Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
An author submits a manuscript to Journal A, and before receiving a decision, submits the same manuscript unchanged to Journal B in hopes of a faster or more favorable outcome. This is simultaneous submission even if the author never intends to accept both offers.
- Is an instance
An author submits closely related manuscripts derived from the same dataset or study to two journals at the same time without disclosing the overlap to either editor, so that each journal is unknowingly duplicating peer-review effort on largely the same findings.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
An author withdraws a manuscript from Journal A after receiving a formal rejection, then submits the identical manuscript to Journal B. Sequential submission after a genuine withdrawal or rejection is standard practice and is not simultaneous submission.
- Not an instance
Two journal editors jointly agree, in advance and with disclosure to readers, to co-publish the same article because doing so serves the public interest (for example, urgent public health guidance) — ICMJE recognizes this narrow, editor-sanctioned joint-publication arrangement as an exception, distinct from an author privately shopping a manuscript to multiple venues without either editor's knowledge.
- Not an instance
Independent research groups analyzing the same public dataset, or separate systematic reviews/meta-analyses covering overlapping evidence, submit their own distinct manuscripts to different journals around the same time. ICMJE treats these as independent works to be considered on their own merits, not as simultaneous submission of 'the same manuscript.'
Editorial commentary
Simultaneous submission is one of the most widely enforced procedural rules in scholarly publishing, and one of the easiest for early-career authors to violate unintentionally. Because peer review can take weeks or months, the temptation to submit a manuscript to a second journal "just in case" the first is slow or unresponsive is common — but nearly every journal’s author guidelines, and the ICMJE Recommendations that many biomedical journals adopt, treat it as a serious breach of publishing ethics rather than a harmless efficiency measure.
Why journals prohibit it
ICMJE states the rationale plainly: simultaneous submission creates "the potential for disagreement when two (or more) journals claim the right to publish a manuscript," and risks two or more journals "unknowingly and unnecessarily" conducting peer review, editing, and even publishing the same article. Peer review is a volunteer-dependent, resource-intensive process; running it twice on the same manuscript wastes reviewer and editor time that could go to other submissions. ICMJE’s stated consequence for authors found to have submitted without disclosure is blunt: they "should expect at least prompt rejection of the submitted manuscript." Many journals go further and will also notify the author’s institution or bar future submissions.
How it differs from duplicate publication and self-plagiarism
Simultaneous submission is frequently confused with, but is conceptually distinct from, duplicate publication and self-plagiarism. The distinguishing factor is publication status:
- Simultaneous submission concerns a manuscript that is concurrently under review at more than one journal — nothing has been published yet.
- Duplicate (redundant) publication concerns a manuscript that substantially overlaps with work that has already been published, whether in the same or a different venue.
An author can commit one without the other: withdrawing a rejected manuscript and resubmitting it elsewhere is neither, since only one submission is active at a time; publishing a lightly reworded version of an already-published paper in a second journal is duplicate publication, not simultaneous submission, because the first paper is no longer under review — it is already in print.
Recognized exceptions
ICMJE recognizes a narrow exception for pre-arranged, editor-sanctioned joint or simultaneous publication, typically invoked when two editors agree that concurrent release serves the public interest (for example, time-sensitive public health guidance), provided the simultaneous publication is disclosed to readers. Separately, ICMJE notes that independent research groups analyzing the same public dataset, or separate systematic reviews/meta-analyses covering overlapping evidence, may legitimately submit their own distinct manuscripts around the same time; these are evaluated as independent works rather than treated as "the same manuscript" submitted twice.
How CASRAI-relevant standards address it
Journal cover-letter and submission systems typically require authors to affirmatively confirm the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere as a condition of submission. Editors who suspect simultaneous submission — often flagged by a reviewer who recognizes the manuscript from another journal, or by text-recycling/plagiarism-detection software — commonly follow the COPE flowcharts developed for suspected duplicate or redundant submission, which outline a stepwise process for contacting the corresponding author, the author’s institution, and (where relevant) the other journal involved.
Practical guidance for authors
Authors should submit to one journal at a time and wait for a formal decision (acceptance, rejection, or a request to withdraw) before submitting elsewhere. If a manuscript needs to move to a second journal, it should first be formally withdrawn from the first. Co-authors on a multi-institution project should coordinate submission decisions explicitly, since simultaneous submission sometimes happens not through deliberate misconduct but through miscommunication among co-authors, one of whom independently resubmits a manuscript a collaborator believes is still under review elsewhere.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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