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My paper has been rejected (with a "Reject and Resubmit" status), and the Editor has recommended resubmitting it with the revision contents that incorporate the reviewer's feedback. I am considering not resubmitting it and submitting the article to another journal. Should I inform the editor that I won't be resubmitting my article to the journal?

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Not necessary to inform

This is a line that the editor knowingly crossed when they sent 'reject and resubmit'. If they didn't want to increase the chance that you'll submit elsewhere, they would send 'revise'. (Functionally the two decisions are the same, but the first is more final in the sense that it increases the chances that the author never resubmits it.)

If you do resubmit it, then you should alert them that the manuscript is resubmitted (there'll almost surely be an option to do this in the editorial management system). If you don't, they'll forget about your manuscript.

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    Superb answer. One could add that if you want to go back later to that journal that gave you a "reject and resubmit" decision for whatever reasons, the option is still there. If you inform the editor now about your thoughts, then this opportunity might be gone.
    – Dr.M
    Aug 31 at 10:17
  • Would it be fair to view "reject and resubmit" as "rejected without prejudice", meaning that if revised and resubmitted the paper would be neither more nor less likely to be published than would be an paper that was identical to the revised one but hadn't been submitted the first time, while a revision request would indicate that publication would be likely after revision, and a straight rejection would indicate that publication would be unlikely even if the paper were revised?
    – supercat
    Aug 31 at 17:58
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Should I inform the editor that I won't be resubmitting my article to the journal?

Essentially, your paper has been rejected (Fomite, 2015). There is no obligation to formally withdraw or inform the Editor. However, there's also nothing stopping you from informing the Editor if you so wish.

I understand that 'reject and resubmit' is not explicitly covered in the Academia typical workflow of a journal.
Depending on which lens on looks at it, reject and resubmit is synonymous with revise and resubmit or major revision. Yet, there're (subtle) differences between them. They also have different implications in terms of publication metrics.

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  • "They also have different implications in terms of publication metrics." Out of interest, how is that? Aug 31 at 20:58

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