If you work in STEM, AIBU: pull article from good journal to put it into nobody journal

[MedSchoolRat]

academic AIBU...

Context : I am RA on FTC and only have one day/week to work on projects like this one I'm trying to finish. I'm not looking for career progression, I don't need to impress anybody with where I publish.

Funder obliges me to publish articles gold access (no APC) but there is no budget to pay for Gold Access

There is a time-context to this article, it will get far less interesting to readers as time passes (will attract fewer citations)

Coauthors will not rewrite, it only gets published if I drive this

This article employs methods at intersection of medicine & a social science; I would have to rewrite a fair bit to get it into the social science journals, make it much more meandering and proposing ideas rather than factual (I only like to write factual stuff); I have struggled hugely to figure out good journal for this that is Gold Access for us

To "established venerable but not high impact journal" I submitted an article > 6 months ago; after 4 & 6 months passed, I messaged journal to ask about progress in peer review: assured I would get response soon -- still no response from handling editor.

AIBU question : I'm peeved about being fobbed off & thinking to withdraw that submission, resubmit article to "Nobody heard of it but it is indexed in Pubmed" (NHIP) journal which will accept the current format. This is sponsored by a national science society (of country X, OECD member) so free Gold Access. Most the articles in the journal are from Country X or LMICs.

I reckon NHIP will accept it with few changes & I can move on to other projects, the impact factors aren't so important since all < 3. Indexed in Pubmed in Nobody journal is far better than lingering unpublished for ages. Am I being too impatient?

Mmhh. I would not pull it just yet. I would chase the editor again today.

I had a bit of money to spend out for the end of a grant so decided to use it for a "low impact but respectable publisher indexed in PubMed" Accelerated Publication fee (about £2500) where they offered to get it published if accepted within six weeks of submission.

Journal was great, editor responsive, reviews very relevant, high quality (and helpful), paper accepted with minor revisions.

Even so the first set of reviews still took 3 months.

They waived the accelerated publication fee.

I don't think editor is interested; she's been contacted twice.
No extra budget, that's not possible.

I'm pretty sure I'll pull it, just do extra checks there's nothing tricky about CountryX journal.

Yes, well if it came to my soc sci journal and was "meandering" it would go straight on the reject pile. Hmmmph.

I may be misinterpreting what you're saying, but it sounds like you expect to get published just because it's a lesser known PubMed journal that mainly publishes research from its own country and LMICs. If it's indexed in PubMed and a National Science Society journal, they should also have vigorous standards of peer review. Is your subject matter relevant to their national science agenda? Is your research robust and is your paper well written? I think they are more important questions to be asking.

@Downriver

Yes, well if it came to my soc sci journal and was "meandering" it would go straight on the reject pile. Hmmmph.

Have crossed recently from socsci to something more medical, I can see what's meant, though...

I'd pull it. Life's too short. What about BMJ Open? That seems designed for 'of the moment' research.

I'm worried that it won't be cited just because it's in countryX journal. That some people will apply that prejudice to it. I am definitely sending more items to CountryX journal in future if I can, though.

I actually think this is one of my best papers ever in terms of robust methods, and very well written bring on rigorous peer review if only I could get some - but with free gold Access!!

Read abstracts below. Tell me EnvPlanD is not meandering & basically it's all about the opinions of the writer, relatively. Compare to WHO Bulletin (just exemplars). I just do not want to write about opinions.

It's possible that the amount of time I've spent trying to find a suitable journal has driven me insane.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02637758211023504

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8164185/

ps: thanks for replies.

Can't afford BMJOpen. No money for APC but still must publish with Gold Access. Can get Gold access in some journals for free (eg Springer Hybrid Open) but nothing in their portfolio fits well or they already rejected it without reading it

Has there been a budget issue that's led to there not being enough left for an APC, or was it not budgeted in in the first place? Have you spoke to the funder again to ask for an exception, or is there maybe a possibility of getting access to funds for an APC through your department?

The type of writing, methods etc. varies massively across the social sciences so I wouldn't rule out a more social science publication if your paper has a substantial soc sci element. If you're proud of the quality of the paper it's worth trying to get it in a higher impact journal imo.

In that case, I think submitting to country X's journal would definitely be the best option. If country X's scope fits better and you know they have a faster peer review process, then go for it and good luck! The visibility (and citation) of research from the Global South is slowly improving and projects such as AJOL www.ajol.info and The Journals Online Project www.inasp.info/project/journals-online-project are trying to level the playing field.

I am a journal editor. it has been v v hard to get reviews in the last year because covid etc. that issue will affect your 2nd choice journal too.

Before you pull it, I'd send one or two more nagging emails to the current journal & try to find out the status. Have they sent it for review & have they got some reviews in? if they have, you might slow things down massively by pulling it & resubmitting.

Update on this one. I still don't know what to do.
@seeingdots -- there is a modest budget for APCs but it's allocated by senior people to their articles; my article absolutely will never get funded APC.

Timeline:
wk0: me & a lead author on another article both submit to Venerable journal.
wk8: other article invited to revise&resubmit
wk12: other article accepted
wk22: other article published
wk15 & wk24: I ask for updates, told 'decision soon'
wk28: I ask for withdrawal, told decision should be possible based on 2 reviews received, I said yes please, but no communication since.
Wk32: now

My article is still on editorial system so I can't withdraw it eds have to withdraw & they are ignoring me. I'm stuck unable to submit elsewhere. WWYD? Should I leave it hoping to see those 2 reviews? No university academic achieves anything in August anyway, do they. Should I wait until late September to give up on VenJournal (that will mean week 39 on timeline) or should I assume I've pissed them off hence no replies will ever be forthcoming so best to demand withdrawal now. What is the "burn fewest bridges" communication option?

It's a 3800 word article and not especially technical. I know I'm impatient & lack social skills, but my emails are polite, honest. My coauthors (on submitted article) are diffident about what to do next; it's my decision. I have many projects in limbo because nobody is replying to emails (sent weeks or many weeks ago) or updating datasets they are supposed to send regularly (since February). I get ignored more in summer but it's a year round thing, tbh. Maybe I'll seek a sunburn today instead. Pah.