Files uploaded at the Associate Editor Recommendation Stage unnecessarily blinded
It has come to our attention recently that if sites are configured to have the Associate Editors make a recommendation to an EIC and have the functionality to allow Associate Editors to upload files as part of that recommendation, that these files are only available to be attached to decision emails as PDF proofs. ScholarOne have said this is because these files have any identifying information in the file details stripped out. This makes sense for reviewer uploads, however these files are being uploaded by AE's, the identity of whom is known to the authors already. These files are usually word documents with track changes where having the original files would be more useful to the authors than PDF proofs. At present the editor is forced to download the original file and re-upload it to the decision email to ensure the authors receive the original file which is time consuming and unnecessary. ScholarOne need to have more flexibility in configuration for this option. Obviously on triple blind journals, this feature is necessary but these journals are few and far between compared to double blind journals that do not require this option.
