We are pleased to announce that AFP will soon begin using Editorial Manager, a Web-based manuscript submission and peer review system. During the past several months, AFP has been working with Aries Systems, the developer of Editorial Manager, to transition from our current e-mail–based submission and processing system to this web-based program.

An online submission and peer review system will result in greater efficiency and faster turnaround times for authors, reviewers, and editors. It will streamline the review process and decrease the time from submission to the initial decision on publication. Editorial Manager also will aid authors during the submission process. They will be able to upload all components of their submission in a few easy steps, avoiding the problems that are sometimes encountered with an e-mail–based system. Those who have contributed to AFP may be familiar with some of the stumbling blocks—file size limitations, figures in the wrong file format, large files, and missing author statement forms—which often delayed the processing of their submission. Editorial Manager accepts a wide array of file formats and sizes, and it will also provide prompts to ensure that manuscript submissions are complete at the time of submission.

Our editorial office will automatically be notified when a new manuscript has been uploaded. Also, throughout the submission and review process, authors can check the progress of their article 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any Internet connection. This increased access allows authors to always have the most current information about the status of their manuscript.

There are significant benefits for AFP staff in our Washington, DC, and Leawood, Kan., offices. Editorial Manager offers reporting functions that will allow us to create “to do” lists for editors, generate statistics regarding our peer reviewers, and examine the amount of time that articles spend in peer review. Also, the process of sending files from Washington to Leawood will be greatly simplified and expedited.

Because of the increased efficiency, web-based submission and review systems such as Editorial Manager are quickly becoming the industry standard in scholarly publishing. More than 2,600 journals currently use Editorial Manager, and the majority of these journals are scientific and technical in nature. Authors have reported being satisfied with the ease and simplicity of the system, and journal offices appreciate the versatility that allows them to decrease turnaround time while capturing statistics about manuscript processing and review.

Please look in the coming weeks for an updated “Authors' Guide” on our Web site (https://www.aafp.org/afp/authors), which will provide detailed instructions for authors submitting manuscripts in Editorial Manager. Also, detailed instructions and user-friendly help screens will be available on the AFP Editorial Manager Web site when the new system becomes available.