ET-Docs - user guide

The ET Documents system (ET-Docs) is the ET Collaboration's document repository, editorial-committee review workflow, and public outreach archive. It replaces the legacy TDS-style tool for ET-specific documents.

• URL: apps.et-gw.eu/tds (production)
• Sign-in: Indigo IAM (recommended) or EGO Active Directory
• Public outreach page:apps.et-gw.eu/tds/public/outreach/
• Support: technical issues at service@ego-gw.it; administrative queries at et-docs-admin@ego-gw.it

Signing in

ET-Docs offers two independent sign-in paths. Use whichever suits you.

• Indigo IAM - recommended. You are redirected to the ET IAM login page hosted by INFN-CNAF; sign in there with your institutional (eduGAIN) credentials, and you are returned to ET-Docs. Requires an IAM account that you register yourself the first time you visit IAM.
• EGO Active Directory - if you already have EGO / Virgo AD credentials, you can sign in with them directly.

Both paths land you in exactly the same place. If you have used both, an ET-Docs administrator can reconcile the two identities into a single account so your reviews and documents follow you across sign-in paths. See Two identities, one account below.

First sign-in: privacy policy

The first time you sign in - and again whenever the policy version changes - you'll be shown the privacy policy and asked to accept it. ET-Docs stores what you accepted and when, so you're only re-prompted when the wording actually changes. You can re-read the current policy at any time from the Privacy policy link in the page footer.

First sign-in: welcome tour

An in-app welcome tour is available at any time via the ? icon in the header. Six slides cover what ET-Docs is, how Documents and Series work, the editorial-committee review workflow, the reviewer lifecycle, what has changed compared to the previous ET-Docs, and where to find help. Re-open it whenever you want a refresher.

Getting around

The top bar carries the primary sections; the icon at the far left is the ET-Docs mark and always takes you back to the dashboard.

• Home - dashboard. Reviews waiting on you, the number of documents you can access, quick actions.
• Documents - the main document library. Filter by type, year, or via the Search form.
• Reviews - the editorial-committee review queue.
• Series - the document-taxonomy tree (open a series to see its sub-series and administrators).
• Outreach - the outreach-materials library.
• Search - the search form; submitting it lands you back in the Documents section with the filters applied.
• Statistics - corpus-level counts across the whole system (all access levels, not just what you can see).

Every page has a small footer with the app name, the Help & documentation link (which points here), and the Privacy policy link.

Access control

ET-Docs enforces per-document authorisation on every listing and every direct URL. Which documents you see is decided by your group membership at your current sign-in path:

• If you signed in with IAM, the IAM groups in your token are the authority.
• If you signed in with AD, the CNs from your memberOf attribute are the authority.

Each document is tagged with one or more access-level combinations (for example CB, ETC, EIB). You can only see a document if at least one of its combinations matches one of your groups. Documents you can't see are hidden from every listing (dashboard, Documents, search, series-detail) and direct-URL access is refused with a Not authorised notice.

Documents - the document library

The Documents section is the main list of every document in ET-Docs.

• Filter chips at the top let you narrow by document type or by year (or both together).
• The Access column shows which access-level combinations each document is tagged with.
• The Review status column shows the pipeline pill & the current phase for documents in review.
• Clicking a row (or the code / title link) opens the document detail view.
• + New document (top right) takes you to the metadata form to create one.

Adding a new document

Click + New document on the Documents page, fill in the metadata form, upload the file(s), and pick one or more access-level combinations to tag it with. The doc-type you pick determines which review pipeline (if any) the document routes through when you submit it for EC review.

Documents you add appear immediately in the Documents list for anyone whose groups overlap with the combinations you selected.

Search

The Search form lets you filter by title, authors, code, full text, dates, doc type, and access-level (Viewable by).

• The Viewable by dropdown lists only the groups you're authorised to see - you never get an option that would produce zero results (admins get the full catalogue).
• Submitting the form lands you in the Documents section with the filters applied. A blue Search filter applied strip at the top of the Documents list shows the active filters. Change filters takes you back to Search with the same values; Clear all wipes the filter session.

Reviews

Documents can be submitted for editorial-committee review from the document-detail page (when their doc type routes to a review pipeline). The review-detail page (?dr=) is the single place every party to a review works from: authors, reviewers, and the Editorial Committee all use the same panels.

The full EC policy is in ET-0297-24; this section covers the operational flow inside ET-Docs.

Submitting a document for review

From a document's landing page, click Submit for review. The review-triage form asks a small number of questions (author-list size, on-behalf-of-ET flag for presentations, target journal for papers, ...) that determine the review track. Attach any extra material the Editorial Committee should see and confirm.

Once submitted, the review appears in the Editorial Committee's queue.

If you author

You are notified by email at every state change on your review - reviewer accepted / declined, review submitted, Editorial Committee decision. The review's detail page carries a full Discussion where reviewers post questions and you post responses; every message threads back through the review record.

If the Editorial Committee's decision is Request changes, the review returns to you with the specific rationale attached as a Discussion comment. Address the changes, upload a new release of the document, and re-submit through the same panel; the review re-opens against the new release.

Being a reviewer - accept or decline

When the Editorial Committee formally assigns you as a reviewer, you receive an email asking you to Accept or Decline the role. The email carries a short summary of your responsibilities (see Reviewer responsibilities below) and a link straight to the review.

Open the review; the Your review panel on your own row shows Accept and Decline buttons.

• If you Accept, the review clock starts (default: 7 days for short-author-list papers and off-collaboration presentations; 2 weeks for other review tracks) and you receive an acceptance-confirmation email restating the responsibilities.
• If you Decline, the Editorial Committee is notified and a backup reviewer is promoted in your place, or the Committee re-assigns as appropriate.

If you don't respond within seven days, your assignment expires automatically: a backup reviewer is promoted to primary in your place (if one is on file), the Editorial Committee is notified, and you are removed from the review. You'll receive reminder emails on days 3, 4, 5 and 6 to help avoid this.

Doing the review

Once you have accepted, the Your review panel is your workspace:

• Write your review in the review-body text area, or upload it as a PDF (both are permitted; a PDF is only required if your review is long enough to warrant a formatted document).
• Need more time? Click Need more time for this review? in the panel and file an extension request with a written justification and a proposed new deadline. The Editorial Committee will approve or reject the request.
• Deadline reminders fire on days 4, 3, 2 and 1 before the current phase deadline. If the deadline is subsequently reset (Editorial-Committee change or an approved extension) the reminder cycle restarts against the new deadline.
• When your review is ready, click Submit review. Your review is posted as a highlighted REVIEW topic in the Discussion for the whole review to read, and the submitter, the Editorial Committee and any other active reviewers are notified by email.
• Conclude your role by clicking I approve this document (a confirmation modal explains what this does). The review advances to the Editorial-Committee decision step.

You can revisit and re-submit your review while the review is still in progress; the Discussion topic is updated in place.

Reviewer responsibilities

Reviewers should aim to complete their evaluations within 7 days, except when specific issues require discussion with the Editorial Committee. For a detailed description of reviewers' responsibilities, please consult the EC policy at ET-0297-24. In particular, reviewers are expected to assess whether the author list is appropriate and complete and whether the submission contains any sensitive information. If a re-evaluation is required after the authors have addressed the reviewers' comments, reviewers should provide their assessment within 3 days.

Editorial-Committee decision

Once every appointed reviewer has approved, the review moves to the Editorial-Committee decision step. Editorial-Committee members and administrators see three buttons on the Decision panel at the top of the review-detail page:

• Approve - the document is finalised as approved; the submitter is notified.
• Request changes - opens a rationale modal, sends the rationale to the submitter as a Discussion comment, and returns the review to the author for revision.
• Reject - the review is finalised as rejected with no further actions permitted; the submitter is notified.

The reviewer-facing Accept / Decline / Submit / Approve buttons and the Editorial-Committee decision buttons all carry confirmation modals so an accidental click never fires an irreversible action. Terminal states (approved, rejected, withdrawn) are surfaced with dedicated status pills.

Automated reminders

Two cron-driven reminder engines run daily:

• Reviewer-acceptance reminders - a reviewer who has been assigned but hasn't yet accepted or declined receives reminder emails on days 3, 4, 5 and 6. On day 7 the assignment expires automatically (as above).
• Review-deadline reminders - a reviewer who has accepted but hasn't yet submitted their review receives reminder emails on days 4, 3, 2 and 1 before the current phase deadline. A deadline reset restarts the reminder cycle against the new deadline.

Every reminder carries the ET-Docs administration address in CC; deadline reminders also carry the Editorial-Committee address in CC so both have visibility into missed-deadline risk. Editorial-Committee-directed notices (assignment expired, backup pool exhausted) go directly to the Editorial Committee with the administration address in CC.

Backup reviewers

An Editorial-Committee member can appoint one or more backup reviewers alongside a primary. A backup only steps in when a primary declines, is removed, or lets their assignment expire without responding. A promoted backup begins their own 7-day accept-or-decline cycle from the moment of promotion; a fresh reminder cycle opens automatically.

Series

Series are the document-taxonomy tree. Every document can be tagged into one or more series, and series can nest arbitrarily.

* Open the Series section to see the tree. Click Metadata on any series to open its detail drawer.
* The drawer shows the series' name, description, type, dates, URL for docs, and administrators.
* Series administrators (chosen from the ET active-member list - same source as the reviewer picker) can edit the series' metadata, add sub-series, and archive it.
* Add sub-series creates a new child under the current series. Edit changes its metadata. Archive hides it from the active tree.

Outreach

The Outreach library carries the materials the collaboration has released for public use. Each item shows a preview thumbnail (or a type-appropriate placeholder icon), title, credits, licences, captions, languages, and file types.

• Filter by search text, language, access level, file type, and sort order.
• Paginate through the library from the footer.
• The public outreach page renders the same library without authentication - anyone can browse the publicly-released material.

Two identities, one account

If you have signed in with both IAM and AD at different times you'll end up with two rows in the user database and your reviews / documents will be split between them. Ask an ET-Docs administrator to reconcile the two on the Admin → Reconcile user accounts page.

The administrator picks a "keep" row and a "delete" row, previews the merge (every reference on the deleted row is re-pointed to the kept row; missing identity / name fields are copied across; the deleted row is removed), and confirms. You'll then land on the same account regardless of which sign-in path you use.

Personal data - what ET-Docs stores about you

Your privacy policy (linked from the footer) has the full detail. In brief:

• Your identity (AD username or IAM subject, name, ETMD member id when we can match you), a snapshot of the groups you carried at your last sign-in, and the record of your privacy-policy acceptance.
• Every document you submit, release, or edit.
• Every review you participate in and every comment you post, including as a reviewer the review body, uploaded PDF and issues-note you file, and any deadline-extension request.
• Every series-administration action you take.
• Journal requests you propose from the review-triage form (proposed name, URL, requester identity, admin verdict).
• A per-review activity log covering every state-changing touchpoint on the review (who did what, when).
• Reminder-dispatch records used to de-duplicate the daily reminder cron (which reviewer was reminded, of what, when).
• An append-only document-history audit entry for each of the above.

We do NOT collect sensitive data, tracking cookies, analytics data, or anything that isn't strictly needed to run the collaboration's document workflow.

Getting help

• Technical issues: email service@ego-gw.it.
• Administrative queries: email et-docs-admin@ego-gw.it or ping an ET-Docs administrator.
• In-app tour: re-open the six-slide welcome tour any time via the ? icon in the header.
• Bug report / feature request: file an issue against the ET-Docs codebase in ET GitLab.
• Data access / correction / deletion: email privacy@ego-gw.it (or the address named in your current privacy-policy version).