Manuscript Processing System (MPS) Database ver. 2.1

MPS stands for Manuscript Processing System, currently at its version 2.1. It is a ad hoc-made tool developed in PHP/MySQL and running on a Linux-based OS. It makes quite a large use of jQuery (javascript) routines on the client side. MPS is a database designed and implemented to manage the processing of manuscripts submitted to SISEF journals (iForest / Forest@) through a web-interface. All the processing steps are carried out by the use of appropriate forms and email posting. Communications between editors and authors, as well as editors and reviewers, are managed and recorded the possibility of tracing back all the history of the manuscripts directly from the MPS database records. MPS structure: A manuscript is a "level-1 object" that exists in MPS starting since the authors submission has been completed. Level-1 objects necessarily contain one or more "level-2 objects" (the processing rounds, min 1, max n) that in turn necessarily contain at least one "level-3 objects" (reviews: 0 to k, subject editor's reports: 0 to 1, decisions by the executive editor: always 1). All the processing steps are carried out by an allocation/report system. A step is initialized when a database record is allocated for that step, and is completed when a report (with or without attached files) is submitted to the database (fulfilling that record with the content of the report). The MPS validates any step (allocation or report) by checking the conformance of the requests posted (based on an XML/XSD validation process), and then pushes the manuscripts one step forward (whenever needed). For each step, a suitable email message (alert) is sent automatically by the server's mailer daemon to one or more people involved in the reviewing procedure (corresponding author, reviewers, subject editor, executive editor).