https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8217-448X
About one-third of the papers we receive is declined by the editors and not even considered to be sent out to peer-reviewing. These are the typical reason for an editorial decline, many of which could quite easily be avoided:
Out of scope: Read the scope of the journal. The scope is broad, but articles must be related to food of aquatic origins. I recently received a very good paper on mutton research, but the only thing we could do about it was to decline and recommend another journal.
Use your own words: All submissions are checked against previously published literature, and too often we see a too high percentage of similarity, and the result is a decline, no matter the scope or scientific contribution. Avoid copy-pasting sentences and word structures from other (including your own) papers and instead rewrite using you own words, and this is easily avoided. If you must use a sentence from another publication, clarify that it is a citation, and reference it correctly.
Lack of novelty: Be relevant and avoid repeating what others already have found. Think about why your subject is of interest for other researchers; only reporting common knowledge and using traditional methods might not be enough. Ways to increase novelty could be use of new methodology, technology, or “thinking outside of the box” approaches.
Instructions and grammar: Follow the instructions for authors on how the manuscript, figures, and tables should be submitted, remember the word limit, and use the templates provided at the journal homepage. Too often manuscripts with almost unreadable English are submitted, so please use an editing service or get help from a native English-speaking person.
Avoiding these common mistakes would at least mean we are able to send the manuscript to our editorial board and to reviewers. This is no guarantee for acceptance, but you will get scientific feedback on the content that could help you improve your research in the future.
Enjoy this issue of JAFPT.