I got a R&R with insightful reviews which I carefully followed and improved the paper exponentially. When re-submitting, the paper was denied publication on the grounds of inappropriateness, without even being sent to the same/or other peer-reviewers.
You appear to possibly have been treated unfairly on the face of it. A reputable journal will always send your revised manuscript back to the original reviewers. I can't imagine why the ms was considered inappropriate when they recommended revisions, which implies acceptance. I think you need clarification about why it was deemed inappropriate and perhaps submit to an alternative publication :-)
No need to seek clarification from a journal that could engage in such unethical practice. It is only fair that a revised manuscript is submitted to the original reviewers to gauge if substantial revisions have been made. Submit it elsewhere. Careful, some journals are only in the business of poaching writers' ideas.
Some journals send the revised manuscript to entirely new reviewers again. For them it becomes a new manuscript and they give their decisions accordingly. Journals should get the feedback on the revised manuscript from the same reviewers.
You can look at the positive side now. Your manuscript has already been refined using the comments. Now try submitting to another journal where you have more chances of a fair treatment. If it is to go to new reviewers, why not select a new journal instead of the initial one. Good Luck
Thank you very much for your answers. I decided to post this question because I was unsure in regard to the fairness of such a procedure. The biggest problem now is to find an equivalent journal to submit to. This one is considered a top journal in that specific field and all the other ones are considered somehow 'inferior'. At the same time, the paper would not fit into a more generalist journal because the topic is very specific.
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