"Going paperless": writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. (Special Announcement).

Journalist Gene Fowler said this more than 50 years ago, at a time when people either wrote in longhand or used clunky typewriters. Those drops of blood stained pounds of paper. Words had bulk. Today, we stare at a blank computer screen, and our data float in weightless ether, an electronic Etch a Sketch.

We're told the entire world is going paperless. There are paperless classrooms, paperless archives, even paperless trails left by terrorists; paperless billing, paperless resumes, paperless offices--and paperless manuscript submission and review. Beginning next month, Physical Therapy joins a distinguished and growing group of scholarly journals--from British Medical Journal to Journal of Clinical Microbiology to Bone Marrow Transplantation to The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery to Neurology--that require authors and reviewers to submit their manuscripts and reviews online.

Why online peer review for Physical Therapy? For one thing, you're ready for it! According to APTA's 2002 Professional Development Needs Assessment Survey (unpublished data, APTA Department of Professional Development), 98% of APTA members have access to a computer (compared with only 66% a couple of years ago), 65% at work and 82% at home. And 98% of members have access to the Internet, with 54% accessing the Web on a daily basis.

In the Newsletter for Journal Publishers, Anika Burkard, managing editor of Geology, described that journal's move from paper to Web submissions, remarking that editors, reviewers, and authors reacted to the change with a familiar protest: "but this [paper submission] is the way we've always done it." (1) In reality, however, the change had been in the works for several years. The same is true for our Journal. For its first 75 years, Physical Therapy did it the way journals have "always done it," relying on correspondence that lumbered through the regular mail. About 7 years ago, the Editorial Office shifted to fax and then to e-mail communication. Today, although we forward manuscripts as PDF files to our editors via e-mail, we still send manuscripts to reviewers in large white envelopes, and we still have to build in a week or two for mail time. The use of e-mail and the implementation of a FileMaker Pro manuscript tracking database 3 years ago have enabled us to improve turnaround times, with 90% of manuscripts having initial reviews completed within our 3- to 4-month target time frame. But we know that's not good enough.

In August, through a Web site hosted by ScholarOne (www.ScholarOne.com), Physical Therapy takes the next step in the effort to make our peer-review and publication processes more efficient. Each Journal contributor--author, reviewer, or editor--will be prompted to set up a personal account on the site. Each contributor will have his or her own confidential "center." For instance, reviewers will view only those manuscripts for which they have reviewer responsibilities, and authors will be able to view all manuscripts that they have ever submitted using the system.

What authors should expect. By submitting your manuscript online, you will no longer have to prepare multiple copies of your paper and artwork for mailing. If you are interrupted and called away at any point during the submission process, you can close out the site, return to your computer, log back in, and pick up where you left off. Most important, at any hour of the day or night, you can check on the status of your submitted manuscript.

When you submit your manuscript, you'll move through 10 information screens, clicking on radial buttons; filling in text boxes for titles, abstracts, and cover letter; and selecting items from pull-down menus (eg, manuscript category, keywords). Test submitters have reported that the process takes less than an hour. On the last screen, you'll follow instructions to upload your manuscript files (a wide variety of formats are accepted, and a PDF author proof is created "on the fly" for your approval). You'll know immediately that your paper has been received and that the review process is already under way. Because of the immediacy of online submission, US and international authors will be on an even playing field in terms of timeliness. And, should you receive a disposition of "Decision Pending" or "Revise," you won't have to reenter the manuscript data. You will simply respond online to reviewer comments and upload a file of the revised manuscript.

What reviewers should expect. You will be able to view abstracts before making a decision to accept the review assignment. You also will be able to submit your reviews online with just one click of a button, check on what reviews you still "owe," and view any previous reviews that you submitted.

Advantages for all. By automatically sending e-mail alerts to editors, reviewers, and authors, the online system ensures that you won't have to stop to think about what you need to do next. The ability to track your own submissions of papers and reviews may even help you in promotion and tenure.

Today, we stare at a computer screen instead of a blank piece of paper. Years of work can travel in seconds from author to editor. But some things, of course, will never change: your hard work, those drops of blood. Our new system should make at least make the mechanical aspects of manuscript submission and review much easier.

Editor in Chief Jules Rothstein, PT, PhD, FAPTA, is currently in Barcelona representing the Journal at the World Confederation for Physical Therapy.

References

(1) Burkard A. The digital transition: trials, traumas, and triumphs. JP [The Newsletter for Journal Publishers]. 2002;2:3.