With a deep-rooted career in academic publishing, Kruna Vukmirovic has held various roles that focus on improving journal performance, enhancing editorial workflows, and ensuring high-quality content. We sat down with Kruna to discuss how The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has integrated Paperpal Preflight for Editorial Desk (hereafter Preflight) into their operations and the transformative impact it has had on managing manuscripts from conferences and beyond.
Kruna, thank you for taking the time to chat with us today. Before we dive into specifics, could you tell us a bit about how the IET first started working with us at Preflight?
Kruna: Sure. I first got to know about Editage and Preflight through Nikesh Gosalia, your President of Global Academic & Publisher Relations. We were already familiar with Editage’s editorial services, and our experience with that team has been positive. When we learned about Preflight for Editorial Desk, it seemed like a natural fit for us, especially given the challenges we face with research integrity and the volume of papers we handle.
It’s great to hear that Nikesh’s introduction helped us get started! Could you elaborate a bit on why Preflight fits in well with your workflow?
Yes, we began with your editorial services, which we found very reliable. But as our needs grew—especially with conference proceedings—we realized we required something more scalable and automated. We were dealing with large volumes of papers and ensuring quality and research integrity became a critical focus for us. That’s when Preflight’s Al-based checks, combined with human review through IntegrityGUARD, really caught our attention.
The IET has high standards, and with large volumes of papers, I imagine the workload could get overwhelming. Can you talk a little about how Preflight’s AI assessments have helped with that?
Publication standards are high, and with Preflight, we can now quickly assess papers through AI, which gives us three outcomes: Pass, Warning, or Critical. A “Pass” means a paper is good to go, while “Critical” means there are significant issues, and we can confidently reject those. The tricky part is the “Warning” category, where there are potential concerns but not enough for outright rejection. That’s where the human review becomes crucial. The human element is essential for spotting nuanced issues or patterns that AI might miss, and significantly reduces false positives. It’s reassuring to know that a manuscript flagged as “Warning” is being carefully reviewed by experts.
So this balance between AI and human review is really helping you manage the quality control process. What about the role Preflight plays when you’re working with conference providers? I know that’s an important area for the IET.
Yes, that’s right. We work with a number of conference providers to publish their papers, and previously, we had to manually check the quality of these manuscripts once they were submitted to the IET for publication. Now, with Preflight, this can be automated, allowing us to quickly assess a batch of papers to get a sense of the quality we can expect. After we sign contracts, Preflight continues to help us by evaluating the manuscripts that come in, ensuring the quality remains high without the bias that might come from human judgment alone.
That’s really interesting. It sounds like Preflight is not just a time-saver, but also a way to remove biases from the review process.
Exactly. It’s a neutral tool that provides an unbiased outcome, which is incredibly important when you’re working with external partners like conference providers. You want to maintain strong relationships with them, but at the same time, you need to be confident in the quality of what you’re publishing. Preflight gives us that confidence, and it’s a relief to have such a reliable system in place.
There is a lot of pressure on journal editors nowadays, with more scrutiny and growing expectations. Has Preflight helped ease some of that pressure?
I think that’s one of the key things for me. There’s so much pressure on us as a publisher to get things right. You have this sense of responsibility to ensure everything you publish is of high quality and meets research integrity standards. With Preflight, it’s not just about saving time or costs—it’s the mental relief of knowing we have a system in place that helps us make confident decisions. Whether it’s rejecting a paper that doesn’t meet the required standards or confirming something we suspected, it’s incredibly reassuring to have that support.
It’s great to hear that Preflight has had such a positive impact. Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience working with us?
Just that we’ve found Preflight to be a very adaptable tool. The reporting is flexible, and your team has been responsive throughout. It’s been a good partnership, and we’re looking forward to continuing to work together.
Thank you, Kruna. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you and hearing your insights. We’re thrilled to be able to support the IET, and I’m glad Preflight has made a meaningful difference for you.
To learn more about how Preflight can streamline your editorial workflow and enhance your publication process, get in touch for a personalized demo by clicking here.