Marketing & Management journals have 60-70% desk rejection rate, Finance journals hardly desk reject articles as they have submission fee. I'm against desk rejection because editors go biased for friends and people with better affiliation. Any solutions?
The point you raised is very demanding now when huge number of papers are rejected from the editor’s desk. It is your very personal stand that you are against the desk rejection, but the reason why (as you mentioned) you are against this policy might not be the case to be generalized. There are some specific criteria for the papers to be rejected at desk such as the fitness of the paper to the scope of the journal, the novelty of contribution etc. Often time we “think” that the paper fits the scope of the journal and/or “contributes” to the existing body of knowledge, which might not be the case when it is looked into by an expert. For example, if the paper really does not fit to the scope of the journal, what is the use of sending it to the reviewers? Especially high impact journals receive scores of papers and if all are sent to the reviewers, it is perhaps not possible for a “human” editor to manage!
There are different guidelines/suggestions to avoid desk rejection (e.g., http://www.elsevier.com/authors-update/story/publishing-tips/5-ways-you-can-ensure-your-manuscript-avoids-the-desk-reject-pile), one of the best ways, in my opinion, is perhaps to get the paper checked by at least two experts (though not easy to find always) before submitting to the journal. It is also important to cite all possible relevant papers of the target journal to get the "attention" of the editor(s).
Be sure your content and presentation is appropriate for the journal.
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