Aperta Terminology

Aperta Terminology

What is this?

This is a document intended for software developers who are new to working on Aperta. New developers might not be familiar with some of the words and acronyms PLOS throws around; and the code itself uses some specialized terms that can be confusing. This is intended as a place to pick up some of that vocabulary, to reduce onboarding time. The PLOS documentation and training team is also working on an official PLOS glossary, which may also be a useful resource when onboarding.

Please add to, edit, and enhance this list!

Please note that definitions should be descriptive, not aspirational. In other words, if a term is used to mean something in the code base or documentation, please describe what it means, not what you would like it to mean.

Finally, please use the existing terms instead of inventing your own.

Term	Term used in codebase	Definition
Academic Editor		For a given manuscript, an expert in the field, external to PLOS, who is invited to coordinate the review, (in the code, paper.editor)
Aperta		A system for managing the submission, review, and revision of manuscripts to PLOS journals. Intended to replace Editorial Manager
Apex		An external vendor which does typesetting for PLOS. Being exported (Sent) to Apex is the end of a manuscript's lifecycle in Aperta for PLOS Biology manuscripts.
card		A single piece of work that can be done with a manuscript. In the code, a card is anything that inherits from the Task class. In the QA context, task is differentiated from card based on the UI in which the content is floated. A task context is within the accordion of the Manuscript viewer. A card context is within either the Workflow view, MMT definition view, or task pop-out.
corresponding author		Once a paper is published, the corresponding author is the author who receives any questions, comments or other communication about the paper. It is set in manuscript metadata via a checkbox in the Author card.
Cover Editor		An external role that covers for the responsibilities of a Handling Editor within the scope of a given manuscript, if that Handling Editor is unable to perform them.
decision		At the end of a review cycle, manuscripts can be rejected, accepted, or asked for revision. If accepted, the paper is prepared for typesetting by Apex. If revision is requested, the version is increased and the paper returns to the author to begin another round of submission and review. A paper may have many decisions stretching back over many rounds of review.
EM / Editorial Manager		The existing system Aperta is designed to replace. EM is software not written by PLOS, and so it changes only very slowly to meet PLOSes changing needs.
External Roles		Creator (author), Collaborator, Reviewer, Academic Editor, Handling Editor, Cover Editor (See also Internal Roles, Helper Roles)
Handling Editor		An external role that is responsible for midwifing a manuscript through the process from submission to final decision and, if applicable, export. The assigned Cover Editor is a backup for this role.
iHat		Our document conversion service. Uses oxgarage and cloudconvert.
Internal Roles		Internal Roles are Site Admin, Staff Admin, Internal Editor, Publishing Services, Production Staff, Billing Staff (See also External Roles, Helper Roles)
manuscript		(ms., mss.) see paper. In PLOS parlance, a manuscript is any paper that has not been published.
metadata tasks
major revision		A paper send back for revision which requires large changes. Cf. minor version. Not to be confused with a major version.
major version		A version of a paper after it has been sent back for revision. Both minor revision and major revision trigger a new major version of a paper. Cf. minor version.
minor revision		A paper send back for revision which is not serious. Cf. major revision. Not to be confused with a minor version.
minor version		A version of a paper created after tech check.
MMT		Manuscript Manager Templates, where the admin defines available cards for each article type. Also known as a paper type or workflow.
Helper Roles		The roles Journal Setup Admin, Freelance Editor, Task Participant, Discussion Participant and User. These are auxiliary and only enhance another primary role. (See also Internal Roles, External Roles)
oxgarage		Java application for document transformation.
paper		??? State machine? Author's paper? Connector of all Aperta?
paper type		The set of base cards defined in an MMT or workflow that is applied at creation time to a given manuscript. This is the actual label in the Create New Manuscript interface selector.
revision		A paper that has been judged not ready for publication after peer review requires revision.
role		A role is a defined set of permissions. Roles are assigned to both a User and an Object (a role scope)
Role Scope		Roles can be scoped to: System, Journal, Paper, Task, Discussion Topic or User. System Roles: Site Admin Journal Roles: Staff Admin, Internal Editor, Publishing Services, Production Staff, Billing Staff, Freelance Editor, Journal Setup Admin Paper Roles: Creator, Collaborator, Reviewer, Academic Editor, Handling Editor, Cover Editor Task Roles: Task Participant Discussion Roles: Discussion participant User Roles: User
slanger		Open source drop-in replacement for pusher.
snapshot		Each time the manuscript's version changes, some data (currently, the contents of the metadata tasks) is copied into a read-only form. These 'snapshots' are used to display how the manuscript's metadata has changed between versions.
Tahi		see Aperta. This was formerly the project name. Still used to refer to the frontend code base.
task		synonym for card. Obsolete term used in the codebase. In the QA context, task is differentiated from card based on the UI in which the content is floated. A task context is within the accordion of the Manuscript viewer. A card context is within either the Workflow view, MMT definition view, or task pop-out.
tech check		technical and ethical checks conducted against a manuscript, comes in three cards: Initial, Revision and Final. A failing tech check allows for emailing the author, creating a Changes for Author card to which the authors/collaborators must respond.
version		Manuscripts have major and minor version number, which are usually joined with a dot: "2.1", or "1.3". Some events in the manuscript's lifecycle are so important that they are marked by increasing the manuscript's version – for instance, when the manuscript fails a tech check we increase the minor version, and when a manuscript requires major revision or minor revision we increase the major version. See snapshot.
Workflow		A synonym, and the more modern term for an MMT (manuscript manager template).