61 - Me, Myself, and a Third Party

Summary

Background

Most scientific journals require that a manuscript submitted for publication not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Another tenet of editorial processing is that authors submit their paper as a confidential communication, which generally means the editor and reviewers may not disclose the content of the paper to a third party. But what if the third party is the editor himself?

This happened to me as an editor at journal X. I asked two experts to review a submitted manuscript; both suggested significant changes. The reviews were communicated to the authors, who were invited to prepare a revision. Subsequently, an author contacted me more than once to clarify specific aspects of a (presumed) revision. All fine so far. I anticipated seeing the revised paper shortly.

The manuscript reached me soon afterward, but not by the route I expected. It was accompanied by a request to review the paper for a different journal (call it Y).

Two questions immediately came to mind: (1) how to respond to the editor of journal Y and (2) what to do (if anything) about the submission still pending at journal X. The options for (2) raised the issue of whether I, as a potential reviewer for journal Y, could reveal receiving this paper to myself as editor of journal X (a third party from Y’s perspective).