Aperta User Guide for Academic Editors

Signing In

You must have a PLOS account to access Aperta. You only need one account to access all of your manuscripts in Aperta, whether you are an author, reviewer, or Editorial Board member.

Existing accounts

If you have previously used a PLOS account to comment on published articles on the PLOS journal websites or to sign up for eTOC alerts, you will use the same credentials to access Aperta. As an Editorial Board member, you may have had an account created for you when you joined. Sign in with the same email address you provided upon joining the board.

Go to the Aperta homepage and click Sign in with PLOS.

Enter your credentials on the PLOS sign-in screen to access the system. If you need to recover your password, click the Forgot your password link to have reset instructions emailed to you. 

New accounts

To set up a new PLOS account, go to the Aperta homepage and click Create an account.

On the next screen, fill out the form with your contact information and password. Then click Create Account.

When you submit the form, you will receive a confirmation email from plos.org with a link to verify your account. Click the link in the confirmation email to complete your account registration. You will then be redirected to the sign-in page. Click Sign in with PLOS and enter your new credentials.

Your Aperta Profile

Your Profile in Aperta displays your account information. To access your Profile, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and select Profile in the dropdown menu.

The Profile includes a button to connect or create an ORCID iD. This opens a popup window where you can enter your ORCID information or register for a new ORCID iD.

PLOS requires that all corresponding authors provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript, and we encourage everyone participating in the peer review process to have one. Learn more about ORCID at PLOS. For more information about how to set up your ORCID iD in Aperta, watch this short video. 

Accepting or Declining Invitations

When you are asked to evaluate a manuscript submitted to PLOS Biology, you will receive an invitation at the email address associated with your PLOS account. Your invitation will include the manuscript title, abstract, and author list, including author affiliations. Click the links in the email to accept or decline the invitation.

If you accept the invitation, you will be prompted to sign in before you can view the manuscript. If you do not already have a PLOS account, you will be prompted to create one. On the account registration screen, enter your name and a password. Then click Create Account to proceed to view the manuscript.

If you are signed in to Aperta, you can access your invitations directly from Your Manuscripts by clicking the green View Invitations button.

Clicking View Invitations opens a new screen with the title, abstract, and author list of the manuscript you have been invited to evaluate. Use the buttons to accept or decline the invitation.

If you decline the invitation, you will be prompted to provide a reason for declining. You can also suggest possible reviewers for the manuscript. This feedback is valuable to us so we encourage you to provide as much information as possible. 

If you accept the invitation, you will automatically be redirected to the manuscript.

Your Manuscripts

Your Manuscripts displays all manuscripts on which you are an active participant. The Role column indicates which manuscripts you are evaluating as an Academic Editor. If you have authored or reviewed any manuscripts in Aperta, those manuscripts will appear on this page as well. The Inactive Manuscripts section of the page will list manuscripts you have previously worked on that have been accepted or rejected. 

Click the manuscript title to view the submission. The manuscript text will appear on the left-hand side of the page, and submission information will appear on the right-hand side in a list of cards. Click a card title to open the card and view the contents. Click the title again to collapse the contents.

You can also use the Downloads button in the navigation bar to download current and prior versions of the uploaded manuscript. 

Note that some PDFs of Word files may contain conversion errors. If you suspect a conversion error, refer to the Word file.

You can return to your assignments at any time by clicking Your Manuscripts at the top of the window.

Providing Comments

To provide comments on a submission, you will be given access to a discussion forum in Aperta. The handling editor will use this discussion forum to send you queries about the manuscript and include information about reviewer comments and decisions so that you can provide your professional assessment.

After accepting your Academic Editor invitation, you will receive a separate email with a link to access the discussion directly. You can also access the discussion by clicking the Discussions button in the Navigation Bar at the top of the Manuscript Page.

In the discussion panel on the right-hand side of the screen, open the discussion link.

When you are added to a discussion, you will be notified of the handling editor’s username. When you respond to the discussion, please include this username (written as @username, e.g., @johnsmith) in your post so the editor is immediately notified of your comments. Click Post Message to submit your comments.

Revised Manuscripts

If you are invited to consult on a revised version of a manuscript you previously evaluated, you will receive another invitation by email. Revised manuscripts will have a Response to Reviewers card where you can read the authors’ response to reviewers. Depending on how the authors’ response has been provided, you will be able to read the comments directly on the card or access them in a downloadable file. This card will also contain the prior decision letter(s) as well as a version of the authors’ revised manuscript with changes highlighted in the document.

You can compare two versions of a DOC or DOCX manuscript file by using the Versions tool in the navigation bar above the manuscript. You can also compare information entered on the submission cards.

Note that the versioning tool cannot be used to compare PDF to DOC/DOCX submissions. Also, if the previous manuscript was submitted as a PDF, figures and supporting information files will not be comparable on the Figures and Supporting Information cards. To view and compare these items, click the Downloads button to access the previous PDF.

• Now Viewing refers to the current version of the manuscript or submission card
• Compare With refers to the older version of the manuscript or submission card that you are comparing against the current version

The versions window will highlight all deleted text in red highlights and all new text in green. Click X to return to the current submission.

Additional Resources