How to Avoid Desk Rejection
Most manuscript rejections happen before peer review. Desk editors reject papers in minutes for predictable, preventable format and compliance failures. Here is what they look for, and how to fix it before you submit.
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What is desk rejection?
Desk rejection is when a journal editor rejects your manuscript without sending it to peer review. It typically happens within days of submission. Desk rejection rates are high: top journals like Nature and Cell desk-reject 70-90% of submissions, but even mid-tier journals routinely desk-reject 30-50%. The most common reasons have nothing to do with scientific quality. They are format and compliance failures: the paper does not follow the journal's scope or template, mandatory declarations are missing, the abstract does not meet requirements, or citations are inconsistently formatted. These are entirely preventable.
How CheckMyManuscript prevents desk rejection
Journal scope and format compliance
CheckMyManuscript validates your manuscript against the specific formatting requirements of your target journal, including section structure, abstract format, and metadata requirements.
Missing declarations detection
Ethics statements, conflict of interest declarations, and funding acknowledgments are the single most common cause of administrative desk rejection. CheckMyManuscript checks all of these automatically.
Citation and reference completeness
Mismatched citations, uncited references, and broken in-text citation keys are flagged before submission.
Abstract completeness
Many desk rejections occur because the abstract does not contain all required elements. CheckMyManuscript validates every required abstract component.
Metadata completeness
Missing author affiliations, ORCID IDs, and corresponding author information trigger instant rejection at many journals.
Checks relevant to this topic
Part of our 80+ automated checks
Ethics statement present
Mandatory in most journals; absence triggers immediate desk rejection.
Conflict of interest declaration
Required by all major publishers, even when there is no conflict.
Funding acknowledgment
Journals require explicit funding statements, including when no funding was received.
Abstract completeness
All required elements present: background, objective, methods, results, conclusion.
Author metadata
Affiliations, ORCID IDs, and corresponding author contact information.
Citation-reference matching
Every in-text citation matches a bibliography entry and vice versa.
Section structure
Required sections present in the correct order for the target journal.
The practical edge your peers already use
Across disciplines and career stages, researchers reduce bottlenecks and submit with confidence: clearer drafts, easier guideline compliance, and less back and forth with co‑authors and reviewers.
I use it to review my students' papers. It instantly highlights typos, missing references, and unclear sections, helping me focus my feedback on the quality of the research instead of surface errors.
Ilyass
Professor in Mechanical Engineering, ÉTS Montréal
I relied on it throughout my thesis to strengthen my writing. It suggested clearer phrasing, improved flow between sections, and ensured my references were complete before the final deadline.
Manon
Master's Student in Speech Therapy
I write research in both Portuguese and English, and it adapts perfectly to either language. It provided precise feedback in Portuguese, helping me maintain academic tone and consistency across my drafts.
Afonso
PhD Candidate, UFPE
It gave excellent advice on how to rephrase and present ideas more clearly and concisely. The suggestions helped me refine my arguments and make my research more impactful.
Félix
Postdoc Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
A round of suggestions helped to generally refine the text of my paper and, moreover, to present some of its key points in a more focused form.
Oleg
Professor, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University
I use it to review my students' papers. It instantly highlights typos, missing references, and unclear sections, helping me focus my feedback on the quality of the research instead of surface errors.
Ilyass
Professor in Mechanical Engineering, ÉTS Montréal
I relied on it throughout my thesis to strengthen my writing. It suggested clearer phrasing, improved flow between sections, and ensured my references were complete before the final deadline.
Manon
Master's Student in Speech Therapy
I write research in both Portuguese and English, and it adapts perfectly to either language. It provided precise feedback in Portuguese, helping me maintain academic tone and consistency across my drafts.
Afonso
PhD Candidate, UFPE
It gave excellent advice on how to rephrase and present ideas more clearly and concisely. The suggestions helped me refine my arguments and make my research more impactful.
Félix
Postdoc Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology
A round of suggestions helped to generally refine the text of my paper and, moreover, to present some of its key points in a more focused form.
Oleg
Professor, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University
Frequently asked questions
Desk rejection rates vary by journal prestige. Nature, Science, and Cell desk-reject 70-90% of submissions. Major journals like PLOS ONE, JAMA, and Lancet desk-reject 30-50%. Even mid-tier journals commonly desk-reject 20-40% of submissions, most for preventable format and compliance reasons.
The most common reasons are: paper outside the journal's scope, missing mandatory declarations (ethics, COI, funding), non-compliance with the journal's formatting template, incomplete abstract, unformatted or incomplete references, missing author metadata (ORCID, affiliations), and exceeding word limits.
Desk rejection typically happens within 1-7 days of submission. This is in contrast to peer review, which can take weeks to months. Desk rejection wastes time and delays the publication of your research.
CheckMyManuscript catches the most common format and compliance reasons for desk rejection: missing declarations, incomplete abstracts, citation errors, metadata gaps, and journal-specific formatting issues. It cannot assess scientific scope fit, which is also a common rejection reason.
Desk rejection happens before peer review based on format and compliance checks. Peer review rejection happens after reviewers assess the scientific merit. Desk rejection is faster, more avoidable, and based on criteria that can be systematically checked before submission.