"Apart from reducing the redundancy of having a paper shepherded through the peer-review process a second or third time, internal manuscript and peer-review referral services ["cascading peer-review"] offers real value to the submitting author — i.e., faster publishing." (Phil Davis, Scholarly Kitchen)
Why transfer your paper?
- JMIR Publications offers "portable peer-review" (also called cascading peer-review), meaning that manuscripts and their peer-reviews can be transferred to other journals by the same publisher without going through a new submission and peer-review process
- This is beneficial for the author if an article has been rejected by a specific editor/journal on the grounds of journal scope or subjective importance, if the editorial decision is "revise with major revisions," and the author is not able/ready/willing to address major issues, or if the editor has indicated that the paper is not strong enough for a high-impact journal but is in principle publishable. In many cases, the paper may be reframed (e.g., as a research protocol or methods paper) and may still be suitable for a specialty journal. By using the manuscript transfer function, authors save time as they don't have to go through a new submission process at another publisher and may not need to undergo a new peer review process (this is determined at the editor's discretion).
- The academic handling editor may or may not remain on the paper as editor, depending on the policies of the referring/target journal and the preference of the specific editor and author. Authors are welcome to request a new editor if they feel the paper has been mishandled (As an author, how do I request an editor change or appeal a decision?); however, in most cases, no new reviewers will be assigned if the review process is complete (which is the whole point of portable reviews).
- A transfer is also possible after acceptance (but only before the APF is paid). In the acceptance email, the editor may indicate that the paper is better suited for a different journal. This means the paper is still acceptable for the current journal, but the editor would prefer a manuscript transfer (often to a journal with a lower APF). In this case, authors are asked to request a transfer before making the APF payment.
- Authors can suggest a transfer during peer review to speed up the decision-making process. A long peer-review / editorial decision time is often a sign that the paper is not strong enough or unsuitable for the journal to which it was submitted. See Where (in which journals) should I publish what, and what should be my research and publication strategy to maximize impact and dissemination of my ehealth/mhealth/digital medicine research?
To Request a Transfer
- Please send a message to the Managing Editor using the manuscript management system (see I would like to send a message to the editor about my paper (already submitted)). This can be done when you submit a revision or at any other time during the editorial process.
- Remembers to state which journal you wish to transfer to and the reasons for the transfer request.
- The editor-in-chief of the target journal must approve all transfers. The Managing Editor will confirm whether or not the transfer is approved and communicate the next steps.
If you do not receive a timely response to your manuscript transfer request, please send an email (file a ticket) to ed-support@jmir.org.
Other considerations
Note that unless the author explicitly opts out of an automatic transfer, the editor/managing editor may automatically transfer a manuscript to a new journal if they feel that the paper is unsuitable or not strong enough for the journal to which it was submitted.
Note that any papers transferred between JMIR journals after August 3, 2022, will be charged the APF of the target journal at the time of transfer.
See also: