I (as an editor) find it insulting when I see a manuscript submitted without paying attention to the author guidelines and I'm sure most editors feel the same way. Make sure that your valuable work is not rejected due to bad formatting according to journal style. It is really difficult to pay attention to the technical details if we see a badly formatted manuscript. Titles, subtitles, tables, spacing, paragraph, spelling etc... you need to be very careful. Even the english is not your first language, that can be corrected later but formatting is important....
I (as an editor) find it insulting when I see a manuscript submitted without paying attention to the author guidelines and I'm sure most editors feel the same way. Make sure that your valuable work is not rejected due to bad formatting according to journal style. It is really difficult to pay attention to the technical details if we see a badly formatted manuscript. Titles, subtitles, tables, spacing, paragraph, spelling etc... you need to be very careful. Even the english is not your first language, that can be corrected later but formatting is important....
I echo Hidde's lists. My personal 'favorites': (1) Sloppy preparation used to get my 'radar' activated. If the ms preparation is sloppy and does not follow journal guidelines, perhaps the authors also cannot properly follow a scientific protocol? (2) Authors routinely would submit material outside the scope of the journal OR think that clearly 'archival' material was appropriate for an upper tier journal. (3) Poorly described, documented or selected methods and lack of repeat experiments (vs. simple replication within an experiment) would also be among my 'top three' reasons for declining a paper. (Editor Emeritus, Seed Sci Res)
In qualitative research I find as a reviewer that the papers I can’t support for publication have the following problems: lack of clarity about the research question; insufficient information about ethics; insufficient clarity about the method of analysis; inadequate data to support interpretations; weak discussion section, and lack of acknowledgment of the limitations of the study.
I would endorse most of the comments made so far - especially in relation to authors not reading/adhering to clearly stated guidelines or following 'house-style'. Incorrect citation style, for instance, is a common one that can be noticed straight away. Another quite easy to spot manuscript is one that has probably been rejected a number of times previously, not revised, and the submission feels like the authors have decided 'any journal, will do. For instance, my editorial experiences are with clinically-based health service research journals - sometimes I see manuscripts that are very loosely related to this context.
There is also other reasons for editors to reject perfectly good manuscripts as well - especially for 'popular' journals. These might include the fact that the journal already has plenty of good copy and is very selective, the submitted study or topic may have already been extensively researched - so originality becomes an issue, or the editor may be 'targeting' certain topics or methodologies.
I'd like to add another reason: a research question that is not important or has already been answered.
This or that may be the problems, but it has been seen that sometimes when you follow exactly a published papers, in say Journal X while writing your paper, than also sometimes your research will be rejected when submitted in Journal X.
Hi Saumenda - yes that is correct. However, correct formatting and house-style is no guarantee of acceptance in a journal - it will need to fulfill at least some of the other criteria already stated.
Many Thanks to all of you for your answers.It really helps me in my work. And I hope it'll help my colleagues.
Editor, or any other general reviewer, there are two kinds of them:
1) the ones that UNDERSTAND what the material is all about very well,
2) the ones that DO NOT UNDERSTAND the material well (or, simply AT ALL).
It is surprising that, you will lose both (1) and (2) kind the same way. The only difference is WHAT made you lose it.
(1)-type will get upset with something that is seriously wrong with your technical content, typically, very early in the publication you submitted (ABSTRACT is not out of the question ! and INTRODUCTION is common). Once you lose them, then (s)he spending his/her remaining one hour in finding other things wrong, so, (s)he can reject it. An example is : if you are submitting a paper about POWER consumption, and your introduction has clear proof that, you are confusing POWER and ENERGY, the game is over. If you do not know the difference between such fundamental concepts, I am not accepting your paper.
(2)-type will get upset when you make a mistake that might have nothing to do with the actual content of the publication, but, rather, something (s)he knows ... An example is, you could be talking about a hybrid car's environmental-friendliness, but, your introduction clearly indicates that, you have no idea about POWER vs. ENERGY. Then, you lost him/her. (s)he is spending the remaining hour trying so hard to find things to reject you. This happens in many conferences ...
Things change a little bit, when the conference or journal is very high quality , very focused, and the reviewers are experts in their field. Then, you do not have too many (2)-types reviewing your work. In this case, what loses everything is the WEAK EVALUATION , or, WEAK CONCLUSIONs. An excellent idea NOT executed well is a turn off.
Simply these are the major points:
Papers that do not fit with the journal
Is unoriginal paper
Overly long and do not comply with the instructions to authors
Manuscripts that contain poor science (nothing to say)
Poor experimental design or controls
Poor image and data presentation
However, you should take the comments and do not give up and try to another journal after modifications and improve your manuscript according to comments.
Out of all the reasons for acceptance or rejection, unsurprisingly, comments regarding the advance the field, novelty, and relevance appear most often. Positively and negatively framed comments appear with about equal frequency: that is, reviewers are about as likely to say things like “important and timely” as “contains nothing new”.
http://www.theenglishedition.com/wordpress/?p=138
The contribution of the paper is not enough required by the journal..
8 reasons why your article could be rejected!
"Below are 8 reasons that one of our editors, Dr. Peter Thrower, gave when it came to rejecting articles. The full story was featured in our Elsevier Connect channel back in September 2012. It was such a well-read story we thought we would highlight it to our Authors’ Update audience. See link below for the full article.
Are you ready to submit your paper? Keep these points in mind before you submit to avoid getting rejected before it goes for peer review.
- It fails the technical screening (e.g. figures or references are not complete).
- It does not fall within the Aims and Scope of the journal.
- It's incomplete (e.g. article contains observations but is not a full study).
- The procedures and/or analysis of the data is seen to be defective (e.g. the study lacks clear control groups or other comparison metrics).
- The conclusions cannot be justified on the basis of the rest of the paper.
- It's simply a small extension of a different paper, often from the same authors.
- It's incomprehensible (e.g. the language, structure, or figures are poor).
- It's boring..."
This might be helpful for researchers.
https://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/home/featured-article/8-reasons-why-your-article-could-be-rejected
https://www.elsevier.com/connect/8-reasons-i-rejected-your-article
Lack of coherence among the title, research question, and findings!
Dear @Natalia, this approach may reduce the article rejection.
As a reviewer, what is the most important piece of advice you would give to an author?
"We are currently working on a story for our Authors’ Update channel in which reviewers will offer advice directly to authors...
Have your say
We would like to include as many tips as possible and invite you to share your advice in the Comments section below.
Whether you have reviewed only once, or many times, is there one golden tip that you would offer an author? Maybe it’s something related to the content itself? The format? The use of language?
Is there a common error that you encounter again and again? It could be something small but simply irritating. Let us know your thoughts and we will share them with our authors."
https://www.elsevier.com/reviewers-update/home/featured-article/your-top-tip-to-potential-authors
The most common reasons why papers are rejected
1) Nothing new/ significant in the paper
2) Poor quality of total article, its outlay without any coherence.
3) No proper diagrams/ maps/ graphs that represent your interpretation of data.
4) Not fit with the given theme of the journal/ topic of particular volume
5) No proper references.
6) similarities with already published data
7) poor language and presentation.
These are some of the reasons by which journals reject the paper for publication.
Beside the earlier very important reasons mentioned by other scientists/researchers, I am adding few more very common causes of rejection.
1. Highly reputed International Journals (some) have their own thrust area of publication. They never try to understand your research problems and findings and hence, paper falls outside of journal's marginal scope.
2. Fame of the corresponding author also matters for some journal(s) to consider a paper for reviewing process.
Dear @Natalia, this thread is a long one, of course, it is related to your research question.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_are_scientifically_acceptable_articles_rejected_by_top_journals
It is certain. Authors need to pay attention to detail before submitting a paper.
Always check validation sources; Qual and Quant (Data Sets); current up to date research and references; structure is not to specification for the journal; spelling and grammar; word count.
Aim to research the journal before submitting if Grade 1 to Grade 4, then you can adapt your academic writing accordingly.
Academics’ top tips for publishing success!
Is your resolution for the new academic year to publish more? Here, 16 scholars give advice on pitching, editing and writing – and dealing with negative peer reviews...
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/academics-top-tips-publishing-success
For me, it's often when I submit an article to a journal that tends to be broader in scope than my research topic. Upon rejection, I've then submitted the same article (no revisions) to another equally reputable journal whose focus is narrower and had it accepted.
I think the following link answers this question well. It also suggests remedial measures to avoid rejection:
https://hub.wiley.com/community/exchanges/discover/blog/2015/08/20/8-reasons-why-journals-reject-manuscripts
1. Noncompliance to journal guidelines.
2. article outside the scope of the journal
3. paper no well written
4. manuscript not properly structured
5. poor methodology employed
6. cover letter not framed properly
7. linguistic drawbacks
8. personal bias of the editor.
All these and many other factors can be responsible.
Rejection is the norm in academic publishing. Even researchers at the top of their field have experienced rejection. Several peer-reviewed studies have investigated the reasons that journals reject papers. Listed below are the most common rejection reasons cited in these studies.
Lack of originality, novelty, or significance
1. Results that are not generalizable
2. Use of methods that have become obsolete because of new technologies or techniques
3. Secondary analyses that extend or replicate published findings without adding substantial knowledge
4. Studies that report already known knowledge but positions the knowledge as novel by extending it to a new geography, population, or cultural setting
Dear @Khalid. This answer must be followed by appropriate resources that had been used. For example:
https://www.editage.com/insights/most-common-reasons-for-journal-rejection or
https://www.slideshare.net/editage/most-common-reasons-for-journal-rejections
Editors reject manuscripts for several reasons. Some of them follows
1. If your manuscript is outside the scope of the journal
2. Poorly designed experiment
3. Poorly formatted paper
4. Weak arguments
5. I also believe unfamiliar authors
There are the technical reasons and then there are the editorial reasons.
Technical reasons
Editorial reasons
What can be done?
It should be not as per there format or either he did not understand your research paper or it is not useful there is lot of reasons but this is general ones.
I would say the rejection may be due to one or more of the following:
i. the issue is outside the scope of the journal
ii. the issue is not well motivated both theoretically and empirically
iii. the questions, contributions and findings are not fully clear
iv. the write-up is not good at all
Maybe "Poor Scientific Language" or the paper DOES NOT add new ideas.
Dear @Beemnet, you have done copy/paste plagiarism!!! It is unethical behavior at RG scientific portal.
"Your answer" belongs to Harry Ven. Link follows!
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasons-for-the-rejection-of-a-scientific-journal-paper
"There are the technical reasons and then there are the editorial reasons.
Technical reasons
Editorial reasons
What can be done?
Some reasons are;
1- The idea of the paper is not new
2- Poor technical Language in writing the paper
3- Low level results submitted to high level Journals
What are the most popular reasons editors usually reject your paper for?
You can also refer to the following RG links:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/In_your_opinion_experience_what_are_main_reasons_of_rejecting_a_manuscript_by_international_journal_reviewers
https://www.researchgate.net/post/As_a_Peer_Reviewer_When_you_should_say_Rejected_Manuscript
The reasons for paper rejection include:
If the paper does not fall within the scope and general aims of the journal.
If there is ambiguity and disjoint between the main caveats of the research
If the findings and their discussions are sloppy
If the methodology does not allow for replicability of the research
These are possible flag spots for paper rejection
Non compliance with the authors guideline and not paying much attention to theories are major reasons for turning down a paper notwithstanding the methods and statistical rigors committed to the paper. Also if the paper is outside the focus of interest of the journal outfit
Dear Ljubomir Jacić, you’re correct, and moreover, I just discovered that Beemnet Mengesha Kassahun, had without any referral directly copied another text I liked very much and had also recommended, I posted the following in this ResearchGate thread I’m following:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_date_is_in_your_opinion_important_for_humankind_development?view=5ad081b4b0366db32f116ad3
“Beemnet Mengesha Kassahun, I recommended your answer, but now I wish it was possible to withdraw my recommendation. “Your answer”, which I liked very much, is in fact not yours at all, it is written by Shannon Connor, 15th of December 2016:
https://www.quora.com/What-has-been-the-single-most-important-contribution-to-humankind
“The first humanoid who picked up a rock and decided to start breaking things open with it, like nuts.
Without that original, that first, use of tools, humankind would never have evolved. Who can say, given the evidence that creatures before humans, ancient hominids, used stone tools, that mankind would have eventually come around without them? I would argue that the use of tools and the further development of social relationships spurred the evolution of the mind, crafted bodies particularly suited to rely on tools for survival.
The invention of the concept of tools is in my opinion the single most important contribution to humankind , and then language, a social tool that unlike rocks we still use all the time.”
How can you just copy this answer without giving reference to the original author? Then one may start wondering how many more of your answers may be direct copies without any referrals?
And yes, in fact, it’s not the first time you’ve done this, I just discovered it through a comment by Ljubomir Jacić at another ResearchGate thread:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_most_popular_reasons_editors_usually_reject_your_paper_for?view=5ad1112eb0366df8c71a0a74
“Dear @Beemnet, you have done copy/paste plagiarism!!! It is unethical behavior at RG scientific portal. "Your answer" belongs to Harry Ven. Link follows! https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasons-for-the-rejection-of-a-scientific-journal-paper” (and then follows the original text you had copied directly without referring to).”
Thanks dear @Bjorn for bringing attention to the issue of plagiarism. I am so sorry that Researchgate does not ban the account of members who make such plagiarism.
Sometimes, rejection appears as a result of long peer-review time. Here is the experience of my dear friend @Osmar:
"... Recently, after more than two years of submission, I had an article declined on the grounds that the survey data was outdated. That is, the magazine "kept" my study for a long time and refused it for that. Unfortunate!..."
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Response_time_for_acceptance_or_rejection_of_articles_in_scientific_journals_do_you_consider_this_when_submitting
specially related to the incompatibility of the subject of research with the scope of the journal and its irrelevance with the readership.
Research manuscripts must demonstrator adherence to credible research methodology. Coherence of the parts of the article and novelty are added points. The article must demonstrate scholarship.
they should take care on the connections between articles parts from title to references, journal formatting is very important to follow
here are several articles on rejection https://www.journal-publishing.com/blog/category/dealing-paper-rejection/
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