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Recently I have got a rejection from a journal in mathematics. But I am sceptical about the journal decision. The reason is that the referee has written a full 1 page report. The first line of the referee report starts with there are several errors in the results. Here are comments and suggestions.

Now when I read the comments and suggestion, the referee clearly pointing every single errors and more importantly, suggesting how to correct those and make it authentic. The referee has given some ideas to include more results based on my existing results. I have never seen such a positive reports, specifically, the positive suggestions to make the paper authentic.

The reports ends with the words here are some more suggestions and then suggesting to rewrite the references and other important issues. This seems the referee is interested in the work.

After reading this report I believe that I can address all those points raised by the referee. The referee nowhere said against the paper, didn't say to reject it either but suggested to make correction. So I want to submit the revised version in that journal.

However, the journal returned the paper without asking revisions. I don't know who was the editor, i got mail from the journal coordinator. It is a good (not top) journal of World scientific publication.

I am much confident about my work and got more confidence after the referee report. Since the referee has given lot of time, I wish to submit the revised version. So my question:

Can I mail to the journal to ask/request to submit the revised version ?

Thanks

2 Answers 2

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Let me start this answer with the following important observation: referees do not decide whether a paper should be accepted for publication, editors do.

It might well be that the based on the report the editor decided that the paper even after the corrections will no meet the standards of the journal. Maybe even the referee communicated such an assessment to the editor in a confidential note.

Let me therefore suggest a different course of action: revise the manuscript based on the referee's suggestions and then submit it to a different journal.

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  • I like your 2nd para. That might have happened
    – learner
    Jan 31, 2022 at 9:49
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You certainly can, but keep in mind that they rejected your paper, so they're technically not willing to reconsider it even if you improve it.

Still, it's possible they change their minds. So it depends on how much you want to publish with the journal. The worst case scenario is they reject it again, in which case you're wasting time.

In the end it's up to you.

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  • well thanks for your comment. My only doubt is that they did not provide any particular reason for rejection. Just said based on the report, it is being denied publication in this journal. However the referee suggesting how to make the errors correct in the whole report. I still don't know who was the editor because in the online submission status, no editor was assigned/displayed. Otherwise I could have contacted the editor directly to know his/her reason for rejection
    – learner
    Jan 30, 2022 at 6:32
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    @Masmath When you want to contact the editor, you should write to the journal. They will send your communication the editor.
    – user151413
    Jan 30, 2022 at 14:05
  • @user151413, thank you for your suggestion
    – learner
    Jan 30, 2022 at 14:23

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