If you’ve ever reviewed a submission in CDS and ended up juggling email threads, chat messages, and half-remembered notes — this update is for you.

We’ve just rolled out improved commenting features in repository.cern (new CDS platform). That means discussions about submissions will be easier to navigate and use!

We also added 3D images previewer and few copy buttons to facilitate record links distribution – to share with your colleagues or your users.

You can read the full comments feature documentation here:

https://repository.cern/docs/review/comments/

Disclaimer: the full documentation is still under construction 🏗️ and will be gradually updated

But below is the short version of what’s new — and why it should make your life easier.

What’s new?

Improved submission review comments

When a record is submitted for review, reviewers and submitters can now:

  • Reply to specific comments in threaded discussions
  • Quote another comment when responding
  • Share a direct link to a comment
  • Use simple formatting and LaTeX for equations
  • Temporarily keep draft comments auto-saved in the browser
  • Lock discussions when a review is finished

What does it mean in practice? No more copy-pasting comments back and forth. No more losing long responses because a browser tab was accidentally closed.

File previewer

From now on GLB files can be viewed directly on the record page:

3D event previewer

Version aware sharing

Would you like to share a link pointing always to the latest version of the record, but you don’t need a DOI? Or instead, do you really need a link to one of the previous versions? Use these new link 🔗 buttons:

Why we built this

CDS reviews are often collaborative: collaboration librarians, editors, conveners, authors — everyone has a say. Until now, most of that discussion happened outside the repository. That made it hard to track decisions and context over time.

With in-place commenting:

  • Feedback stays attached to the submission
  • Everyone sees the same discussion
  • It’s easier to follow what has been addressed and what hasn’t
  • Future curators can understand why a decision was made

Curators can lock the discussion once the review is complete, so the conversation stays as a record of the process.

This is a part of the process

We see this as the first step toward smoother community workflows in the CDS platform. As always, we’ll keep improving based on how people actually use the system.

If you run into issues or have ideas for improvements, let us know through the usual CDS support channels.

Thanks to everyone who tested early versions and provided feedback — it helped shape this release.

Stay tuned for more updates soon 🙂