As an author, how do I request an editor change or appeal a decision?

Section Editors are academics who may be busy and occasionally "drop the ball" on handling a submission in line with our best practices for editors. We value author feedback, and repeated complaints from authors or serious editorial misconduct may lead to the removal of a Section Editor from an editorial board.

How to submit an appeal

If, as an author, you feel an academic (section) editor has mishandled your submission, please file a ticket by sending an email detailing the specific complaint to ed-support@jmir.org. Please state 'Appeal' and the manuscript number in the subject line.

If you believe you have received an unfair rejection or decision, please provide proof that all points of the reviewers' and editors' comments have been addressed or point out specific errors made by reviewers or editors or instances of perceived bias. Appeals related to editorial decisions indicating that an article is out of scope for the journal are unlikely to be considered.

All appeals must be finalized before an article is submitted or transferred to another journal as papers cannot be under consideration at multiple journals simultaneously. 

Appeal process

All appeals received will be reviewed by an independent editorial team member. If the appeal is on legitimate grounds, it will be reviewed internally, and a decision will be issued to i) overturn the editorial decision, ii) invite a resubmission, or iii) maintain the original decision. This judgment is final.

Editor reassignment.

We are happy to speak to the editor on your behalf or replace the editor if there are signs of unprofessional handling or unfair/overly harsh comments. If we re-assign a paper to another editor "with cause," the original editor will lose his karma points for handling the paper (Karma Credits - What are they and how to collect them?).