Fate of manuscripts declined by the British Journal of Surgery

Background Acceptance rate of BJS 13-19% Fate of manuscripts rejected What journals Insight in review process Guidance to authors

Aim To track publication fate of rejected BJS manuscript submissions –Proportion of declined manuscripts being published –Identify the journals in which they are published –Impact factor

Methods Submitted manuscripts BJS Jan - Dec 2006 (MC) Included: all rejected manuscripts 2006 Excluded: book reviews, correspondence Search PubMed database Dec 08-Febr 09 Submitting author and title Abstract

Methods Time lapse between submission BJS and publication elsewhere Journal category: general surgery, speciality, other Impact factor journals (Web of Knowledge - ISI) Number of citations of selected manuscripts rejected by BJS

Results - proportion published PubMed search dec 08-feb 09 (24-38 mo after rejection) Title & author n=874 Abstract n=52 Published elsewhere n= 609 (65.8%) Not published n= 317 (34.3%) Database / MC 2006 n=926 Leading n=20 (2.2%) Meta-analysis n=13 (1.4%) Original n=780 (84.2%) RCT n=37 (4%) Review n=52 (5.6%) Syst. Review n=24 (2.6%) Time lapse Mean 13.8 mo (± 6.5)

Published in other journal Type of rejectionYes (n=609)No (n=317) Normal352 (71%)144 (29%) Special257 (60%)173 (40%) Chi-square; p<0.001 Normal: rejected after peer review Special: rejected by editors after screening Results - type of rejection

Results - journals 198 different journals General surgery n=160 (26%) Surgical specialityn=144 (24%) Non-surgicaln=305 (50%)

Results - general surgery (n=160) 29% 12% 9%

Results - impact factor (IF) 51/198 ( 26%) journals no IF listed Mean IF journals (±SD): 2.0 ± /609 (2.5%) papers published in journals with high IF (>4.304) 2 RCTs, 1 syst. review, 1, meta-analysis, 11 original articles 6/15 (40%) rejected without review 1/15 surgical journal

ManuscriptsMean number of citations (as of March 2009) Months since publication Top 20 published other journals (IF ) 5.4 (0-22)21.5 (0-30) 20 BJS papers accepted 2006 (controls) 7.6 (0-24)24.8 (20-31) All BJS 2006 papers8.7- Results - number of citations

Conclusions Rejection of a manuscript by BJS does not preclude publication A smaller proportion of manuscripts rejected without review have been published elsewhere Rejected manuscripts are frequently published in (surgical) journals with a lower impact factor, although exceptions exist

Limitations Lag time might not be sufficient for some rejected manuscripts to reach subsequent publication Some journals not listed in PubMed Impact factor is surrogate for the quality/importance of published manuscripts Did author of rejected manuscript incorporate changes as suggested by reviewers? (value of peer-review)