Are scientific editors reliable gatekeepers of the publication process?

Abstract

Editors are gatekeepers of the scientific publication process and many manuscripts never make it past them. For the journal Biological Conservation, editors reject about half of the manuscripts assigned to them (known as “desk reject”) before sending the remaining manuscripts out for review. Given the importance of the editor's role in the publication process we ask: how consistent are editors' decisions in Biological Conservation? To answer this question, in 2018 we asked 10 editors of the journal to evaluate 40 manuscripts that had been previously evaluated in 2017 as part of the regular review process. The editors did not know which manuscripts had been sent out for review (20 total) and ..