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Desk Rejection Decisions - Do Co-Editors-In-Chief of This Journal Agree?
Nino Künzli1,2,3, Olaf von dem Knesebeck4, Andrea Madarasova Geckova5
1Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), Zurich, Switzerland.
International Journal of Public Health
|March 16, 2026
Summary
Editor agreement on manuscript pre-screening decisions improved from 43% to 67% after incorporating second opinions. This highlights the impact of collaborative review on improving the accuracy of initial manuscript assessments in public health journals.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Scientific Publishing
- Journal Editorial Processes
Background:
- Growing demand for peer reviews strains journal resources.
- Scientist reluctance to review manuscripts increases.
- Editor pre-screening decisions significantly impact journal workflow and rejection rates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess inter-editor agreement in pre-screening manuscript decisions.
- To evaluate the impact of incorporating "second opinions" on decision agreement.
- To identify factors influencing disagreement in manuscript pre-screening.
Main Methods:
- A two-stage comparison of pre-screening decisions by three Co-Editors-in-Chief.
- Stage 1: Independent decision-making.
- Stage 2: Decision-making after considering colleagues' views.
Main Results:
- Initial agreement (Stage 1) was 43% for 30 manuscripts.
- Agreement increased to 67% after considering second opinions (Stage 2).
- Disagreement stemmed from subjective criteria like "novelty" and "originality".
Conclusions:
- Incorporating "second opinions" enhances agreement in pre-screening decisions.
- Subjective criteria require careful consideration during manuscript assessment.
- The International Journal of Public Health will implement a "second opinion" process for peer review consideration.
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