until the submission is posted.

Register decision:

To send the author(s) your comments, you may choose Register decision from the sidebar links. It is not required to send a decision letter for any submission.

1. From the Submission details page, click on Register decision.
2. Select the type of letter you wish to send from the drop-down menu:
   • Accept: Choose this letter for submissions you intend to publish “as is.”
   • Accept with Minor Revisions: Choose this letter for submissions you intend to publish after minor changes are made.
   • Major Revisions Required for Acceptance: Choose this letter for submissions you are considering, but which require significant changes.
   • Reject: Rejected submissions can be neither revised nor accepted afterwards so this decision should be used with some caution.
3. If you do not want to email a decision letter, select the Do not email the decision letter checkbox and select Register decision. Otherwise, continue below.
4. Change any of the boilerplate text as needed and click the Register decision button to send the letter.
5. A copy of the decision letter will be available via the Decision letters link, visible only after a decision letter has been sent.

Submissions list:

This link returns you to the main Manage submissions view.

Publish saved changes:

When you make changes to an item within a series or to series configurations and save or submit those changes, you’ll need to publish saved changes to ensure these changes display publicly on the site. Publish saved changes when you revise articles, post new submissions, or make changes to article and series display settings through the configuration tab.

Publishing saved changes at the series level affects only the series and items within it. You will receive an email when the update has completed. You may need to refresh your browser in order to see the changes you have made.