======= Date Modified 22 12 2010 18:12:41 =======
HI all -

So, in our field, the key association is say Association X (like International X Association).

Ok, so they publish 5 journals - all very significant and these 5 are called X journals, and admittedly to be published in an X journal is quite wow!

Anyway, so recently, my paper was accepted for Association X's annual conference. I had, since submission, re-worked it a lot, and refined it and submitted it to one of the 5 journals published by Association X.

Now I submitted like 2 days ago - this evening I get an email from the editor which says she has not even sent it for review and is returning it.

She says -

"This is a topical and fascinating article! However, it will find a better home in our sister journal (also of Association X) called Journal of X Y Z. Please submit there"


Now is this kind of a 'rejection' common? I mean, I was rejected in under 48 hours, without being reviewed....or should I be happy that she says what she says?

:-(

Edit to add: the journal I originally submitted to is newer than the one she suggests now, howver is *much* more appropriate IMO for my article.

In fact the one she suggests is much too technical focused than my verrrry qualitative/interpretive kind of stuff...

Hmm, I certainly wouldn't take it badly, she did use the words topical and fascinating! I'd love to get that said about me by an important editor :-)

It does seem strange given you feel it would fit so much better with your first choice, but it's certainly not a rejection as such; the timing and lack of review just mean that she genuinely feels it's an issue with fit not quality. I'd say submit to the other one and wish you lots of luck!

Hmm thanks Teek - more surprising because my article was in fact a response in a sense to an essay in their inaugural issue - and it makes that essay look good too! (I do something empirical out of a theoretical suggestion in that essay and I begin my article acknowledgin that source of inspiration!)

I realise on hindsight thought that my essay title seems rather technical, and she might not actually have read the piece...

No, yes, I am convinced - the essay definitely definitely fits better with this one and not the one she suggests

Ok, need to discuss with sup.

:(

Could her views of suitability be based on the journals current focus (perhaps the essay you referred to was part of their strategy for that issue and they're now onto something else)? I know that a lot of good papers can be passed over if they don't fit with the journals theme at the time. It does all seem odd given your explanation though I agree.

Good point...

I think overall they have a mass media focus (cultural, critical, interpretive work around television, films, radio etc)... and I think they class work with the 'internet' as something for the journal that has the very words computer/sinternet in its name.

Alas! For the nature of that journal makes it publish technical stuff, whereas mine was such a great fit with the stuff that these people above do...

Hey Bug! To be honest, it sounds as though the topic just isn't quite right for what they're looking for. I wouldn't stress too much- I would feel much worse if it got sent for review and then got slated to be honest! But it sounds as though the editor was impressed with it, and I'm sure they wouldn't be asking you to re-submit to a sister journal it if they thought it was rubbish! When I submitted my last article to a (rather ambitious) journal my supervisor said if it got rejected straight off then I shouldn't worry about it, it would just be to do with whether the topic was right or not for that journal at that time. Luckily it was! My supervisor is really high up in her field and even she got something rejected straight off from quite a modest journal recently because they thought the topic didn't quite agree with their 'aims and scope'....but then it got accepted elsewhere immediately! So it happens to the best of researchers! It's clearly of publishable quality so I would just submit it elsewhere- it's probably not worth having an argument with the editor over! KB

Hi bug
I wouldn't worry too much about it, if the journals are all affiliated with the same association then I;m sure they all carry the same weight. It could be that the article you sent just didn't fit exactly what they are looking for now, very often the editor will read an abstract and decide from there. If she has suggested it for another paper then go for it, if its published in a slightly different journal it's not the end of the world. It will still be picked up on lit searches and referenced so you should still hit the right audience.

Hi all, thank you so very much :-)

Hmm, friends who've read the email said the same, that since the editor actually wrote "it's a fascinating and topical essay that would find a much better home in our sister journal XYZ" - I shouldn't actually stress at all ...

Wil discuss with sup and i think not sit on it for too long and send it off again to the other/another one..

Thanks all!

I work on a journal with a fairly focussed topic and this is very common for papers that don't quite fit us but might fit better with our sister journal. If the Editor thought the paper wasn't publishable at all, it would have been rejected outright - the remarks are positive. Good luck! (up)