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REVIEWER RESPONSE
Major revision reads like bad news the first time you receive one. In most journals it means the editor is keeping your paper alive. How to decode each decision category and plan the work.
JOURNAL SELECTION
The impact factor is a two-year citation average built on a skewed distribution. Here is what it tells you about a journal, and what it cannot tell you about your paper.
RULE OF THE WEEK
The CRediT taxonomy names 14 contributor roles. Here is what each one covers, who usually claims it, and how to write a statement your co-authors will sign.
DESK REJECT FILES
A first-read simulation for your own manuscript: title, abstract, structure, formatting, and declarations, checked in the order an editor meets them, with PLOS ONE rules as the worked example.
JOURNAL SELECTION
Flattering invitation emails, fees that appear only after acceptance, unverifiable metrics, and a ghost editorial board: how to check any journal before you trust it with your paper.
RULE OF THE WEEK
Six authors, then et al., at both PLOS ONE and Frontiers in Neurology. The number comes from each journal's reference spec, not from Vancouver or APA, and a reference manager set once formats for the wrong journal.
REVIEWER RESPONSE
Refusing a reviewer's suggestion will not sink your paper. A defensive tone will. The structure that works: concede the observation, contest the prescription, cite evidence.
DESK REJECT FILES
Four causes account for most desk rejections. Here they are ranked, each anchored to a journal rule that trips it, from scope mismatch to recycled references.
SUBMISSION KIT
Three spellings of one name means three scattered publication records. A free identifier ends the scatter, and setup takes about ten minutes before your first submission.
JOURNAL SELECTION
Scope mismatches start with skimming. Read the aims and scope page as instructions from an editor, then check its claims against what the journal has published in the last two years.
SUBMISSION KIT
First submissions bounce for missing pieces, not weak science. Here is every file, statement, and field a submission system will ask for, from the title page to the data availability statement.
REVIEWER RESPONSE
Editors triage revisions by scanning the response document, not by rereading the paper. The four-part response unit, numbering for multiple reviewers, and a reusable template.