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Submitting a rejected paper to the same editor in a different journal.

One of my papers was rejected from a top journal in mathematics. ( I submitted it to an editor, say A) Two reviews basically were saying that the paper is solid but not good enough for the journal. The reviews did not contain much details about the paper. I think that the reviewers (say, B, C) didn't read it thoroughly.(It was somewhat a quick rejection) I am thinking about submitting it to another journal (not a top, but still very good). The same person A is the only editor in the field of the paper in that journal. So it is very likely that the editor A will handle the paper again and send it to the reviewers B, C.

What is pros and cons of submitting the paper to that journal?

Do I need to avoid submitting the paper to that journal?

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  • Is it obvious that the editor would send it to the same reviewers?
    – Tommi
    Mar 6, 2018 at 12:20
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    I don't see problems with it. The reviewers said the paper is solid (so it's a good thing) but not suited for that particular journal. So submitting to another journal, in a note to the editor you might explain that it was earlier submitted elsewhere with an outcome as such and such. This will speed things up - the editor might immediatelly decide what to do with the submission.
    – user68958
    Mar 6, 2018 at 12:38
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    Are you going to revise the paper based on the reviewer comments? Because if I'd be the editor and got the same paper again, I'd be very seriously annoyed -- and would desk reject the paper with a rather unpleasant email to the author for wasting everyone's time and feeling entitled to get their paper published!
    – Wolfgang Bangerth
    Mar 6, 2018 at 13:27
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    Totally agree with @WolfgangBangerth. Also, you need to do a good cover letter
    – Emilie
    Mar 6, 2018 at 13:47

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There is no problem in resubmitting the paper to the same editor, but to a different journal. I've seen and done this more than once.

My advice is the following. Take the first set of reviews and address them as best you can. Then prepare a response to reviewers as you normally would, addressing all the points and stating the changes you made. Then append this to the cover letter of the journal you are submitting. The fact that the editor is the same may work in your favor since they have already seen the material, and will see that you are following on their advice.

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    To add, if the paper was rejected because the editor thinks it's fatally flawed and no revision can fix it, then there's no point submitting to the same editor, but this isn't the case here.
    – Allure
    Mar 6, 2018 at 19:24
  • +1 I'd add that this is only a good strategy because the editor is the same. If the editor at the second journal were different, you should not do this, because they won't be able to verify that these are undoctored reviews from the previous journal. In the cover letter I'd even mention "given that you were the editor for our previous submission of this manuscript to Journal X, we have attached how the paper has changed in response to those reviews, in case this is helpful."
    – WetlabStudent
    Apr 12, 2019 at 3:30

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