Recognizing the efficiency losses to authors and reviewers when manuscripts turned down by a journal with a top-class review process are submitted to a new journal, AJKD offers an expedited consideration process for manuscripts that meet the following 2 criteria:

1) the manuscript reports original research within the scope of AJKD and could be revised to adhere to the format of an AJKD Original Investigation; and

2) the authors are able to supply a complete, unmodified decision letter with reviewer comments that (a) corresponds to the version of the manuscript to be submitted, and (b) was sent within the past 30 days by a high-profile journal with a reputation for performing a rigorous, highly selective review process and for publishing influential articles; and

Manuscripts submitted for expedited consideration will typically receive a communication from AJKD within 2 business days indicating whether or not the manuscript has been deemed eligible for the fast-track process. If the manuscript is ineligible, it may either be declined entirely, or the authors will have the option to have the manuscript reviewed by the standard consideration process.

If the manuscript is eligible, the authors will receive a decision letter within a further 5-14 calendar days. In the case of a revision letter, the requests will most often be based on comments from the AJKD editors (including a Statistics/Methods Editor) and reviews from the previous journal; in some cases, requests from peer review(s) obtained by AJKD will also be included.

Expedited manuscripts published by AJKD will specify in the Peer Review statement that the manuscript was submitted via this accelerated track.

Authors desiring expedited consideration for their work must select “Original Investigation – EXPRESS” as the article type during submission in the online manuscript tracking system, Editorial Manager. Authors must upload the decision letter from the previous journal, attest that it is complete and unmodified, confirm that providing it does not violate the policies of the previous journal, and that the manuscript version being submitted matches the decision letter provided. As editorial office staff are unable to gauge eligibility on the basis of informal enquiries, authors must submit the manuscript through Editorial Manager for assessment of expedited track suitability.

In submitting via the expedited track, authors are encouraged to consider whether the stature of the previous journal meets the definition in criterion 2 earlier in this section, and whether the concerns raised by the previous journal’s reviewers are comprehensive (ie, further review is not clearly needed) and are directed more toward appropriateness for the previous journal, rather than revealing unaddressable flaws affecting validity. Authors should be aware that while editors approve manuscripts for the expedited track in the expectation that the work will be publishable in AJKD, fast-tracked manuscripts are not guaranteed acceptance if serious flaws come to light during the accelerated consideration process, or if revisions are insufficient.

Please contact the Editorial Office at ajkd@pennmedicine.upenn.edu with any questions or requests for assistance.