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Biomedicine in museums

The perfect journal — it's all about rejection

By February 24, 2011No Comments

Some speak about the perfect storm. Here’s the perfect scientific journal: Journal of Universal Rejection (JofUR).

It’s all about rejection. The perfect rejection, i.e., universal rejection. In other words, the journal’s policy is to reject all submitted manuscripts, regardless of quality.

Here’s their reasons for why you should send your manuscript to them:

  • You can send your manuscript here without suffering waves of anxiety regarding the eventual fate of your submission. You know with 100% certainty that it will not be accepted for publication.
  • There are no page-fees.
  • You may claim to have submitted to the most prestigious journal (judged by acceptance rate).
  • The JofUR is one-of-a-kind. Merely submitting work to it may be considered a badge of honor.
  • You retain complete rights to your work, and are free to resubmit to other journals even before our review process is complete.
  • Decisions are often (though not always) rendered within hours of submission.
  • JofUR solicits all types of manuscript: “You name it, we take it, and reject it. Your manuscript may be formatted however you wish. Frankly, we don’t care.”

    After submitting your work, the decision process varies. Often the Editor-in-Chief will reject your work out-of-hand, without even reading it! However, he might read it. Probably he’ll skim. At other times your manuscript may be sent to anonymous referees. Unless they are the Editor-in-Chief’s wife or graduate school buddies, it is unlikely that the referees will even understand what is going on. Rejection will follow as swiftly as a bird dropping from a great height after being struck by a stone. At other times, rejection may languish like your email buried in the Editor-in-Chief’s inbox. But it will come, swift or slow, as surely as death. Rejection.

    More details and selected authors’ furious complaints on JofUR’s blog.

    Thomas Söderqvist

    Author Thomas Söderqvist

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