Authors of rejected manuscripts will sometimes contact the Editor directly with a request to appeal the decision. If you receive an appeal request from an author via email, please take the following steps:
 

1. Forward the email to the Microbiology Spectrum inbox. ASM staff will contact the author and ask them to formally submit their appeal in eJP.

2. Once the appeal is set up in eJP, you will see it in your “Appeal Requested” folder (you will also receive an email notification). It will have the same manuscript number as the original submission, with an -A suffix.

3. Review the appeal, then share your recommendation (decline or grant) with the Senior Editor via the consultation feature in the system. In most cases, the Senior Editor will agree with you.

4. Once you hear back from the Senior Editor, close out the consult and either grant or deny the appeal.
    

5. If you say yes to the appeal, the author will have the chance to resubmit their manuscript. Once the manuscript has been received, it will automatically be assigned to you. At this point, you have two options:

• You can choose to reject the article without review. In this case, please use the Editorial Reject decision, and clearly explain to the author why you have chosen to reject the article.
• You can choose to peer review the article, and based on the reviewer comments, either Accept or use the Reject: No Resubmission decision. If rejecting, please clearly explain to the author why you have chosen to reject the article.

If the author becomes aggressive, or if you or the Senior Editor want to consult with Christina and Anand for a specific reason (editorial policy or was a close call), please do contact us via the consult feature in eJP or the Microbiology Spectrum inbox.