Re: Should authors be allowed to submit to more than one journal? Perhaps
we can re-phrase this in terms of an evolutionary question? We currently
have a population of journals composed entirely of journals unwilling to
accept papers submitted elsewhere. The proposal, in essence, is that a
rare-mutant journal J changes its policy and now accepts papers submitted
elsewhere. Would this rare-mutant J invade? I think it highly unlikely.
As soon as journal J announces its policy, it alone will bear the
brunt of reviewers' disdain for extra work since reviewers will have good
reason to suspect that every paper they receive from journal J is also
being submitted elsewhere. The result: no one will review papers for r
journal J. In addition, there may be a stigma attached to submitting papers
to journal J because people may equate the acceptance of multiple
submissions as a lowering of standards. Finally, one journal alone can not
initiate such a change in policy, since in order to submit to more than one
journal without penalty both journals must adopt this new policy. The
bottom line: the rare-mutant dies a lonely death.
-- Ron Coleman
