At Scholastica, we’re working to support the needs of scholarly journals throughout their publication lifecycles with our easy-to-integrate peer review software, article production service, and OA journal hosting platform.
Of course, we know there isn’t a one-size-fits-all publishing approach. That’s why we’ve made our software and services modular, and we’re taking steps to help journals integrate with external publishing solutions as needed.
On that note, a question we sometimes get from those using or exploring our Peer Review System is: “Can I send files from the Scholastica Peer Review System to an external production or hosting service via an FTP server?” The answer is yes!
In this blog post, we explain how peer review to FTP exports work and answers to FAQs.
What you’ll need to get started
To start exporting manuscript packages from the Scholastica Peer Review System to an external FTP server, you’ll first need to ensure you have the necessary credentials to establish an FTP connection. These include your FTP server:
- Hostname: This could be a domain name or an IP address (check with your FTP provider).
- Username: The username that allows you to access your server files via FTP clients.
- Password: The password that authenticates your FTP server username.
- Port: FTP ports are numbers that identify the application or service on the server that is being communicated with (e.g., port 21).
- File Path: The location on the FTP server where manuscript data should be deposited. If you leave the “file path” field blank, manuscripts will be deposited at the FTP root.
The Hostname, Username, Password, and Port fields are all required to set up an FTP connection. File Path is optional, but should be entered if you need to deposit manuscript files into a particular folder of the FTP server. If you wish to send deposits to a particular FTP folder, you must set that folder up before you attempt to make deposits to the server, otherwise the deposits will fail.
Please Note: The above credentials for connecting to your FTP server are not issued or managed by Scholastica. They will come from your web hosting provider, system administrator, or whoever manages the FTP server you’re connecting to, so reach out to them for support if you’re unsure of where to find this information.
Connecting to your FTP server and setting editor permissions
Once you have all the necessary credentials above, your admin editor will follow the steps here to establish a connection between your Scholastica Peer Review System account and external FTP server.
At that point, the journal admin will have the opportunity to set FTP export permissions by selecting which editors can send manuscript files to the FTP server associated with the journal. Editors granted FTP privileges will only be allowed to send data associated with manuscripts that they have access to. You can learn more about setting FTP permissions here. Journal admins will always be able to send manuscript files to the FTP server by default.
Sending and tracking manuscript FTP exports from Scholastica
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you’ll be ready to start exporting manuscript packages from your Scholastica Peer Review System account to your external FTP server. The Manuscript FTP export packages will include the:
- Most recent version of the primary manuscript file
- Front-matter XML metadata
- Most recent versions of supplementary file(s) associated with the manuscript like any tables, reviewer responses, etc.
- The manuscript decision letter, if applicable (note: we strongly recommend only exporting manuscripts that have gone through peer review and received a final decision)
- Reviews submitted for the current version of the manuscript, if applicable
Editors with FTP permissions will be able to export manuscripts to the FTP server connected to your journal account individually or in bulk by following the steps here.
Once manuscript packages are sent to your external FTP server, editors with appropriate permissions can track the status of FTP exports from your FTP history page. There you will be able to see any in-progress FTP deposits as well as a log of all successful and failed deposit attempts.
You can learn more about tracking the status of your journal’s FTP exports here.
Answers to FAQs:
I’m new to this! What is an FTP server exactly?
An FTP server is a computer system that uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to store and share files over a network. It allows users to upload, download, or manage files remotely by connecting via an FTP client.
When should I send manuscript packages from the Scholastica Peer Review System to an external FTP server?
Sending manuscript packages to an FTP server makes sense if you use an external production service or hosting provider to process accepted manuscript files into publishable articles that offers a dedicated FTP server for file deposits. If you use the Scholastica Production Service or Open Access Publishing Platform, you can import accepted manuscripts and metadata from peer review to those solutions within your Scholastica account (no setup or FTP needed!).
We strongly recommend that you only send Scholastica manuscript packages to an external FTP server after your editors have issued a decision for those submissions. The peer review system FTP connection should move manuscripts to the next stage of your publishing workflow (if that’s not possible in your current process this option will not be the best fit for you).
How can I tell which manuscripts have been exported to the FTP server from my Manuscripts Table?
The best way to distinguish between which manuscripts have been sent to your FTP server and which haven’t is to add a standard manuscript tag to exported manuscripts, such as “exported to FTP” (you’ll need to establish that tagging convention with your editorial team). You can add tags to a single manuscript or to multiple manuscripts at once.
You can then search for and filter papers within your Scholastica Manuscripts Table using your FTP export tag in combination with other manuscript criteria (e.g., additional tags, the article type, etc.) as explained here.
How will I know if my FTP export went through?
Editors with FTP permissions can check the status of your journal’s FTP exports from your FTP history page.
What if an editor exports one or more manuscript packages to the FTP server by mistake (e.g., before the files are ready to be sent)?
Once initiated manuscript package exports cannot be undone. If an editor exports a manuscript package to the FTP server by mistake, you’ll need to contact the manager of the server to let them know and request that they delete the package on their end.
Putting it all together
As noted, Scholastica offers a journal article production service (for PDF, full-text XML, and HTML file creation). So, if you’re seeking to integrate your peer review and production processes, we encourage you to check out that option. OA journals can even seamlessly move typeset manuscripts from the Scholastica Production Service to our hosting platform. If you’re interested in learning more about Scholastica’s software and services, please click here to schedule a demo with a member of our team.
We hope you found this feature overview blog post helpful! The new FTP export functionality is now available to all Scholastica Peer Review System users.
As always, if you have any questions not covered here, please feel free to contact us — we’re here to help!
