Hi everyone,
I submitted two of my papers to a well-established journal in Elsevier. However, in both cases, the Editor rejected the papers based on the comments of only 1 reviewer without asking the opinions of more numbers of reviewers. Is it normal? I would be pleased to hear your experiences about similar cases.
thank you
The process usually goes these sequence of events. The journal staff in the editorial office, once they receive a manuscript check it that all requirements are fulfilled as per the journal guidelines. They might return it to the authors to fix these issues and resubmit. They may check for plagiarism as well. Then the editor may make a decision at this stage. He or she may reject the manuscript. Otherwise, the editor asks an associate editor to take responsibility for the paper. Usually, the Associate Editor is an expert in the field/areas covered. The Associate Editor study the paper, he or she may reject it at this level. Otherwise, he/she invite reviewers to evaluate the paper.
In the example you mentioned, most likely the Associate Editor has the feeling that the paper is borderline. However, he or she wants to give a chance for the paper and send it for peer-review. Now the first-peer reviewer has confirmed his/her doubt and presented more evidence for rejection. If the journal is of good impact factor and they have high rejection rates, they will automatically reject on the basis of the report of one peer-reviewer and the predetermined judgement made by the Associate Editor.
If the first peer-reviewed report is positive and only minor changes are requested, but the Associate Editor feels there are more concerns than that mentioned by the reviewer, he will she may ask second or third peer reviewers to assess the paper. The aim is to accept based on the Associate Editor evaluation and two or three peer reviewers. The paper may be sent to the authors for a major revision or be rejected at this stage. If the authors submit an Amended version, it will be sent for peer-review again. It may be refused (rejected) or accepted or minor changes needed.
i think it can happen as this case , if these comments refer to some wrong issues within paper
Samy Azer
I thank your for your comprehensive and precise explanation. I think the second paragraph is related to my case.
It happens, it depends on the quality of reviewer and their past comments on other papers. But most of the journals follow more than 2 reviewer policy.
Dear Behzad Hashemi Soudmand, it is certainly not normal that a manuscript is rejected based solely on the opinion of a single reviewer. I think it's not fair either. In our field of research (chemistry), manuscripts are normally sent out to at least 2 reviewers. Highly renowned journals published by Elsevier, Wiley, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) or the American Chemical Society (ACS) most often ask 3-4 reviewers. Many years ago we had a few occasions where we received only a single review, but it was always positive. However, as I said, this is definitively not normal. I hope that in your case the reviewer at least made detailed comments suggesting how to improve the manuscript. You could then revise the paper and submit it to a related journal from a different publisher.
Dear professor @Frank T. Edelmann, I fully agree with you. This is normal but not fair. However, the reviewers who read my manuscript made useful points on my work that helped me a lot. I applied the corresponding changes and got my articles published in other journals.
Hi Behzad Hashemi Soudmand, good to hear that it finally worked out. 👍
Negative comments are considered seriously and the editors often find it an excuse to reject an article conveniently. Some Elsevier journals send to only one reviewer and some send to as many as 5 reviewers. Nevertheless, the editor can chose a negative comment of a single reviewer and dispose the manuscript ruthlessly.
Dear Isaac Dinaharan unfortunately nowadays it often needs only one "reject" vote to overturn all positive votes.
To the extreme case, editors may sometimes reject an article after receiving "Accept" decisions from reviewers. This is infact a rude behavior seen only in a very few editors but it happens
Dear Behzad Hashemi Soudmand please also see this closely related discussion entitled
"Why does editor reject when reviewers recommend acceptance?"
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11362/why-does-editor-reject-when-reviewers-recommend-acceptance
Perhaps the editor found a serious note in one of the referees' comments that was not mentioned in the other referees’ comments. Based on that, the search was rejected.
Such a rejection is normal and can be due to a reviewer's convincing comment highlighting a flaw in research design/methodology as per the standards of the chosen journal.
Dear Behzad Hashemi Soudmand please also see this closely related link entitled
"Is it normal to reject a paper based on the review of a single referee?"
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/49526/is-it-normal-to-reject-a-paper-based-on-the-review-of-a-single-referee
In my opinion this is not normal. Serious journals generally ask 2-3 reviewers to review a manuscript.
Reviewer’s comments and recommendations could be strong/convincing enough, I guess.
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