Submitting the same manuscript at the same time to more than one journal is an example of a duplicate submission; this is unethical in academic publishing.
Q & A Forum
Journal Selection & Submission
Q: Can I submit the same manuscript to multiple journals at once?
- Submitting the same manuscript at the same time to more than one journal is an example of a duplicate submission; this is unethical in academic publishing.
- Major publishers (e.g., Elsevier, Springer, Wiley) and international global bodies (e.g., COPE, Committee on Publication Ethics) prohibit duplicate submission.
- Penalties include being blacklisted, retraction of your other works, or being reported to institutions.
- Instead, authors should wait until they receive a formal decision (acceptance, rejection, or confirmation of withdrawal) from the first journal, and only then should they consider approaching the second journal.