title: The fate of triaged and rejected manuscripts.
abstract: In 2011, Nephrology Dialysis and Transplantation (NDT) established a more restrictive selection process for manuscripts submitted to the journal, reducing the acceptance rate from 25% (2008-2009) to currently about 12-15%. To achieve this goal, we decided to score the priority of manuscripts submitted to NDT and to reject more papers at triage than in the past. This new scoring system allows a rapid decision for the authors without external review. However, the risk of such a restrictive policy may be that the journal might fail to capture important studies that are eventually published in higher-ranked journals. To look into this problem, we analysed random samples of papers (∼10%) rejected by NDT in 2012. Of the papers rejected at triage and those rejected after regular peer review, 59 and 61%, respectively, were accepted in other journals. A detailed analysis of these papers showed that only 4 out of 104 and 7 out of 93 of the triaged and rejected papers, respectively, were published in journals with an impact factor higher than that of NDT. Furthermore, for all these papers, independent assessors confirmed the evaluation made by the original reviewers. The number of citations of these papers was similar to that typically obtained by publications in the corresponding journals. Even though the analyses seem reassuring, previous observations made by leading journals warn that the risk of 'big misses', resulting from selective editorial policies, remains a real possibility. We will therefore continue to maintain a high degree of alertness and will periodically track the history of manuscripts rejected by NDT, particularly papers that are rejected at triage by our journal.
authors.affiliation: CNR-IFC, Clinical Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit, Reggio Cal 89124, Italy.
authors.forename: Carmine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zoccali
authors.affiliation: ERA-EDTA Parma Office, Parma, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amodeo
authors.affiliation: RD-Néphrologie and Groupe Rein et Hypertension EA7288, University of Montpellier 15, Montpelliercedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Argiles
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arici
authors.affiliation: CNR-IFC, Clinical Epidemiology and Pathophysiology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension Unit, Reggio Cal 89124, Italy.
authors.forename: Graziella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'arrigo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Nephrology Department of Immunology and Microbiology Herestraat 49. B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Evenepoel
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine IV - Renal & Hypertensive Diseases, Saarland University Medical Centre, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fliser
authors.affiliation: Glasgow Renal & Transplant Unit and University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Unit, 'Aldo Moro' University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Loreto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gesualdo
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jadoul
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Klinikum Coburg GmbH, Coburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ketteler
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Nephrology and Hypertension with Dialysis Unit, Medical University, Bialystok, Poland.
authors.forename: Jolanta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malyszko
authors.affiliation: Division of Nephrology, Ambroise Paré Hospital, Paris/Boulogne Billancourt, France.
authors.forename: Ziad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Massy
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine IV (Nephrology and Hypertension), Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.affiliation: IIS-Fundacion Jimenez Diaz, School of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortiz
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine/Nephrology, Istanbul School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sever
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Section, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vanholder
authors.affiliation: ERA-EDTA, Lede, Belgium.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vinck
authors.affiliation: Renal Division, University of Würzburg, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wanner
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Więcek
mesh_terms: D035081:Editorial Policies; D006801:Humans; D055811:Journal Impact Factor; D008373:Manuscripts as Topic; D017712:Peer Review, Research / Q000592:standards*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017594:Publication Bias; D011643:Publishing; D014218:Triage
keywords: desktop rejection; editorial policy; publication; triage