Recently, one of my papers is rejected by some reasons that are very abnormal from the editor after the first review process, for instance, “the paper is outside the typical scope and Almost all figures are in color, and that would be very expensive to have published in this way...”, in spite of the fact that the reviewer's opinions were positive about the ms. I think these excuses could not be acceptable in this stage by the editor. It could be unfortunate and unprofessional behavior for the valid scientific journal.
Nowadays, it is a very serious problem even some editor are extremely biased. Even some editor's decisions are base on countries' relations. I think research must be clean from biased mindsets.
Well, if the manuscript does not fall into the categories supported by the journal, this is something you should expect. Did you get hints on other journals?
I don't think it would help to argue with an editor about what is outside the scope of a journal, because it is up to an editor to define that. I do agree that you have been treated badly, however, because it is also the editor's responsibility to send back any inappropriate articles, rather than having them reviewed.
Many thanks for the responses. Yes, it was the second of my experience from the editors.
I think some journals have lacked objectivity and that publishing in them is political ie. depends on which editor that you know and not the content. I have seen papers reject even with no reason despite being accepted by reviewers. I disagree with Michael Patriksson that a researcher can write a paper and submit it to a journal that is not compatible with the content in the proposed manuscript unless the journal has a really specified field that is has not specified clearly in its objectives/disciplines.
In order to know the details you would need to post the full conversation. Right now we only know small bits of the correspondence between you and the editor. But indeed, if the editor says "No", it's more sensible to take your manuscript elsewhere. The world is full of journals to choose from, and you will surely find one that likes your work.
It sounds like an unfortunate situation. Fortunately it sounds that you receieved useful comments from the reviewers. Perhaps the editor (or assistant) happened to use a a template in broadly note a potential problem they saw. As an editor in chief myself, if a kind email was sent to ask for clarifications, I would understand. For instance, you could respond to thank them for their time and to clafify the positive reviewer comments with the final decision, just to ensure the final result, for instance.
The future of this science is made by you. Incompetent people are now the directors of this science.
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