In response to Eugene Russo's article on bypassing peer review,1 we wish to share a recent peer review experience with your readers. We submitted a manuscript to the university-based editor of a well-respected journal and after two weeks received a faxed acknowledgment of receipt. After two months we inquired about the manuscript and were told that by mistake it had been sent for review to the wrong journal and was being resubmitted for review by the correct journal. After an additional two months, we inquired about the manuscript and were told that it was "on the editor's desk." Two months later, after several more inquiries, we received a one-paragraph editor's note rejecting the manuscript with the sole comment that it would be "better suited for another journal." After six months, there was not even a peer reviewer's comment to show for our work.
If we had submitted our manuscript to ...
