Recently as the new Editor-in-Chief, I received emails from different authors who submitted manuscripts to Journal of Economics and Development (JED) with similar questions: Could you explain why I got desk rejected? They ensured that they followed the guidance for a manuscript in JED and the topics seemed to fall into the relevant fields that JED is calling for papers. Some even wondered why they got desk rejected for topics similar to those published in JED before. With many manuscripts submitted to JED recently, I can summarize the following top reasons for manuscripts to be desk rejected in JED.
1. Out of scope
In fact, the general scope of JED was declared in the journal website: “Journal of Economics and Development (JED) promotes and encourages scholarly research that aims to improve sustainability in economics and development with a particular focus on developing countries, including the transition economies.” Topics that could not provide clear links to the scope would not be considered for publication in JED. More importantly, as for any journals, we would have to determine which specialized topics are “hot” recently, which may be subject to change over time. The same topic accepted in the past may not be considered then. Moreover, if one topic has been extensively studied, it would not be interesting any more or the novelty cannot be established. For 2025, we continue to expect manuscripts with topics on different fields of sustainable development at macro or micro level. In your relevant fields, however, you may need to discuss clear links to sustainable development.
2. Increasing competition
While too many manuscripts have been submitted to JED recently, only the best would be considered and sent out for review. Since JED was indexed in Scopus in 2019 and Web of Science in August 2024, the number of manuscripts submitted to the journal has increased substantially. While 193 original manuscripts were submitted to JED in 2023, the number in 2024 almost doubled with 378 submissions. The maximum number of articles to be published, however, would be the same, i.e., 24 articles for 4 issues in one year, at least until the end of 2025. Thus, even if your manuscript is within the scope and good enough, it would not be considered if it is not among the best ones.
3. Lack of novel theoretical contribution
In an academic journal, articles would be expected to contribute both theoretically and practically, but novel theoretical contributions would be prioritized. It is important to ask several similar questions which might sound familiar to you before you submit a manuscript to JED:
- (1)
What theories would the study findings contribute to?
- (2)
How could findings from this study further change our extant knowledge of any law-like relationships in relevant theories?
- (3)
What novelty could this study bring to the relevant theories or have similar findings been found in other contexts?
Hence, even though your study is conducted with very sophisticated analytical techniques, it could not be considered for publication in JED if it only provides another piece of empirical evidence for the same relationships or just recommendations for policymakers or practitioners.
4. Plagiarism and AI issues
Manuscripts with plagiarism or AI issues would obviously be prohibited in academia. Recently, before considering your studies, we would do preliminary checks to find any problems with AI or plagiarism. The simplest decision for manuscripts with those issues would be a desk reject. ScholarOne Manuscripts system even helped us with checks for ethical or conflict of interest issues.
In short, JED is here to publish articles that we expect would contribute theoretically to the literature in the fields of economics and development. We also expect your articles to be cited by future studies worldwide. Excellent manuscripts after several review rounds to be revised properly would be highly welcome, accepted and published in JED.
