Research Article: “The High Resource Impact of Reformatting Requirements for Scientific Papers”

The following research article was published yesterday by PLoS One.

Title

The High Resource Impact of Reformatting Requirements for Scientific Papers

Authors

Yan Jiang
Stanford University School of Medicine

Robert Lerrigo
Stanford University School of Medicine

Anika Ullah
University of California San Diego

Muthu Alagappan
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Steven M. Asch
Stanford University School of Medicine

Steven N. Goodman
 Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University 

Sidhartha R. Sinha
Stanford University School of Medicine

Source

PLoS ONE 14(10): e0223976
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223976

Abstract

Most research manuscripts are not accepted for publication on first submission. A major part of the resubmission process is reformatting to another journal’s specific requirements, a process separate from revising the scientific content. There has been little research to understand the magnitude of the burden imposed by the current resubmission process.

Methods 

We analyzed original research article submission requirements from twelve randomly selected journals in each of eight scientific and clinical focus areas from the InCites Journal Citation Reports database. From the 96 journals selected, we randomly identified three recently published manuscripts and sent surveys to those first and/or corresponding authors (288 total) to solicit information on time spent reformatting resubmissions and opinions on the process.

Findings

There was significant variation in manuscript submission requirements for journals within the same scientific focus and only 4% of journals offered a fully format-free initial submission. Of 203 authors responding (71.5% response rate), only 11.8% expressed satisfaction with the resubmission process and 91% desired reforming the current system. Time spent on reformatting delays most publications by at least two weeks and by over three months in about 20% of manuscripts. The effort to comply with submission requirements has significant global economic burden, estimated at over $1.1 billion dollars annually when accounting for a research team’s time.

Interpretation

We demonstrate that there is significant resource utilization associated with resubmitting manuscripts, heretofore not properly quantified. The vast majority of authors are not satisfied with the current process. Addressing these issues by reconciling reformatting requirements among journals or adopting a universal format-free initial submission policy would help resolve a major subject.

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