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Suppose I found out an algorithm/theorem, which is easy to understand and may be easy for the experts in the field to get it (with either same or different language). But after literature survey, If I strongly came to know that it is not yet published anywhere. Can I send my paper to the reputed journal for reviewing?

In concise, my doubt is whether the novelty of a research paper refers to the novelty with respect to the existing literature or has to be completely new in that field such that hard to reach it.

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    If all the experts know about something it seems unlikely that it's not published anywhere. Where did they learn it from? Did they all derive it independently (and no one bothered to publish it)?
    – fqq
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 7:40
  • I do not mean every expert is aware of that. I mean that the experts can reach it without much work.
    – hind
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 7:46
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    That's a quite different statement, especially when you are asking about novelty. You are explicitly asking about people knowing, not about how hard it is to derive.
    – fqq
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 7:50
  • @fqq Edited accordingly..
    – hind
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 7:54

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The goal of a research paper is to advance the knowledge of the field. There is no goal that every known fact be documented in scientific literature. So, you need to ask yourself whether your work truly contributes to the body of knowledge. If unsure, ask a supervisor, colleague or the editor of the journal you would consider submitting to.

Besides advancing the state of knowledge there is also the question of whether the contribution is significant. If others can arrive at the same conclusion with minimal work, journals (especially more reputed ones) may reject your paper because it is not significant enough.

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  • I think this answer is a bit contradictory. If a fact was previously unknown, then documenting it does "advance the knowledge". Maybe not by much, but it still does. I think your second paragraph is more important than the first for OP.
    – user9646
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 8:17
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    @NajibIdrissi yes, but there are known facts which are strictly speaking not documented. I'm for example thinking about particular instances of more general theorems. But perhaps I misunderstand the OP.
    – user25112
    Commented Aug 16, 2018 at 8:19

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