Dear Mumtaz Ali

I submit a manuscript in June 2019 to journal indexed in Scopus (Q1). After three revisions, the editor rejected the paper in December 2019. I refuted the Editor's decision based on the reasonable comments. Now, the article is online.

Regards

Dear Mumtaz Ali, this is an interesting question. Many years ago we had one case where a rebuttal of an Editors decision was successful. One of the reviewers had rejected the manuscript "due to the lack of novelty" but without any explanation or details. That as about 15 years ago, and since then we never argued with Editors about their decisions.

I Agree With Frank T. Edelmann

As a journal editor, I can only welcome an author's contribution to the quality assurance of a journal. This also includes contacting the editor again if he or she has good reasons to doubt the reviews. (By the way, in my opinion it is generally helpful for editors to receive feedback on the quality of the reviews from the authors).

One example: It happened to me as editor-in-chief of High Ability Studies that I turned down an article first. Both reviewers, who knew the topic better than I did, recommended rejection. The author complained with a very long letter. He explained why he could not accept the reviewer's reasons. It made sense to me. I then asked a third reviewer who recommended minor revisions. I had no choice but to ask for two more reviewers, but the paper was finally rejected, but in part for an unsatisfactory reason: The journal has only two issues per year, maybe it would have been published if there had been more space.

Dear Albert Ziegler, I wish all Editors would think the same way as you...

Yes, it is possible to get an acceptance from the same journal even after receiving a rejection from the editor after the peer-review process. I have had such an experience at least two times now. If the paper is rejected by the editor and he/she does provide you with the list of reviewers' comments, you can simply draft a reply letter as if you were submitting a revision. Reply to each one of the reviewers' comments pointwise and suitably update the manuscript. Thereafter resubmit the manuscript to the same journal as a fresh submission explaining its history in the cover letter along with the previously assigned ID and the reviewer comments along with your replies and updates. You may ask for the same editor or a different one. The editor may then assess your rebuttal and send it out for peer-review again or simply desk reject it outright. It all depends on the merit of your revision, the claims of your rebuttal, and the mood of the editor.

In one instance, the same editor was assigned to my rebuttal and he sent out the manuscript for peer-review again. He sent it to one of the same reviewers who had previously rejected the work along with two new reviewers. To my surprise, the reviewer who had previously rejected the work now was very much pleased with our revision and recommended acceptance. So after I revised the manuscript as per the comments of the new reviewers, the paper got accepted in the same journal and by the same editor who had initially rejected it. In another instance, my rebuttal was assigned to a different editor at the same journal and she sent it out for peer-review again as she thought that my claims were meaningful and that the paper was rejected previously on not so solid grounds. So after I revised the manuscript again as per the newly received comments, the paper got accepted. In another instance, my rebuttal was sent out for peer-review again by the same editor but unfortunately, the reviewers were not pleased by my revision or claims so the editor rejected the manuscript again a second time. It all depends upon multiple factors.

On the whole, if the authors can address the reviewers' comments and update their work accordingly even after receiving a rejection, then I do not see any reason not to submit the rebuttal to the same journal again. If the received comments are such that one cannot effectively update their work as per the requirement or provide suitable responses to the rejection, I recommend looking for other avenues and journals for possible publication. Most journals do not mention such details and rules explicitly. But from my experiences, most journals in my field are flexible enough to consider such rebuttals upon rejection. So, consider all such possibilities prior to submitting a rebuttal and also make a point of being honest and courteous to the respected reviewers even if you do not agree with their initial viewpoints or the decision to reject your hard work

I hope my answer helps you in your quest. Cheers!

Thank you all for your expert advice in this regard.

Yes, you can. My friend submitted his paper in a journal, his case is also same like you. He made a response letter according to the reviewer's comments, and then he contacted the editor. The journal's editor was satisfied with his letter and that paper was published after it in the same journal.

Yes, you can send the response of older reviews and write the detailed explanation to the editor, if you think those mistakes were minor. It depends on editor whether he/she will consider it. In some cases, editor has no problem to reconsider.

Recently, we receive major revision from reviewers but editors send us decision with rejection. Usually, editor always goes with decision of one reviewer who rejected paper even other four gives major/minor revision. We can't say have a specific criteria of rejection. Its depend on editors or reviewers mode.

It seems to be rather common that Editors decide to reject a paper if only one of two, three or even four reviewers suggest rejection.

Dear Mumtaz Ali

I submit a manuscript in June 2019 to journal indexed in Scopus (Q1). After three revisions, the editor rejected the paper in December 2019. I refuted the Editor's decision based on the reasonable comments. Now, the article is online.

Regards

Finally, in my experience, I submitted a rebuttal to the journal (IF = 16). The editor kept it for one month and after one month he replied that their journal have no policy to reconsider (same is with nature publishers).

Additionally, I think if we know the reason for rejection then we can change the manuscript and submit to equivalent or another higher-quality journal. There are so many journals, so we dont need to waste the time for only that one journal. That is lesser time wastage.

Best Regards.

yes it can be. if editor get satisfied from your reply letter that you ans for reviewers quries. All depends on how you respond and your cover letter explanation.

Dear All, in my experience (with one exception), discussions with Editors about rejected manuscripts are a waste of time and effort. It is normally better to implement all additions and corrections suggested by the reviewers and submit the revised paper to an equivalent (or even better) journal.

In my experience, the chances of getting the editor’s decision overturned depends on many parameters. The impact factor of the journal is the key, if high impact factor then the chances are nearly zero unless you have something extremely novel. For normal journals, the appeal might work 25% but you need to write directly to editor in chief. For low impact factor and open access journals the appeal might work 50%. I hope this will help Mumtaz Ali

one of my paper accepted the AISE journal and I have sent the source file to then and now the send again for the review.

I’ve never been in a similar situation, but I encourage you to give your answer to the editor, may be after that, your paper could be accepted. You don‘t have anything to loose if you try. Good luck.

Generally, chances that an Editor reverses his / her decision, are very low. Personally I think that resubmission to a different (better?) journal is the more promising option.