Editors' Malpractice: Forward Submitted Letters (To the Concerned Authors), then Reject Them

Abstract

It seems that editors still enjoy an almost absolute power in deciding “what gets published” and are barely accountable. The rejection of two “Letters to the Editor” submitted by myself to different journals leads me to expose here the editors' confidentiality breach inherent to improperly sharing unpublished manuscripts with the challenged authors. Although the scientific relevance of the issues raised here is virtually null, these experiences are consistent with the view that full peer review starts only after publication, highlight certain editorial malpractices, and stress that we all should promote scientific integrity.

Keywords:

• editorial misconduct
• peer review
• publication ethics

Acknowledgment

I am indebted to Dr. L. Stephen Kwok for encouraging me to write on publication ethics.

Declaration of Interest

I declare to have an academic link with some of the Mexican colleagues alluded to in this article.