eLife

The difficulty of submitting to eLife journal cannot be reflected by its impact factor. eLife is highly recognized overseas, and experts in the field know the value of its published papers. However, in China where the impact factor is highly valued, it may be a disadvantage.

The most commendable aspect is the professionalism of the peer review process. Firstly, the editors of eLife are relatively the most professional, and they are experts in their respective fields. Secondly, they focus on whether the article is truly meaningful, rather than just following trends. Therefore, they accept some niche but valuable innovative research. These types of articles often have lower citation rates compared to popular articles, resulting in a relatively lower impact factor.

Thirdly, eLife adopts the most professional form of peer review. Normally, the editorial opinions provided by journals are a direct summary of several reviewers' opinions, often resulting in contradictory opinions. For example, one reviewer may say that your work is very meaningful, while another reviewer may say that your research has no value. However, the peer review opinions of eLife are written by the editors themselves after unifying the opinions of different reviewers. They raise pertinent questions and provide very fair opinions without contradictory statements. The editors will provide questions that must be answered and questions that can be chosen to answer. It is said that during the summary process, the editors communicate collectively or individually with the reviewers.

Fourthly, the entire peer review process, including questions and responses, is open and transparent. Readers can see it in the system, avoiding unnecessary biases.

Three reviewers provide particularly pertinent opinions. An important point is that the reviewers and editors will discuss and provide necessary feedback and revision suggestions. Other opinions may also be sent back, but it is not necessary to reply to all of them. The revised manuscript will be sent back in about 20 days, and acceptance will take approximately two weeks. Overall, it was the best submission experience. This journal seems to be declining, especially with the decreasing impact factor each year. However, it still has a high level of recognition within the industry. Our research group believes that in the field of neuroscience, eLife would be better than the Journal of Neuroscience but slightly worse than Brain.