I love Rodney Dangerfield’s joke that goes: “My psychiatrist told me I was crazy, so I told him I want a second opinion. Then, he said, ‘OK, you’re ugly, too!’” At Applied Optics we do give second chances to papers, but we do not give third chances.

A number of authors have asked about our policy on papers that have been rejected multiple times. Applied Optics will not consider papers that have been rejected twice by either Applied Optics or other OSA journals. The policy was introduced because Applied Optics is not a journal for publishing rejected papers from other journals. Applied Optics is the premiere journal for the archival publication of applied science and engineering in the discipline of optics. Additionally, multiple resubmissions of the same work is a drain on the peer review system. The policy is explained to authors as follows:

“Applied Optics will not consider papers that have already been reviewed and rejected twice by the journal or by any other OSA Journal, except for Optics Letters and Optica—previous submissions to those journals will not be counted.”

The exceptions here make sense. Optica is intended to be an extremely high-impact journal, where solid optics work with significance and originality may be reasonably rejected. Also, Optics Letters might decide that a submission does not meet its criteria for rapid publication, but if expanded to provide sufficient detail the improved paper could be much more appropriate for publication.

Applied Optics wants to be your first choice for the publication of your original and significant work in applied optical or electro-optical science and systems. Applied Optics enjoys a cited half-life of 10+ years and provides respectable archival performance with a strong impact factor (for a general science and engineering journal) and a wide distribution.

Here’s another Rodney Dangerfield joke: “I told my psychiatrist ‘Everyone hates me.’ The psychiatrist replied, ‘That’s ridiculous. Everyone hasn’t met you yet!’” Don’t try to “meet” every journal before making some modifications to your paper. Use the comments received from the editors and reviewers to improve your paper and address any significant concerns before submitting to another journal. Also, be sure you are choosing the most appropriate journal for your work.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about our policy. We look forward to receiving your outstanding work for consideration in Applied Optics.