Improve Your Journal with Top-notch Editorial Office and Peer Review Support.

Selecting the right partner to work with your core constituencies of journal editors, reviewers, and authors is among the most important decisions that an organization must make. KGL Editorial brings extensive experience serving a broad range of commercial and STM publishers along with deep insight into every kind of journal workflow to offer the following high-quality peer review services for your research publications. 

KGL Editorial brings to its customers an outstanding track record in managing editorial offices and providing peer review support, having been a leader in the industry since 2000. We support more than 50 clients and more than 500 journals in this capacity, with many long-time clients as well as rapid growth over the past several years because of the combination of visibility and reputation in the industry.

From careful manuscript quality checks, to handling author communications or researching reviewers, KGL Editorial improves efficiency and outcomes throughout the peer review process. Combining the best of onshore customer service with offshore operational efficiencies, our associates bring professional polish to your workflows.  We are power users of the major manuscript management systems and have built a suite of proprietary tools that work with established platforms to inform and streamline your work.

Our dedicated peer review specialists adhere to journal-specific workflow, metadata, and communication preferences, working exclusively on the peer review process to streamline responses and maintain deadlines. We offer distinct competencies to support your esteemed journals including peer review best practices, superior customer service to all constituencies, rapidly scalable staffing, expertise in a wide variety of workflows, established training programs, and comprehensive documentation of the efficacy of work performed.

Peer review services can be commissioned for a particular piece of your workflow or across your entire workflow. We can extend your editorial office, or serve in partnership as your trusted editorial office. Our continuum of services also encompasses copyediting and production offerings. Our services are customized according to the precise needs of your organization, scalable to changing volume, and offer excellent value while maintaining the exceptional reputation of your journal.

Delegate your peer review management to KGL Editorial and unburden critical staff, satisfy your authors, and ensure editorial quality and speed with a trusted partner.

Editorial Office Management

Publishers in need of an editorial manager to run their journal editorial offices from A to Z.

• Dedicated editorial managers who understand publishing history and trends

• Development of peer review protocols and standards and workflows

• Timely, quality management of peer review process—every detail

• Clearly defined service goals for each critical handoff in the workflow

• Monitoring journal metrics to meet editor and publisher expectations

• Strategic and operational meetings with editors, editorial board, publisher

• Analysis of editorial data and preparation of editorial office reports

• Make and/or oversee changes to the journal website as issues are published

• Support for supplements, CME, website changes, social media

• Training and transitions, documentation, ongoing evaluations

• Serving as a liaison to publishers and vendors

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Journal Staffing

Stable, cost-effective, and scalable to address immediate and future challenges.

• Customized approach to staffing

  • Number of journals in the portfolio

  • Editors and workflows being supported

  • Scope of services and volume of manuscripts

• Two-tier team approach rather than a single support person (typically)

  • Economies of scale and complete coverage

  • Continuity in the event of any staff change

• Following best practices

  • Single point of contact for client

  • Managing editor with the necessary knowledge, responsiveness, and vision

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Manuscript Processing

• Promptly handle each manuscript according to established protocols and efficiency benchmarks

• Check manuscript details based on client checklists

• Return manuscripts not meeting requirements to authors for correction

• Journal dashboard provides at-a-glance visualization of manuscript queues, improving efficiency

• Screen for plagiarism using detection software

• Handle special content types such as invited manuscripts, supplements and special issues, multimedia, and clinical trials

• Provide final quality checks on accepted manuscripts and launch to production

• Check and approve final page proofs

• Flexible support that responds to changing volume and provides coverage for absences

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Author Communications

• Responsive management of the journal inbox

• Draft, proof, and send decision letters to authors

• Obtain necessary figures/artwork in required format

• Collect disclosure forms and permissions letters

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Editor Support

• Monitor workflow for editors

• Notify editors of problems with review of assigned articles

• Participate in routine phone calls and meetings

• Attend editorial board meetings if requested

• Report on processing timelines and other KPIs

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Reviewer Management

• Obtain reviewers for each manuscript, including statistical reviews, as directed by editors

• Prompt reviewers, ensuring a timely process

• Database management including adding, updating, and de-duplicating reviewer records

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Customer Service and Technical Support

• Monitor email and phone accounts and answer inquiries in a prompt, professional manner

• Provide technical assistance to editors, authors, and reviewers related to the peer review system

• Work with the manuscript management system vendor to configure new features or resolve technical issues

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Special Projects

• Project management support for journal strategic initiatives

• Improve editorial processes, correspondence, and websites

• Designing reviewer training programs, and more

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Bias Awareness Training & DEI Support

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are a priority throughout the scholarly publishing industry to promote equitable actions that advance racial, ethnic, institutional, sex and gender, disability (and accessibility), geographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity among journal authors, reviewers, and editors.

Long committed to DEI, KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. (KGL) has prepared an engaging, highly interactive training program that is appropriate for all journal stakeholders. The content, developed by experienced KGL editors who are actively collaborating with leading industry organizations to advance DEI policy, includes universally recognized components of bias awareness instruction as well as training for the specific types of publication bias that occur within scholarly publishing.

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Meet the Team

Client Testimonials

Tip Sheet