Dossier Glossary of Terms and Statuses
This article will cover common terminology used in the Dossier product.
Common Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Dossier | Interfolio Dossier is a free online platform for scholars to collect and curate scholarly materials, request and receive confidential letters of recommendation, and prepare for upcoming evaluations. Dossier users can apply to any interfolio-hosted position for free. |
| Dossier Deliver | Dossier Deliver is a premium service that allows sending academic deliveries to non-Interfolio online application systems for a flat annual fee of $59.99 for 50 deliveries. Gather the best materials, including confidential letters, then send via email, web, or mail to academic jobs, post-docs, fellowships, and more. |
| Delivery | An individual delivery of materials. Deliveries for Interfolio-hosted positions are free. Deliveries of materials to email addresses or other online application systems require delivery credits. |
| Delivery Credit | A Dossier Deliver subscription offers 50 delivery credits each year. 1 delivery = 1 credit, regardless of the number of documents included in that delivery. |
| Interfolio-hosted positions | Faculty jobs and other opportunities that are hosted through Interfolio. Any user, regardless of subscription can use Dossier to apply to Interfolio-hosted positions. |
| Collections | A tool for organizing the materials stored in Dossier, gathering materials into themed collections, or assembling together materials for any purpose, such as materials uploaded for a particular job or grant opportunity. |
| Sharing and Feedback | Only available to users who have a Dossier Deliver and/or a Dossier Institution account. Users can share their documents to receive feedback from their trusted reviewers. |
| Interfolio Account Menu | The menu in the top right corner that displays the Dossier user's name. Use this tool to access your account settings, profile, list of contacts, Interfolio help content, or switch to an institution account (if applicable.) |
| Quality Check | The quality check process will inform recipients if their letters have a letterhead and signature, and that it is openable. Users will not be informed of the letter's contents or writings. |
| Guidelines | For users with the Dossier Institution feature at their institution. Guidelines allow dossier users to review the requirements for an upcoming review. |
Material and Letter Page Statuses
The following statuses can be found on the Materials and Letters Page
| Status | Page | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Requested | Materials, Letters |
When a letter writer has been sent a request for a recommendation, and the user is waiting for them to accept or deny the request. |
| Pending | Materials, Letters |
When a request for a recommendation has been approved by the recommender, but the document has not been received yet. |
| Declined | Materials, Letters |
When the recommender has denied the letter of recommendation request. |
| Converting | Materials |
When a document has been uploaded in the account, but is still going through the conversion process and has not been fully uploaded yet. |
| Error | Materials |
When a document has not been successfully uploaded to the account because of a possible problem with the file. Check out this article about Accepted File Types to ensure the document is saved properly, or contact support at help@interfolio.com. |
| Completed | Materials, Letters |
A requested letter has been submitted by the recommender. |
| Quality Check (QC) Pending | Materials, Letters |
A requested letter has been submitted by the recommender and the letter is awaiting a quality check by the Interfolio team. This process takes 1-4 days. |
| Other Letter-Related Terms | ||
| Official Letterhead | N/A |
A printed heading on stationery stating a person's or organization's name and address. |
| Signature | N/A |
A person's name is written in a distinctive way as a form of identification in authorizing a document or concluding a letter. |
| Digital Signature | N/A |
A digital signature is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of digital messages or documents. |
| Handwritten Signature | N/A |
A handwritten signature of someone's name; proof of identity and intent. |
Check out this article About Adding a Letterhead or Signature to a Letter for more information.
Delivery Statuses
The following status are found on the Deliveries page.
| Status | Definition |
|---|---|
| In Progress (Not Yet Submitted) | Deliveries that have started, but not yet submitted for final delivery. |
|
Incomplete: Previously submitted; requirements incomplete |
Applications that have been submitted, but the institution has since updated the requirements for the position. This will cause a completed application to be marked as incomplete with the note: Previously submitted; requirements incomplete. The institution will typically reach out with further instructions if you are required to edit the materials within your application. If an edit option is present (to the right of the list on the Deliveries page), continue adding required materials and making changes to the application. Reach out to the institution if you have any questions about this status. |
| Complete | Applications that have been completed and submitted. |
| Complete with Pending Letters | Applications that have been submitted with pending letter requests. Once the letters have been uploaded by the letter writers, the application will be marked complete. |
| Preparing to Send | Delivery is in the queue to be processed by the fulfillment team. Deliveries take 1-4 days to complete. |
| Sent | The delivery has been completed by Interfolio and sent to the recipient. |
| Canceled | The delivery was canceled, and will not count towards the 50 annual deliveries. Adding that dollar value back into the account as a credit. Any canceled delivery will be credited back. A common reason a delivery is canceled is that a pending letter request was submitted as a letter to another online application system. If there is no letter to send at the time of the request, the delivery will be canceled. |
| Withdrawn | When an applicant has withdrawn their application from a position for which they applied. |
| Expired | The applicant has started the application but has not submitted it and the due date has passed. |
Delivery Types
| Type | Definition |
|---|---|
| The ability to send materials to an email address that is authorized to receive application materials for a specific position or search. | |
| Interfolio offers a variety of paper mailing options including USPS First Class, Priority, and International, or FedEx 2-day, Overnight, and Express International. | |
| Confidential Letter Upload | Deliveries to online application systems. This delivery type (available in Dossier Deliver) allows an applicant to upload a confidential letter to an online application platform. |
| Interfolio-hosted Position | The receiving institution is using Interfolio to manage its search. All deliveries to Interfolio-hosted positions are free for Dossier users and do not count towards the 50 annual deliveries. |
Check out this article on About Delivery Pricing and Shipping Options for more information.