title: Fate of manuscripts rejected from the Red Journal.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate characteristics associated with higher rates of acceptance for original manuscripts submitted for publication to the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (IJROBP) and describe the fate of rejected manuscripts.
  
  
  METHODS
  Manuscripts submitted to the IJROBP from May 1, 2010, to August 31, 2010, and May 1, 2012, to August 31, 2012, were evaluated for author demographics and acceptance status. A PubMed search was performed for each IJROBP-rejected manuscript to ascertain whether the manuscript was ultimately published elsewhere. The Impact Factor of the accepting journal and the number of citations of the published manuscript were also collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 500 included manuscripts, 172 (34.4%) were accepted and 328 (65.6%) were rejected. There was no significant difference in acceptance rates according to gender or degree of the submitting author, but there were significant differences seen based on the submitting author's country, rank, and h-index. On multivariate analysis, earlier year submitted (P<.0001) and higher author h-index (P=.006) remained significantly associated with acceptance into the IJROBP. Two hundred thirty-five IJROBP-rejected manuscripts (71.7%) were ultimately published in a PubMed-listed journal as of July 2014. There were no significant differences in any submitting author characteristics. Journals accepting IJROBP-rejected manuscripts had a lower median [interquartile range] 2013 impact factor compared with the IJROBP (2.45 [1.53-3.71] vs 4.176). The IJROBP-rejected manuscripts ultimately published elsewhere had a lower median [interquartile range] number of citations (1 [0-4] vs 6 [2-11]; P<.001), which persisted on multivariate analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The acceptance rate for manuscripts submitted to the IJROBP is approximately one-third, and approximately 70% of rejected manuscripts are ultimately published in other PubMed-listed journals, but these ultimate-destination journals usually have a lower impact factor, leading to fewer citations and overall visibility.
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. Electronic address: emmaholliday@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Emma B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Holliday
authors.affiliation: The University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
authors.forename: Reshma
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jagsi
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Scientific Publications, American Society for Radiation Oncology, Fairfax, Virginia.
authors.forename: Katherine Egan
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Scientific Publications, American Society for Radiation Oncology, Fairfax, Virginia.
authors.forename: Calley
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Anthony L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zietman
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D015706:Bibliometrics; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D039781:PubMed / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017594:Publication Bias / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011643:Publishing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018787:Radiation Oncology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*