Short answer: Most users choose Initial Date Submitted because this field is updated to reflect the date at which the editorial office had a version of the manuscript which could be processed and moved along the path towards peer review.
Full explanation: When an author submits a manuscript to the journal office, the manuscript handling system records a date. In Editorial Manager, this date is recorded as the Initial Date Submitted AND as the First Receipt Date AND as the Date Revision Submitted (for Revision Number = 0).
However, if the manuscript needs to be returned to the author for any reason prior to being assigned to an editor, the data in some of these date fields will be changed/updated. Which fields are updated will depend on 'how' the manuscript was returned to the author. For specifics, please read the section at the bottom of this page. However, in all cases, the Initial Date Submitted field will be updated to reflect the date that the author resubmitted the manuscript after making the required changes.
For submission charts showing Time Period on the x-axis, Origin Reports requires a date to determine in which bar the manuscript should be counted. Also for all timing charts (Time to Initial Decision, Time to Final Decision, etc.), Origin Reports will use the Initial Date Submitted (or the First Receipt Date) as the starting point for determining the time taken. Since the Initial Date Submitted always reflects the date at which the editorial office received a viable manuscript, most users will choose to use this date field for the chart calculations.
Since Editorial Manager reports out data using the Initial Date Submitted and the First Receipt Date, we have decided to allow users to select which field they would prefer to use to calculate their charts.
Note that for smaller journals, the number of times that this would impact the chart will usually be very small. However for large journals that send back a larger number of manuscripts to the authors, the difference could be significant.
HOW THE DATE FIELDS ARE UPDATED IN EDITORIAL MANAGER
Upon resubmission of manuscript which was previously sent back to author at journal office check-in, the date fields will be updated in the following ways:
Sent back to author using: Author Notice Editor Made Changes to Submissions
First Receipt Date = updated to new submission date
Initial Date Submitted = updated to new submission date
Date Revision Submitted = does not change
Sent back to author using: Author Notice Original Submission Returned
First Receipt Date = does not change
Initial Date Submitted = updated to new submission date
Date Revision Submitted = updated to new submission date
Sent back to author using: Author Notice Revised Manuscript Returned
First Receipt Date = does not change
Initial Date Submitted = updated to new submission date
Date Revision Submitted = updated to new submission date