I have written a review paper centering on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and it has been communicated for publication purposes. While the journals I am aiming for welcome unsolicited reviews, the paper undergoes constant rejection in the editorial stage. The reason for rejection is it did not meet the standard of the journal (the paper fits well within the aim and scope of the journal and it adheres to the formatting guidelines). I would like to know the potential reason behind this. On a relevant note, I would like to highlight that the authors of the paper (including myself) are independent researchers without any affiliation with a university/ institute. Does this affect the chance of review paper being considered by the editors?
Additionally, if the chance of the paper getting published is on the lower side, would it be wise to get them published in pre-print servers? If not, could you please suggest an alternative approach on how to proceed further?
Thank you in advance!
Dear Nandini,
It is very surprising that your review is not accepted for publication in a journal to which you are interested.I advise you to again update your review and try in another journal.
I wish you a grand success.
Prof.Dr.Mahendra Pal
Dear Nandini,
It is very surprising that your review is not accepted for publication in a journal to which you are interested.I advise you to again update your review and try in another journal.
I wish you a grand success.
Prof.Dr.Mahendra Pal
This issue is becoming more and more common these days. Some journals expect review papers to have very high quality and be written by a professional of the field who has many years of experience and multiple articles previously published in the area.
If a review article contains the reviews of 20 different articles, then reading that one article is expected to be an equivalent of reading all 20 articles with their details, success, shortcomings, etc in a concise/ organized way.
Please do not think that I am doubting the quality of your work. It is just that review articles, as well as their authors, are judged more rigorously by the journal reviewers, and authors without prior (documented/ recognized) works in the field often face bad rejections.
My suggestion is - revise the article based on the comments you have, try it in another journal (of course!), better if you can find a suitable/related special issue, and some prior work in the area will certainly increase the chance. Good luck.
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