Fate of articles rejected by Indian Pediatrics

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the fate of manuscripts rejected by Indian Pediatrics (IP), and to identify the factors facilitating publication of a rejected manuscript elsewhere. Database (PubMed, IndMed) and Google searches were performed to trace the manuscripts published elsewhere any time after rejection by Indian Pediatrics in the year 2002. Eighteen per cent of the rejected submissions (62 out of 347) were eventually (till July 2009) published elsewhere. These manuscripts subsequently appeared in 33 different journals; Indian Journal of Pediatrics published the maximum numbers (n=22). Seventy four per cent of the rejected papers were published in journals with a impact factor lesser than Indian Pediatrics. Rejection before initiating peer-review, and rejection on the grounds of overinterpretation of results or poor statistical analysis diminished the chances of subsequent publication, whereas manuscripts rejected on grounds of poor originality or poor language had greater chances of being published elsewhere. Rejection of a manuscript by IP does not preclude publication, but rejected manuscripts are published more often in non-pediatric journals or journals with a lower impact factor, although the occasional exception exists.