Is this normal?

[ck926]

My advisor and I recently submitted a paper to be considered for publication in a journal; the VERY next day, we got a rejection. However, there were was no feedback from the reviewers or editor as to why; just a one line general statement from the editor saying they must be selective due to the number of submissions they receive. I am not very experienced when it comes to publishing, but is this acceptable? I'm not complaining that it was rejected, but I was a bit taken aback by the nonexistent feedback. I haven't had a chance to talk to my professor yet, so I just wanted to get some opinions in the meantime. Thank you in advance!

[Gvh]

That does seem weird. Unless it was a very small/unknown journal, I find it odd that you get a response the very next day. In my experience in cog psych/cog neuro, it's at least a few weeks before you get any feedback. But this may depend on the field and journal. 

 

Maybe you didn't submit it "properly" or forgot something which gave you an auto-reject? If I were you/your advisor I would email the editor directly and inquire. At the very least you should receive *some* feedback.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Gvh

[TakeruK]

The fastest rejection we ever got was 3 days and it was a direct rejection from the editor. Our manuscript didn't make it to the referees even. In our case, it was a high impact journal and the rejection came with a good reason (i.e. something to do with not being the type of science they publish). We resubmitted somewhere else and it was fine.

 

Usually a rejection this fast is either an auto-reject or the editor deciding to not pass the manuscript on to referees because he/she does not feel that the work merits publication in their journal, or the work does not meet their publishing criteria. It's too bad that your rejection letter was not more clear, which to me, says that this journal is just super selective and the editor does not think your work was flashy/sexy enough to be published. At least, that's how I would interpret this if it was my work and in my field. Might not be true in all fields though!

 

My advice would be to discuss this with your advisor. I think the usual route is to either ask for a bit more feedback from the editor or try a different journal.

[JustChill]

In my field, editors always reserve the right to reject a submission before sending it out for outside review. That might have happened here, although I too am surprised at the lack of an explanation.