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I wrote a detailed and long review on the first round and requested a minor or major revision.

Then after 1 or 2 weeks I got a mail notification that the paper is published. I never had the chance to check if the authors improved the paper or not.

Only after logging in into susy I can see what the authors answered to my original review. No mail, and no request to review the revised version and no opportunity to give my feedback. And usually MDPI does not hold back in sending out emails or requesting reviews.

This happened twice to me and also to a colleague. I even explicitly wrote to the editor that I want to review the revised version also, which was ignored without a comment.

Now my questions:

Is this a common practice of MDPI journals?

How can we be sure that there was even a second review round from real academics? Given that it is hard to get reviewers and I can not see what they wrote?

I think that this is unacceptable and will avoid everything from MDPI in the future.

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  • 1
    Yup. MDPI has dodgy practices. Once they stole my colleague's list of topics for a special issue and gave it to another person.
    – Prof. Santa Claus
    Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 8:57
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    Obvious explanation is that there is no second review round, and the editor decided the revisions by the authors are good enough.
    – Allure
    Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 9:43
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    @Allure ok, but thats not how i think review should be done, and is not done commonly by other publishers. Also its not transparent and they even ignored my request to review the revision.
    – gogoolplex
    Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 10:02
  • 1
    @gogoolplex All the same, reviewers only offer recommendations; the editor is the one who makes the final decision. I don't see why you don't think this is commonly done either, e.g. academia.stackexchange.com/questions/135326/….
    – Allure
    Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 10:13
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    The appropriateness of not sending the paper for another review largely depends on the nature of the comments (and the expertise of the editor). In the case of a major revision, it would be very untypical for a serious journal to not send it for another review.
    – lighthouse keeper
    Commented Jul 20, 2022 at 10:35

1 Answer 1

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I have reviewed for MDPI several times. I do not recall any cases where there was a second round of reviews.

Neither authors nor reviewers are entitled to a second round of reviews.

Editorial competence at MDPI is not consistent.

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    I just did a second round of reviews for one of the better MDPI journals (Symmetry) last night. They appear to have sent the paper back to all three of the original reviewers.
    – Buzz
    Commented Jul 23, 2022 at 15:35
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    "Neither authors nor reviewers are entitled to a second round of reviews." I'm not sure I understand the point of this sentence. Professional behaviour is not about "entitlement".
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Feb 16, 2023 at 20:55
  • @JochenGlueck One is entitled to have their paper evaluated fairly, and that includes consistently following policies of the journal. If the journal's policy is to require a second round of reviews, as the other answer indicates, then they are entitled to a second round of reviews.
    – user71659
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 20:42

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