Submitting two articles to the same publisher (but not the same journal)

Question

A bit similar to Submitting two articles to the same journal at the same time but not exactly. I was wondering about the strategy for publishing two related, but separate papers. Could there be a benefit (in terms of your chance of getting accepted) in submitting the two papers to the same publisher, while explicitly asking for publication in two of their separate journals (given that they have different audiences/criteria)? Or should you just submit them separately, in a vacuum?

To give some context (too much in hinsight, so feel free to skip) I will use my case as an example, although I am sure it applies elsewhere.

We did an experiment that uncovered a new piece of physics, previously not seen before. We investigated how it came about, and on which parameters it depends. We constructed a model that was able to explain the data. Let's call this part A. In that same device, we then went on to use that physical effect to do something; we applied it and managed to create something novel and potentially useful, or at least a proof of concept. This is part B.

These two sets of results are, in my opinion, both worthy of publication. Part B however, has a broader scope and will most likely be more impactful, at least in the eyes of an editor. It is more of a hot topic item. Part A is more field-specific, but without it B comes out of nowhere and is poorly understood. I feel that combining the two texts would both be too long and not focused enough.

Now, my first thought was submit & publish separately. For part A we can go to a more specific (and lower impact) journal, and for part A we can try to aim for something more prestigious. But then I thought that perhaps it would make sense to try and bundle the papers in terms of publisher. What I mean by that is that some publishers have multiple journals that could house the papers (say Nature physics & Nature communications for the Nature family, or Physical Review X and Physical Review Letters or more specific like Physical Review B for APS). Could there be advantages to doing this? Could it be that the 'joint probability' of the papers getting published/accepted, P(A&B), is larger than if the papers come in separately, P(A)*P(B)?

Answer 1

For most publishers, the publisher has no role in the editing of the journal. Editorial decisions are made independently by the editors of each journal. Usually it makes no difference if you submit your two manuscripts to different journals with the same publisher or to two equivalent journals with different publishers.

When you submit a manuscript, it is always required to disclose related manuscripts to the editor. The identity of the publishers has no bearing on this requirement. Should someone accuse you of self-plaigiarism, "We told the editor about it in advance." is pretty much the perfect defense.

Some top journals will show your manuscript to the editors of lower ranked journals at the same publisher. I do not think this is something that matters much.