7

I wrote a detailed and long review on the first round and requested a minor or major revision.

Then after 1 or 2 weeks I got a mail notification that the paper is published. I never had the chance to check if the authors improved the paper or not.

Only after logging in into susy I can see what the authors answered to my original review. No mail, and no request to review the revised version and no opportunity to give my feedback. And usually MDPI does not hold back in sending out emails or requesting reviews.

This happened twice to me and also to a colleague. I even explicitly wrote to the editor that I want to review the revised version also, which was ignored without a comment.

Now my questions:

Is this a common practice of MDPI journals?

How can we be sure that there was even a second review round from real academics? Given that it is hard to get reviewers and I can not see what they wrote?

I think that this is unacceptable and will avoid everything from MDPI in the future.

Anyon
  • 26,132
  • 8
  • 87
  • 116
gogoolplex
  • 189
  • 5
  • 1
    Yup. MDPI has dodgy practices. Once they stole my colleague's list of topics for a special issue and gave it to another person. – Prof. Santa Claus Jul 20 '22 at 08:57
  • 7
    Obvious explanation is that there is no second review round, and the editor decided the revisions by the authors are good enough. – Allure Jul 20 '22 at 09:43
  • 1
    @Allure ok, but thats not how i think review should be done, and is not done commonly by other publishers. Also its not transparent and they even ignored my request to review the revision. – gogoolplex Jul 20 '22 at 10:02
  • 1
    @gogoolplex All the same, reviewers only offer recommendations; the editor is the one who makes the final decision. I don't see why you don't think this is commonly done either, e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/135326/journal-published-a-paper-ignoring-my-objections-as-a-referee. – Allure Jul 20 '22 at 10:13
  • Is it in the policy of the journal that the author is required to revise the manuscript if a reviewer recommends it? – JRN Jul 20 '22 at 10:30
  • 3
    The appropriateness of not sending the paper for another review largely depends on the nature of the comments (and the expertise of the editor). In the case of a major revision, it would be very untypical for a serious journal to not send it for another review. – lighthouse keeper Jul 20 '22 at 10:35
  • Ok, but I find it still very strange that my request was ignored. Authors even had some additional questions to me which I had no way to answer. Also I can not see what the editor wrote to the authors or on which bases they decided for publication. So maybe its the editor who decided, but still the lack of communication and push for speed is enough to keep me away from MDPI. For a good and open review process see copernicus publications, for example: https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2655/2022/tc-16-2655-2022-discussion.html – gogoolplex Jul 20 '22 at 11:02
  • 1
    @Allure Yes, the reviewers offer only a recommendation and the decision is under the editor's hands only but this is not how to acknowledge the voluntary effort of the reviewers and how to improve the quality of publications. I think MDPI (in particular) has some unusual practices compared to other publishers. – Yacine Jul 20 '22 at 11:04
  • @Younes You could argue that, but there is a benefit in that processing times drop a lot which is good for the authors. MDPI definitely have unusual practices (but note "unusual" is not synonymous with "bad"). Have you seen my answer here? https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5466/is-mdpi-a-reputable-academic-publisher/163462#163462 – Allure Jul 20 '22 at 11:17
  • I'll ask my former colleague (alluded to in the link in the previous comment) this question. – Allure Jul 20 '22 at 12:52
  • I believe the answer to the question in the title is "no". I've received review requests for a second review when I had reviewed the manuscript in the first round. However, the editor decides and the numerous editors of the numerous MDPI journals might follow different practices. –  Jul 20 '22 at 14:14
  • Previous meta-discussion: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4879/reopening-this-question-on-mdpi – Anonymous Physicist Jul 23 '22 at 03:50
  • There's no response from my friend unfortunately. I'm hesitant to press her for an answer, since I am after all an outsider. If I find out in the future (and remember) I'll update. – Allure Aug 10 '22 at 12:10

1 Answers1

2

I have reviewed for MDPI several times. I do not recall any cases where there was a second round of reviews.

Neither authors nor reviewers are entitled to a second round of reviews.

Editorial competence at MDPI is not consistent.

Anonymous Physicist
  • 98,828
  • 24
  • 203
  • 351
  • 3
    I just did a second round of reviews for one of the better MDPI journals (Symmetry) last night. They appear to have sent the paper back to all three of the original reviewers. – Buzz Jul 23 '22 at 15:35
  • 2
    "Neither authors nor reviewers are entitled to a second round of reviews." I'm not sure I understand the point of this sentence. Professional behaviour is not about "entitlement". – Jochen Glueck Feb 16 '23 at 20:55
  • @JochenGlueck One is entitled to have their paper evaluated fairly, and that includes consistently following policies of the journal. If the journal's policy is to require a second round of reviews, as the other answer indicates, then they are entitled to a second round of reviews. – user71659 Feb 17 '23 at 20:42