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Editorial Process
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How a Scientific or Medical Journal Reviews Your Paper

When a paper is received by a journal editor, he or she sends it out to at least 2
reviewers who then judge it to see if it is good enough for that journal. They send it back to the editor with their comments and their evaluation. The comments are then sent back to the author.  The evaluation is kept confidential, but the editor uses it to decide whether or not to accept the article.  The editor may reject the paper, accept it, or send it back to the authors to be revised according to the comments of the reviewers, whose names are never revealed.  The author must then revise it and resubmit it. It is then typically sent back to the same reviewers for review again.  This entire process may be repeated again.

If an article comes in to a journal that is poorly written (for example, in poor English), this makes a poor initial impression and even if this error is corrected later, the chances that the paper will be accepted by that journal is reduced.  Some editors also look carefully at the bibliography.  If it is poorly formatted, with numerous mistakes and typographical errors, they may take this as a sign that the scientific work was likewise poorly done. It is better to make a good impression from the very first contact. You would not go to an important business meeting to meet someone for the first time wearing dirty clothes. The same principle applies here.  If an article is sent back to the author by the editor requesting that the English be corrected, this should, of course, be done before resubmission, however, it cannot be guaranteed that it would then be accepted.  If the article is ultimately rejected by the initial journal, all is not lost.  If the article has good scientific material and the format is correct, it can always be submitted to another journal for a fresh start with good chances for success.