In our newest “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

I would appreciate some advice about submission strategy. This relates to recent discussions about publishing multiple papers in the same journal, but my question concerns the submission and review stage.

I have two papers that seem like good fits for the same journal. Paper A is already under external review there. Paper B is ready to submit and, in my own assessment, is much stronger.

Should I submit Paper B to the same journal now, or wait until Paper A receives a decision? I am unsure whether having two papers under review at the same journal is frowned upon or could bias editorial decisions. The journal does not explicitly prohibit it.

My main concern is that because of Paper B’s somewhat idiosyncratic focus, submitting it elsewhere would likely mean aiming one or two tiers lower, which I am reluctant to do unless indeed necessary.

Any advice from people familiar with editorial practices would be greatly appreciated.

What do readers think?

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One response to “Publishing strategies: submitting two papers to a journal at once?”

  1. Anno

    I only know of journals who don’t want people to submit multiple papers at the same time; I don’t know of any journal that welcomes this practice. In any case, my advice would be to either (1) ask the editor, (2) wait until you receive a decision on the other paper, or (3) to send it to another journal that is at least as good (even if the odds are lower, at least you are not ‘wasting’ time, if that was your concern). I would go for option 3, but you might of course have a different preference.

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