Q: Can a journal have a 100 per cent acceptance rate?
I am preparing my first manuscript for international publication. It is a systematic review. I used Elsevier journal finding tool, and it recommended 10 journals that were a good match according to the title and abstract. I found a journal with impact factor 2.6 accepting only reviews and they mentioned that the acceptance rate is 100%. I could not understand what does it mean that 100% of papers submitted accepted?
Having a 100% acceptance rate would mean that all the papers that are submitted to the journal are accepted. This is rather unusual, but it might be possible if the journal accepts articles by invitation only. In that case, the journal would solicit articles from established authors, and all these articles would be accepted.
Another possibility is that the journal follows a post publication peer review system. However, I have not come across any Elsevier journal that follows this system.
The third possibility is that the number has been written by mistake. You should first verify the acceptance rate on the journal website. If the website also shows 100%, you should check if it is an invitation-only journal or one that follows post-publication peer review. If that is not the case, you should write to the journal editor and find out.
This content belongs to the Journal Selection Stage