Q: Should I resubmit a rejected manuscript to the same journal or to another journal?

Detailed Question -

I submitted a manuscript and it was rejected after six months of review. It seems that the opinions of the reviewers were divided, that’s why it took so long. The editor informed me that I could resubmit the manuscript after revision. One of the reviewers commented that the problem was with the English instead of the contents, but I have already done the English editing. Should I resubmit my manuscript to the same journal or to another journal? Thank you for your advice.

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Sorry to hear that your manuscript was rejected, that too, after being with the journal for quite some time. It’s also unfortunate that one reviewer’s comments were about the language of the article rather than the contents. However, this is known to happen, especially as English is the language of most reputed, international journals. Also, note that manuscripts are sometimes rejected for reasons other than the language and quality, as you can find out here: Most common reasons for journal rejection

On the positive side, the editor has provided some hope in suggesting you resubmit after revisions.

Now, you say that you have already done the English editing for the manuscript. In case this was with some other service, you could consider ours, because apart from the language, our editing service also helps you improve the overall manuscript.

Coming to your query, frankly, it would depend. Submitting to the same journal might take less time as your manuscript has already been reviewed once (though this will be considered a new submission). However, in case you get the same reviewers, there will be the same conflict as earlier as also the comment (bias) against the language usage. New reviewers could be more positive – or they could have a different set of criticisms (biases). The same with editors and reviewers at a new journal.

What could help you decide is writing to the editor once the revisions are complete. You could ask them for a quicker decision on your manuscript this time, to allow you to revise and resubmit elsewhere in case it’s rejected a second time. Additionally, while working on the revisions, you could send presubmission inquiries to other target journals providing the details of the earlier submission. In case a new journal is more ready and the previous journal is still not, you will yourself know whom to proceed with. :-)

For more insights into this scenario, you may refer to these similar queries by other researchers:

All the best for all the next stages, from the revision to the (re)submission!

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