Fate of submitted manuscripts rejected from the American Journal of Neuroradiology: outcomes and commentary

Abstract

Background and purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the publication fate of submissions previously rejected from the American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) to provide guidance to authors who receive rejection notices.

Materials and methods: A retrospective search by using MEDLINE of all submissions rejected from AJNR in 2004 was performed to identify subsequently published manuscripts. The fate of subsequently published manuscripts was analyzed as a function of submission type (major study, technical note, or case report), publication delay, publishing journal type (neuroradiology, general radiology, or clinical neuroscience journal), impact factor, publication volume, and circulation volume.

Results: Of the 554 rejected submissions to AJNR, 315 (56%) were subsequently published in 115 different journals, with the journal Neuroradiology publishing the greatest number of articles (37 [12%] of 315). The mean publication delay was 15.8 +/- 7.5 months. Major studies were more likely than case reports to be subsequently published (P = .034), but all 3 subtypes were published at rates greater than 50%. Radiologic journals collectively published approximately 60% of subsequent publications, whereas neurosurgery and neurology journals published 27% of rejected manuscripts. The mean impact factor of journals subsequently publishing rejected manuscripts was 1.8 +/- 1.3 (AJNR = 2.5), and 24 (7.5%) manuscripts were subsequently published in journals with higher impact factors than AJNR.

Conclusions: These findings should give hope to authors receiving a rejection from AJNR, because greater than 50% of articles rejected from AJNR are subsequently published within 2-3 years, irrespective of publication type, into high-quality journals.

Fig 1.

Publication Delay. Publication delay of submissions previously rejected from AJNR is shown as a function of frequency histogram with each bin representing a 2-month period. Inset: cumulative publication of rejected AJNR submissions shown with time.

Fig 2.

Impact factor distribution of journals publishing rejected AJNR submissions. A, Impact factor distribution of journals publishing rejected AJNR submissions shown as a histogram, with each bin representing an impact factor range of 0.2. The journal AJNR is contained within the frequency distribution bin shown in red, whereas the average impact factor of all journals in this study would belong in the black bin and the average impact factor of all biomedical journals would belong in the gray and black bin. B, Impact factors of each journal (diamonds) shown as a function of the number of published submissions. Mean impact factor of all journals publishing rejected AJNR submissions (dashed vertical line) and SD (gray rectangle) are shown for reference.