Objective: Determining the fate of articles rejected for publication by the Dutch Medical Journal (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, NTvG).
Design: Retrospective.
Setting: Editorial office of the NTvG.
Method: Using a Medline search and questionnaire for authors, the fate of 108 manuscripts, (definitively) rejected for publication in the second half of 1992, was determined. Articles were divided according to the various headings, which they received upon submission.
Results: Of all the 108 rejected manuscripts, 14 were found in Medline, of which 5 had already been published, when submitted to the NTvG (4 of these were unannounced duplicate publications). The inquiry had a response rate of 84%; 93 manuscripts could be included in the study. The over-all publication percentage of rejected articles was 60% ((46/93 (49%) published, 10/93 (II%) accepted for publication)); 5 articles were published twice in different journals. The mean time lapse between rejection and publication of the articles published after rejection was II months. Of all articles published or accepted for publication (n = 62; duplicate publications included) 25 appeared in an English journal, 37 in a Dutch journal.
Conclusion: Of articles rejected by the NTvG 60% is eventually published in another journal.