You spend years in the lab. Thousands of data points are analyzed by you. You write a paper that becomes a breakthrough in your profession. With triumph you press the submit button. Then, the notification comes within less than 48 hours. Your paper has been rejected by the editor who has not even forwarded it to reviewers.
This is the “desk reject.” It is the most exasperating challenge of publication in academics. It means that your work is not even good enough to have a place at the table. In many cases, the high-quality science is rejected by the editors not due to the research done, but owing to the technical oversights.
We also realize that time is the most precious thing at Fast Publications. Our services are based on guiding the researcher through the concealed rules of high quality journals. And with our Journal Submission service, every unwritten rule will be adhered to and your paper will never see the desk of an editor. We transform administrative nos to peer-reviewed yes.
The Anatomy of a Desk Reject
High-impact journals receive thousands of submissions annually by their editors. They are not able to dispatch all the papers to review. Their initial screening procedure helps them to filter or weed out the manuscripts that are either not professionally polished, or not strategically fitting. You need to think like an editor, in order to survive this cut.
Our final list of 10 reasons why good papers get a blanket desk rejection is given below.
The Scope Mismatch
This is the reason that is the most widespread to be rejected. You have produced a fantastic paper but you have submitted it to the wrong journal. It is the editors who safeguard the identity of their publication. When your work happens to be too narrow to be placed in a broad-interest magazine–or too clinical to be placed in a theoretical one–the editor will reject it immediately. BEFORE submitting; always read the Aims and Scope section twice.
Breaking the rules in the instructions to the authors
There is a reason why journals have give particular style guides. When a journal has a required limit of 5,000 words and you turn in 7,000 words, you are sending a message of disrespect to the process of a journal. This is in reference to citation styles, font size and reference limits. Minor formatting mistakes indicate that you can be as lazy with your data. To avoid these details, we conduct a thorough compliance check to identify these details on your behalf.
A Weak or “Internal” Abstract
Your abstract will normally be read by the editor. When the abstract is centered on your particular experiment, but does not give the larger picture, the editor becomes bored. In the first 250 words you have to sell the importance of what you write. Be active and describe your findings using an active voice. Keep the jargon out of the way.
Lacking Ethical Statements
Ethics cannot be compromised in the contemporary publishing world. Not telling explicitly whether you have approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) or animal welfare will halt the reading of your editors. Although your research was not a study involving human subjects, it is still frequently necessary to mention that. Lack of ethical statement is a legal liability to the journal.
Substantially large Similarity Index (Plagiarism)
Journals process all submissions using such software as Ithenticate or Turnitin. Although it might not be that you purposely copied work, red flags should be raised when the content involves a lot of overlapping text more so in the methodology section. A high similarity score is perceived by editors to depict intellectual laziness. We suggest that you use a professional scan and re-phrasing service to make certain that your originality will not be questioned.
The “Boring” Cover Letter
The cover letter is a supplementary consideration to many researchers. All they do is to copy and paste the abstract in a letter. This is a wasted opportunity. The cover letter is the opportunity to address the editor. You are to provide the reasons why their particular audience must read this paper at this moment. When you are unable to explain why, the editor is not going to take the time to seek it.
Lack of Readability and Fluent Language
Science is an international commerce yet the global publishing language is mostly English. In case your way of thinking is hampered by grammar mistakes or clumsy wording, the editor will deny you the paper. They presume that the reviewers do not like the language and this is wasting everybody’s time. There is no need for elaborate English; clarity, activity, and precision of communication is required.
Obsolete or Incomplete References
When your last reference is five years old, it seems that you are old-fashioned. What the editors will check is your reference list to determine whether or not you are engaging in the present scientific discourse. They also observe whether you have not quoted important papers that have been published in their journal. The inability to find recent references indicates that your study could end up being outdated.
Lack of “Global” Significance
This usually has an impact on those researchers who do localized studies. In case you study a particular lake in a particular country, you have to spell out why a researcher in the other part of the world needs to study. The editor will declare that the work is too niche in case you do not relate your local findings to a global trend or theory.
The mistakes that occur during technical submissions
There are times when it is nothing more than a mechanical rejection. You could have not uploaded a mandatory form of Conflict of Interest. Or are your figures so low-resolution as not to print. Most of the journals have automated systems, which indicate unfinished submissions through flagging and rejecting.
How Fast Publications Secures Your Work
One does not need to be an expert in formatting to be a successful scientist. Your Final Quality Control Department is our Journal Submission assistance. When you submit to Fast Publications we will give you a full pre-submission audit.
We do not only check your grammar. We examine your scope, check your references and write you a cover letter that will not be ignored. Fast Publications assures you that, when an editor opens your file, researchers get a professional manuscript that is ready to be published. We get out the nonsense that you science may gloss.
Summary: Please, Give Small Things No Mind
Desk reject hardly has anything to do with your smartness. Almost always it is a failure of the packaging. Using this 10 point checklist you are likely to stand a good chance of rising above the editor and landing into the hands of the reviewers.
Published works are not an easy task because it takes tough science and a tactful presentation. We will take care of the strategy and you continue with the next great discovery.
