Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
We endeavor to cover the most frequently asked questions that are not covered elsewhere on this website.
Initial Submissions
Q: Can I request that a particular editor handle my manuscript?
A: Yes, but you must not have an important professional connection with the editor (it cannot be a thesis advisor, current or past colleague, research collaborator, student, etc.). Please place this request in your cover letter.
Q: Can I request a particular referee for my manuscript?
A: The JME policy is that you can provide names of potential referees for your manuscript (again, this information should be placed in the cover letter). Many authors provide about 10 names, so as to give the handling editor some guidance. Again, you should not specify potential referees with whom you have professional connections.
However, if you submit names of potential referees, this does not guarantee that they will be used: the decision about the referee is up to the handling editor.
Q: Can I request that a particular editor not handle my manuscript? Can I ask that a particular person not be the referee?
A: Yes. Please place this information in your cover letter.
Editorial Decisions
Q: I disagree with aspects of the referee report. What should I do?
A: Referee reports are valuable partly because they help an author evaluate the dimensions along which his communication with a careful reader was effective or ineffective. If the referee report appeared to reflect confusion on the referee’s part, look critically at your paper and ask “why did the referee become confused in this manner?”
Referee reports are also valuable because they help an editor reach a decision about whether to encourage a revision of the manuscript for JME. However, they are only one basis for a manuscript decision: the JME does not ask referees to place recommendations for decisions in their reports for this reason.
If you disagree with aspects of a referee report, look at whether these seem to be decisive in the editor’s explanation of the decision on your paper. When a paper is rejected, look at whether the editor specifically referenced the contested aspects of the paper in his letter. When there is a request for a resubmission, look at whether the editor asked you to change the paper on this basis.
Q: I disagree with the editorial decision. What should I do?
The JME cannot publish most papers that it receives (even all of those that are logically correct, constitute advances on the literature and concern interesting topics). Please understand that JME cannot publish even the majority of those on which it receives somewhat positive referee reports.
So, the first thing that you should do is wait one week: do not fire off a quick letter to the editor protesting the decision. Think about the decision. Think about your best counter-arguments to the decision.
If you reach the conclusion that there was a major mistake in the JME editor’s decision, then you have the option to ask for a reconsideration of the manuscript. This is a costly process that authors request only a small fraction of the time (perhaps one percent). As an author, you should factor in that it will take several months, during which your paper might be under review elsewhere and that most reconsiderations sustain the original decision. For the editors and referees, it is essentially a new evaluation of the manuscript.
Comments on JME papers
Q: Does the JME publish comments on papers?
A: The JME does not publish many comments. See our comment policy.