Lying about submission times at other journals?
October 8, 2012
Folks,
In response to our recent post about reject-when-you-mean-revise and submission-date massaging at Royal Society journals, Susie Maidment tweeted:
Since then I have heard from several other sources — including Stuart Taylor, Head of Publishing and Commercial Director of the Royal Society — that these practices are widespread.
Can anyone confirm this from their own experience?
It needs to be stamped out wherever it happens.
Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week 
October 8, 2012 at 11:33 am
I have had one other case that I found suspicious, but it is too shake to name names.
Aside from that, Naturwissenschaften (Springer Verlag) outright says they won’t take major revisions but ask for re-submissions (i.e., they are honest about rejecting criteria). These re-submissions ALWAYS go through a new review, though, which makes the case non-comparable and non-problematic.
October 8, 2012 at 11:42 am
Right. Not comparable. And I assume that if Naturwissenschaften wants only minor revisions, that’s what it asks for?
October 8, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Exactly. They are brutal but honest.
October 15, 2012 at 1:46 pm
[…] Lying about submission times at other journals? […]
October 16, 2012 at 9:16 am
Ah, I missed this post and replied to an earlier thread. In short, yes, I’ve had this at other journals but am now wondering if I should have named them.
October 16, 2012 at 9:23 am
Yes, thanks for your comment on the other thread. I think you were absolutely right to name the journal in question: no purpose is served by allowing journals that misbehave to hide behind a veil of secrecy.
July 25, 2013 at 11:41 am
[…] adopt honest editorial policies; Biology Letters does trumpet its submission-to-acceptance time; Lying about submission times at other journals?; Discussing Biology Letters with the Royal Society). As noted in the last of these posts, the […]
July 31, 2014 at 9:18 pm
[…] the way, we should be clear that the Royal Society is not the only publisher that does this. For example, one commenter had had the same experience with Molecular Ecology. Misreporting […]