Why peer review more?

We know that authors who submit to another journal have already experienced the disappointment of rejection — often without peer review or editorial feedback. Our in-house Scientific Editors ensure that transferred manuscripts are only rejected without peer review if there are fundamental ethical or scientific concerns that would lead to rejection in any journal, including impact-neutral, broad scope journals publishing scientifically accurate and valuable research.

“Handling a manuscript from an editor's perspective is a bit like cooking,” explains Dr Roberto Sole 打開新的分頁／視窗, Senior Scientific Editor at Elsevier. “Let the peer review be the final taste test. As editors, our job is to help chefs (authors), suggesting the right spices (revisions) and finding the perfect restaurants (journals) to serve the dish. Let's not judge too early; the real flavor comes after the review!“

Quite simply, we can give authors the benefit of the doubt with the chance to revise their article to meet the journal’s publication criteria. Scientific Editor Dr Inge Werkman 打開新的分頁／視窗 says she believes that in principle, every author deserves a chance to revise their manuscript, however extensive the revisions may need to be:

Providing authors with a chance to improve their manuscript, even when the initial submission needs significant improvements, ultimately leads to more good quality publications. As editors, we are always impressed by the improvements authors can make to their work, even when we were not expecting it. This would not be possible without this initial invitation to authors to revise their manuscript.

Author Dr Kyle Hoehn 打開新的分頁／視窗, Professor at the University of New South Wales, says he appreciated the opportunity to revise a recent manuscript to address Inge’s questions and her request for clarification of the novelty of the work — which led to the article’s acceptance:

Novelty is nuanced, subjective and context-dependent, so it is difficult to say where to draw the line on how novel is good enough. In my case, one reviewer stated it was an exemplary study and one took issue with novelty. In scenarios like this where there is a split decision, then I’d be inclined to give authors a chance to address novelty.

“This was my first time submitting to your journal as a corresponding author and I’ll definitely submit here again," he adds.

That was the experience of Dr David Peña Abades 打開新的分頁／視窗, Principal Scientist and Investigator in the Department of Plant Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences at the University of Extremadura 打開新的分頁／視窗 in Spain:

Previously, our manuscript was transferred to the Journal of Molecular Structure. In a relatively short time, we received a review of the manuscript by four reviewers. Unfortunately, our manuscript got rejected. Nevertheless, (Elsevier Scientific Editor) Dr Rohan Chakrabarty gave us the possibility that our manuscript was very likely to be fast-tracked for acceptance in the Heliyon journal. We agreed to the transfer of the manuscript and submitted a new version according to the reviewers’ comments. Within three weeks, Heliyon reached out to us and notified us that our manuscript got accepted by Heliyon. We appreciate Rohan’s responsiveness. We are impressed by the efficiency and flexibility of the entire transfer process.

We are ensuring that authors receive constructive feedback through peer review and the opportunity to revise their paper on a growing group of Elsevier journals. As one of these journals, Heliyon 打開新的分頁／視窗 is also delighted to ensure peer review for authors who have submitted through Elsevier’s Article Transfer Service, says Editorial Director Dr Christian Schulz 打開新的分頁／視窗:

At Heliyon, we aim to provide feedback to as many authors as possible. As an inclusive journal, it’s rewarding to see how many authors are able to successfully address reviewer concerns and revise their paper to meet Heliyon’s publication requirements.

As Scientific Editor Dr Rohan Chakrabarty 打開新的分頁／視窗 explains:

We have the unique opportunity to provide authors with valuable reviewer comments for manuscript improvement and recommend suitable journals with fast-tracked acceptance offers, expediting the acceptance process. This results in delighted authors and content reviewers, as their reviews are not wasted but are considered in the decision-making process for other journals.

With these positive early signs, we are eagerly working to expand the service to additional journals. We are continually improving on our service to authors based on generous community feedback.