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Criteria for Desk Rejection (Reject Without Review)

Papers will be desk rejected if they do not meet one or more of TRB’s requirements, including requirements related to:

• General Requirements
• Paper Format
• Front Matter
• Structured Abstract

In addition, papers may be desk rejected for other reasons, including:

• Fragmented or Duplicate
• Redundant topic
• Inappropriate or offensive language
• Endorsement or promotion of a commercial product 
• Simultaneous submission of the paper to another journal (if submitted for Presentation and Publication)
• Not clearly within the scope or current focus of TRB’s standing technical committees
• Lacks novelty, contribution, or practical application
• Structured abstract does not clearly and concisely summarize the objectives, methodology, principal findings, and contribution of the research.
• Reviews not submitted within the time frame required to meet Annual Meeting programming deadlines. While TRB makes every effort to find appropriate and available reviewers for papers, the tight time frame for review and our reliance on volunteer reviewers can occasionally lead to a paper not being reviewed or reviews not being received by the deadline.