Review Procedures

Manuscript Submissions

Submissions to the all-electronic SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems (SIADS) must be in electronic form and sent via SIAM's Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://siads.siam.org. Hard-copy submissions will not be considered. Once logged into the system, authors must provide a cover letter and a PDF file of the manuscript. Any questions can be directed to [email protected].
Note: Non-supplemental images/figures, if any, must be embedded "inline" in the manuscript.

SIADS authors are encouraged to submit supplemental files to complement their work. Some of these files, such as movie files, may be appropriate for inclusion in the journal; others, such as computer program files, may be more appropriate for DSWeb, SIAM's website devoted to the dynamical systems community. Files intended for inclusion in the journal must be peer reviewed along with the manuscript and should be included with the submission. You are also required to submit an index of Supplementary Materials. In the index, list each item along with a brief description and a justification for why the item should be included. This index will be used by the editor and referees in judging the appropriateness, and the descriptions will also ultimately appear on the Supplementary Materials webpage available to readers. This html template should be used to create the index (right click and "save link or target as" to download: also available as a text file). DSWeb supplemental files will not be peer reviewed with the submitted manuscript and will be discussed with the author only after the submitted paper has been accepted.

Note on Manuscript Length and Size of Files: Generally, manuscripts should not exceed 40 pages in length and/or 5 megabytes in file size. Supplemental files should not exceed 50 megabytes in size. Exceptions to these limits must be justified to the editor-in-chief. If these limitations are exceeded, please contact the SIAM office ([email protected]) in advance to explain the need for the extra size/space.

Once the submitted manuscript has been received by the SIAM office, the files will be tested to ensure that they are readable/functional. At this point, the manuscript has a status of "unrouted" (UN) (see status descriptions below).

The SIAM office sends the corresponding author an e-mail acknowledging receipt and providing the manuscript number. Authors are asked to include the manuscript number in all correspondence regarding the paper.

Direct Submissions
Members of the Editorial Board occasionally receive submissions directly from authors. In such cases the editor will ask the author to resubmit the paper to the SIAM office through the Journal Submission & Tracking System at http://siads.siam.org. This procedure ensures that the SIAM office will have the opportunity to access the manuscript for proper processing and tracking throughout the review process. Editors should not review a new submission without the approval of the EIC, who assigns the Review Editor for each paper.

Papers authored by Editorial Board members:  Papers authored by Editorial Board members are subject to the same anonymous peer-review process as other papers.  Submissions to the journal authored by the members of the Editorial Board will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief. Submissions to the journal authored by the Editor-in-Chief will be directed to the Vice President for Publications, who will oversee the review process.

Conflicts of Interest and Rerouting
It is vital to the reputation of SIAM and all of its journals that conflicts of interest be avoided. Therefore, it is SIAM policy that editors not review papers authored by their friends, colleagues, co-workers, students, or recent former students. The same policy applies to referees: editors should not send papers to referees who work at an author's institution or who are known to have close ties to the author. To help avoid conflicts of interest, it is SIAM policy that editors who receive manuscript submissions or who are assigned manuscripts that present a conflict of interest decline the assignment. The EIC can then reassign the paper to another editor.

Also, if the MEB is unable or unwilling to handle a given submission, either because of workload difficulties or because the submission is outside his/her areas of expertise, or for any other reason, again, he/she should decline and the EIC will invite another editor to review the paper.

Manuscript Review

The MEB designates, via the web-based system, the names of 2 referees and, if possible, 2 backup referees, along with their e-mail addresses, phone numbers (if available), and the names of their respective institutions. The potential referees are contacted by e-mail to determine if they are willing to review the paper. Once they've agreed and accessed the paper, SIAM asks that referees complete their review and send their reports within 6 weeks. If reports are not received within 6 weeks, the SIAM office will regularly prompt the referees. Once reports are received, thank you messages are sent to the referees and the reports go to the MEB for evaluation. Based on the reports, the MEB makes a decision on the paper, which usually results in a change of the paper's review status. In most cases, the author receives copies of the referee reports along with the editor's decision letter. Note that all of this communication is done by e-mail and works within the web-based Submission & Tracking System.

Option for EIC Assistance
There may be some instances in which the MEB feels uncomfortable making a decision on a paper or communicating a decision to the author. In such cases, the MEB has the option of contacting the EIC for assistance or to request that the EIC make the decision and/or communicate the decision to the author.

Status Changes
The various status designations and the steps that the MEB should follow are discussed in detail below. The MEB should review these very carefully and, in his/her communication with authors, avoid wording which could make the status of the paper seem unclear (e.g., in a rejection message to the author: Is the intent to reject clear, or is a revision being implicitly encouraged?). Please note especially the important distinctions among the following statuses: rejected, in revision, and minor revision.

Transfer Policy
Manuscripts that are of high quality but are inappropriate for the journal to which they have been submitted can be transferred to other SIAM journals for consideration. Note that for SIADS, it is unlikely that manuscripts would be transferred to other journals, given that the other journals are not completely electronic, but if such a situation arises, the following procedure must be followed:
  1. The MEB contacts the SIAM office and the SIADS EIC to suggest the transfer.
  2. If the SIADS EIC agrees with the request for transfer, the SIAM office consults with the EIC of the journal to which the paper might be transferred.
  3. If the EIC of the transfer journal approves, the SIADS MEB suggests the transfer to the author. The MEB should clearly state that the paper would be transferred to a traditional journal, so the electronic facets of the paper would no longer be considered.
  4. If the author agrees to the transfer, the SIAM office will process the manuscript for the new journal.
Note especially that this procedure requires that the EICs of both journals be in agreement regarding the transfer, and that their agreement must precede any communication with the author regarding the possibility of transfer.

Reports

Various reports can be run by SIAM. Reports on the status of all SIADS papers in process, as well as a separate report on overdue papers, will be sent to the EIC every month. MEBs will receive reports from the SIAM office on the status of their papers on a regular basis. Reports will include information on status of manuscript refereeing. We request that you review these reports and forward any corrections, changes, or status updates to the SIAM office as soon as possible (preferably within one week) after you receive them. We also ask that you pay special attention to overdue papers and make every effort to complete their reviews as quickly as possible.

If there is any specific information that you would like that is not covered in the reports, or if you have any other questions, please contact SIAM's Publications Manager ([email protected]).

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