Why Scientific Papers Are Rejected (Medical Horizons)

Abstract

Literature is rich of articles and reviews that address the issue of rejection of manuscripts by scientific journals. Unfortunately, many new authors do not read such material.

When a manuscript is submitted to a scientific journal, it is initially screened by the editor(s) of that journal, who decide whether the manuscript deserves to be referred for proper evaluation by a number of reviewers.

Some manuscripts are initially rejected outright by the editor(s) because of obvious deficiencies in preparation. Prominent among these are:

Wrong Journal: The editor do not accept papers that lie outside the subject area of the journal.
Failure to follow the Journal’s (Instructions to Authors). It is surprising how frequently new authors fail to read and comply with these instructions, which are usually clear, and posted prominently in the journals or their websites.
Obvious and serious defects in the format, quality or significance of the manuscript, and lack of basic requirements such as patient consents or author competing interests.