Q: Can I withdraw a manuscript after peer review due to reviewer’s excessive requirements?

Detailed Question -

I resubmitted a case report after revising it according to a Minor revision decision. Then the following response was received after 6 months (so late!); “Mention all the social employment history with its environment. Mention all the route of administration of all drugs administered during hospitalization with its amount, the treatment period and the examination results”. I believe these are excessive requirements. It is impossible to deal with it, so I am considering withdrawing it. Can I withdraw the manuscript in this timing of the process?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Authors may choose to withdraw a manuscript at any time during or even after peer review, but given that the journal has spent considerable time and resources on the review of the manuscript already, this is usually subject to acceptance of withdrawal request by the journal editor. The request should also set out very clearly the reasons for withdrawal. In this specific case, the journal may suggest resubmission after incorporation of the information requested by the peer reviewer, so the request should ideally explain why this is not feasible (in terms of time, resources, etc.).

This said, withdrawal of a paper is relatively uncommon and may, in some circumstances, not reflect well on the author, so most publishers emphasize the need to take this decision only if unavoidable. You might consider a rebuttal, rather than a withdrawal, explaining your reasoning for not simply revising the manuscript per reviewer comments. This would allow the journal editor to make an informed decision.

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Hope this helps you in arriving at a decision. All the best!

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