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Fate of manuscripts declined by the British Journal of Surgery. Background. Acceptance rate of BJS 13-19% Fate of manuscripts rejected What journals Insight in review process Guidance to authors. Aim. To track publication fate of rejected BJS manuscript submissions
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Fate of manuscripts declined by the British Journal of Surgery
Background • Acceptance rate of BJS 13-19% • Fate of manuscripts rejected • What journals • Insight in review process • Guidance to authors
Aim To track publication fate of rejected BJS manuscript submissions • Proportion of declined manuscripts being published • Identify the journals in which they are published • Impact factor
Methods • Submitted manuscripts BJS Jan - Dec 2006 (MC) • Included: all rejected manuscripts 2006 • Excluded: book reviews, correspondence • Search PubMed database Dec 08-Febr 09 • Submitting author and title • Abstract
Methods • Time lapse between submission BJS and publication elsewhere • Journal category: general surgery, speciality, other • Impact factor journals (Web of Knowledge - ISI) • Number of citations of selected manuscripts rejected by BJS
Leading n=20 (2.2%) Meta-analysis n=13 (1.4%) Original n=780 (84.2%) RCT n=37 (4%) Review n=52 (5.6%) Syst. Review n=24 (2.6%) Database / MC 2006 n=926 PubMed search dec 08-feb 09 (24-38 mo after rejection) Title & author n=874 Abstract n=52 Published elsewhere n= 609 (65.8%) Not published n= 317 (34.3%) Time lapse Mean 13.8 mo (± 6.5) Results - proportion published
Results - type of rejection Normal: rejected after peer reviewSpecial: rejected by editors after screening
Results - journals • 198 different journals • General surgery n=160 (26%) • Surgical speciality n=144 (24%) • Non-surgical n=305 (50%)
12% 29% 9% 9% Results - general surgery (n=160)
Results - impact factor (IF) • 51/198 ( 26%) journals no IF listed • Mean IF journals (±SD): 2.0 ± 1.1 • 15/609 (2.5%) papers published in journals with high IF (>4.304) • 2 RCTs, 1 syst. review, 1, meta-analysis, 11 original articles • 6/15 (40%) rejected without review • 1/15 surgical journal
Conclusions • Rejection of a manuscript by BJS does not preclude publication • A smaller proportion of manuscripts rejected without review have been published elsewhere • Rejected manuscripts are frequently published in (surgical) journals with a lower impact factor, although exceptions exist
Limitations • Lag time might not be sufficient for some rejected manuscripts to reach subsequent publication • Some journals not listed in PubMed • Impact factor is surrogate for the quality/importance of published manuscripts • Did author of rejected manuscript incorporate changes as suggested by reviewers? (value of peer-review)