Reasons of rejection

Paolo Russo

Università di Napoli Federico II Dipartimento di FisicaNapoli, Italy

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Reviewer(s)

Associate Editor

Editor-in-Chief

Authors

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Peer-review process

Accept Revise Reject

Accept Revise Reject

Accept Revise Reject

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Why rejection of a paper is of concern?

For Authors

For Journals’ reviewers and editors

For the scientific community

Paper acceptance is a key to success?Paper rejection is a failure for a scientist???

N.B. material submitted to a Journal is confidential

“A loss of internal energy, a source of entropy, but … beware of the limitations of the peer-review process”

P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Reasons of rejection /1Outright rejection

Usually decided after the recommendation of the Ass. Ed.who performs a personal evaluation of the paper.

Sometimes decided by Publisher’s officers.

- Topic out of Journals’ scope- Evident overall low scientific quality- Evident lack of relevance in the field- Bad English- Too lengthy in text/figures/tables- Evidence of plagiarism or multiple submission- Format not matching the Journal’s style- Unprofessional care in the manuscript preparation

58th ECMP, Athens, Sep. 13th, 2014

P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Reasons of rejection /2Good content, weak form

Usually determined by inexperience of the writing authors. Revise??

Good form, weak contentUsually determined by weak selection

of the scientific goal of the work. Revise??Weak content, weak form

“Weak” : presence of flaws in the study or in data interpretation - not of particular interest presently in the specific field - of low overall relevance - demonstration not fully convincing - material presented in an unclear way - small sample …

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Reasons of rejection /3

Weak content:Lack of originality

Lack of practical relevanceWeaknesses in the methodological aspectsJust a confimation of well-known results

In many cases, drawbacks in the manuscript content are related to the selection of the purpose of the study

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Reject

Accept

Editor’s decision

A “strong” paper

A “weak” paper

Revise

- The Editor’s decision levels vary among Journals, Editors, editorial policy- Hint: Self-evaluation by the authors (ie please try to review your own paper with the journal’s published criteria. SUBMIT YOUR PAPER ONLY WHEN YOU THINKTHERE IS NOTHING TO IMPROVE ANYMORE IN IT.

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

An Editor’s personal viewpointOften, the really critical decision is between REJECT or REVISE

e.g.: In EJMP, just one major and one minor revision are normallygranted to a paper (but there are exceptions!)

A scientific journal (reviewers, editors) is NOT intendedto provide the scientific/technical contribution for arriving at

an “above threshold” manuscript after many reiterationsof the revision process.

If the paper needs too much authors’ revision work, better to reject it (in few cases a re-submission is granted, based on

the reviewers’ and editors’ comments)

Reasons of rejection /4

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Reasons of rejection /5

Is it really a weak paper?It is the authors’ responsibility to submit a scientific

report which is able to convince a few experts (peers) in the field

(1-2 reviewers, the Associate Editor, the Editor)

If Reviewers and Editors are not convinced, they will suggest rejection (or major revision), independently of the otherwise positive aspects of the work, and of the

strength of their negative evaluation report.

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Hints

- Please read the Journal’s Guide for Authors- Please read the Journal’s Guide for Reviewers- Please give due relevance to the quality of the English

- Please submit your manuscript only when you think it cannot be further improved (i.e. it fully convinces you)

- Please write a short but convincing submission letter

-Please continue acting as a reviewer (as long as you are an author)

118th ECMP, Athens, Sep. 13th, 2014

P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Conclusions/1

Publishing in a well-reputed scientific Journal is a competition for the acquisition of the (limited)

journal space

The goal is consensus in the Journal's audience, and hence in the corresponding scientific community, toward

the work carried out in the specific study.

Lack of convincing strength of a manuscript for one or more formal or content reasons invariably leads to paper rejection.

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P. Russo – Reasons of Rejection

Conclusions/2

Rejection is not a failure!But it can be converted to good, if its reasons are well considered.

Reaching the best practice in scientific writing and evaluation, will hopefully produce a reduced Journals' rejection rate, and most importantly, an improved efficacy of the research work, for the benefit of the scientific and social progess.

Thank you.