Article submission process & workflow

[porwig]

[Mod: this thread was split off from the "Opportunities to help with the magazine" thread]

Article submission process and workflow: We need to figure out the best way for authors to submit articles that will simplify the editing process and overall workflows. For example, should we create a user account for every author (even those who might just submit a single article) and allow them to log in to submit their article, or do we create a public form that anyone can use to submit an article? Think about how this will impact the workflow. For example, what happens if an editor needs to notify the author that the article needs to be revised and resubmitted? Do we need to keep track of those actions or do we just handle the resubmission as a new article? There are other questions to be addressed in this area as well.

[leolam]

Article workflow

Couple of thoughts here. Remember that K2 is very, very specific in its content handling and has it's own editor layout though in combination with JCE it's a dream.

So if one would use a form you would need to write a form that will be pasted into K2 later by the Editor team.....That is not an ideal situation I think and is labor intense.

If you use the K2 editor screen you are able to create Tags if allowed in parameters. That gives another problem since you get endless and mountains of Tags. That should be avoided at all costs. Best way imho is to use JCE as upload mechanism, strip the options to base TinyMCE alike. The Tag option can be resolved since we have created a hack which allows to select pre-defined (by editors) K2-Tags in a slider in the editor pane (not possible in current K2). It is than uploaded to the selected category and published by the responsible editors after review. (see my comment in other post on K2-modules)

predeftags.jpg

Who is author?
I think to give all automatic author rights will create a lot of extra work because of loads of fiction that will be posted which I think we should avoid.

Proposed Flow
* Become an Author request form (includes a link to potential author website: mandatory)
We could use Breezingforms for this and ask Markus Bopp who sponsors gracefully Joomla (see sponsor-pages) to provide the software and the form. I am sure Markus will jump in. BF keeps data in Database (including IP) so we have a level of security on author level
(A little survey to see who we deal with)
* We review/approve and we use JRPassphrase to send the registration code and they register and become author. Only these people can register ;-) Which is the entire purpose of the form...

Articles which require changes need to be informed by the Editor in Charge and are imho considered new submissions (Editor needs to keep copy for verifying that changes have been made)

Leo

edit: The Tag system is important since K2 does not support saving to multiple categories

[porwig]

I think this is a really important subject which if we set up a good process will hopefully make things easier for editors and authors. Thanks a lot Leo for starting this thread off with some great thoughts! See my thoughts/questions below.

Who is author?
I think to give all automatic author rights will create a lot of extra work because of loads of fiction that will be posted which I think we should avoid.

Agreed.

Proposed Flow
* Become an Author request form (includes a link to potential author website: mandatory)
We could use Breezingforms for this and ask Markus Bopp who sponsors gracefully Joomla (see sponsor-pages) to provide the software and the form. I am sure Markus will jump in. BF keeps data in Database (including IP) so we have a level of security on author level
(A little survey to see who we deal with)
* We review/approve and we use JRPassphrase to send the registration code and they register and become author. Only these people can register ;-) Which is the entire purpose of the form...

1. RE: potential author website: mandatory- Do you think we can make this work using the same new J! instance as will be used for the magazine, but perhaps the potential author's area is in a different folder? I think it would be preferable if we could avoid having to manage to separate J! instances.

2. Do you think we could we combine the 2 steps of your proposed flow (and add another see #3 below) by allowing prospective authors to both register and submit their proposed article at the same time? If so we would also need an option to refuse author/delete article.

3. I have been told that we need to create a license agreement form for authors submitting articles. Can we add this to the form as well (like accepting terms and conditions on many websites)?

Articles which require changes need to be informed by the Editor in Charge and are imho considered new submissions (Editor needs to keep copy for verifying that changes have been made)

What about this: Is there a way that instead of requiring authors to resubmit new articles whenever they make changes, perhaps editors could include their comments within the unpublished article, then put it in a "author revision" category and notify the author to log in and make requested changes? Then the author makes changes and puts the article into a "editor check revision" category? I think something like that might streamline how editors and authors could collaborate on what things need to be changed.

I can see that in some cases an editor might simply say "Too many problems, check the style guide and resubmit as a new article."