You have a polished manuscript, a sharp cover letter, and every declaration in place — and then you meet the submission portal. For many researchers this is where a smooth process suddenly turns fiddly: unfamiliar screens, endless metadata fields, and a progress bar that refuses to advance until you find the one box you missed.
Three systems dominate academic publishing: ScholarOne, Editorial Manager, and OJS. They look different but share the same underlying logic. Once you understand that logic, learning how to use ScholarOne submission — or any other portal — becomes straightforward. This guide walks you through all three.
is a realistic estimate for a first-time portal submission once your files are ready. Rushing it is how metadata errors creep in — the kind that trigger an editorial query before review even begins.
The portal is the final stage of a longer process. If your files are not yet assembled, work through our complete journal submission checklist first — the portal only goes smoothly when everything it asks for is already prepared.
Nearly every delay in portal submission comes from stopping mid-way to hunt for something. Gather these before you log in and the whole process becomes a matter of copying and pasting: your final manuscript file and separate figure files, the exact title and abstract, your list of keywords, every co-author's full name, affiliation, email, and ORCID, your funding and ethics details, your data availability statement, and your list of suggested reviewers. Ten minutes assembling this in one document saves an hour of stop-start frustration inside the system.
A long-established, wizard-style system that walks you through numbered steps. It can feel dated, but it is thorough: you cannot submit until every required field is complete. Expect to enter authors, keywords, and answers to several confirmation questions before uploading files.
Widely used across large publishers, with a cleaner interface built around a submission checklist on the left of the screen. You upload files, enter metadata, and the system builds a merged PDF for you to approve before final submission.
The open-source platform behind thousands of smaller and society journals. It uses a simple five-step submission flow. Interfaces vary between journals because each installs and configures OJS itself, so read the on-screen instructions carefully.
Whatever the platform, the sequence is broadly the same. Knowing it in advance means no screen takes you by surprise.
Pro Tip
Every portal lets you save and return later. If a field stumps you, save your progress rather than guessing. A half-finished submission waiting in your dashboard is far better than a rushed one full of errors.
"The portal does not judge your science — but the errors you make in it can still delay your paper by weeks."
Most portal problems are small and entirely avoidable. The recurring culprits are a mismatch between the abstract in the portal and the one in the manuscript, co-authors added in the wrong order or with dead email addresses, files uploaded under the wrong designation, and — most common of all — skipping the final PDF proof. None of these reflects on your research, yet each can bounce your submission back to you and add days or weeks before an editor even looks at the paper.
Common Mistake
Assuming the uploaded files are correct without checking the system-generated PDF. Portals convert and merge your files, and conversion can break figures, drop pages, or garble equations. Always open the proof and read it before submitting.
A few habits smooth each system. On ScholarOne, work through the numbered steps in order and expect several yes/no confirmation questions near the end — have your declarations to hand. On Editorial Manager, use the left-hand checklist as your map, and re-check the merged PDF it builds. On OJS, read each journal's own instructions on the first screen, since configurations differ, and do not be surprised by the compact five-step flow.
Two cross-platform habits matter regardless of the system. First, use a single, permanent institutional email for your account: if you switch jobs mid-review, a personal or old address can lock you out of your own submission. Second, do not start a submission you cannot finish in one sitting unless you are certain you have every file ready — while all three systems save progress, a submission left half-complete for weeks is easy to forget and occasionally times out. Treat the portal as the last, deliberate step, not something to squeeze into a spare ten minutes.
Real result
A management researcher navigated the full submission process to a clean acceptance in an SSCI Q4 journal, with careful portal preparation part of the story.
See the Leadership Styles SSCI Q4 case study →Learning how to use ScholarOne submission — and Editorial Manager and OJS — is really about preparation: the portal is easy when your files and metadata are ready and consistent. Our Submission Support service can guide you through portal entry step by step, so nothing is entered incorrectly or left blank. You stay in control as the corresponding author throughout; we simply make sure the mechanics are right and nothing is missed.
Check your manuscript's readiness in 60 seconds so portal entry is the easy part.
Bring your manuscript and target journal to a free consultation, and we'll help you complete the submission portal correctly — from metadata to the final PDF proof.
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