Frequent Reasons for Rejection of Original Manuscripts Submitted to a Medical Journal

Objective: To analyze the most frequent reasons for rejection of original manuscripts submitted to a medical journal. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study. All original manuscripts rejected after peer review and submitted to Atención Familiar between January 2018 and December 2023 were analyzed. Data on the topic, study design, and geographic origin were recorded. Reasons for rejection were classified according to the editorial process stage and manuscript sections. Results: A total of 149 manuscripts were included. The most common topic was diabetes mellitus (18.8%). Most manuscripts were cross-sectional studies (92.6%), and 94% were conducted in Mexico. Of the manuscripts, 53.7% were rejected during editorial screening, mainly due to failure to comply with author guidelines, among other reasons. The remaining 46.3% were rejected during peer review, primarily due to reporting limitations in the methods, results, discussion, and references sections, as well as failure to address reviewers’ comments. Conclusion: Most manuscripts were rejected during editorial screening. Among those rejected during peer review, the sections with the most frequent deficiencies were methods, results, discussion, and references. Although these findings are limited to a single journal, they reflect persistent challenges in medical writing. To mitigate these issues, authors should focus on improving the structure of key sections and conducting thorough reviews prior to submission.