Evaluating, Accepting, and Rejecting Manuscripts

When a manuscript is submitted to a journal, the Editor will make the initial evaluation, usually based on factors such as the paper’s suitability for the journal, its length, and other factors that are often stated in the Journal’s “guidelines for authors.” In recent decades, journal editors are increasingly using the manuscript’s potential impact factor in deciding whether to put the manuscript through the review process or reject it. This factor is based on the editor’s perceived likelihood that the article will be cited widely by future researchers, which would affect his or her journal’s impact factor (score). Although editors are likely to consider the number of publications cited from their own journal, it is important to understand that the number of citations of articles that have been published in the editor’s journal is not the sole determinant of whether a manuscript will be accepted or rejected.