Flows of research manuscripts among scientific journals reveal hidden submission patterns.
The study of science-making is a growing discipline that builds largely on online publication and citation databases, while prepublication processes remain hidden. Here, we report on results from a large-scale survey of the submission process, covering 923 scientific journals from the biological sciences in years 2006 to 2008. Manuscript flows among journals revealed a modular submission network, with high-impact journals preferentially attracting submissions. However, about 75% of published articles were submitted first to the journal that would publish them, and high-impact journals published proportionally more articles that had been resubmitted from another journal. Submission history affected post-publication impact: Resubmissions from other journals received significantly more citations than first-intent submissions, and resubmissions between different journal communities received significantly fewer citations.
French National Institute for Agricultural Research, Institut Sophia Agrobiotech, Sophia-Antipolis, France. vincent.calcagno@sophia.inra.fr
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Calcagno
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Demoinet
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Gollner
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Guidi
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Ruths
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de Mazancourt
D001690:Biological Science Disciplines; D003625:Data Collection; D020407:Internet; D008373:Manuscripts as Topic; D009862:Online Systems; D017712:Peer Review, Research