Is there anyone who sended a manuscript lately to Applied Economics Letters to tell us the average first decision time?
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1 month; no referee reports; I was 100 dollars poorer with a desk rejection with no explanation.That is how they make money.
I reviewed a paper last year, and in the invitation letter, the "editorial office" told me that they had too many papers to review and not to accept a paper unless it is exceptionally good. And to suggest to the authors to further reduce their page/word length (note AEL already has a very strict word limit). I thought this was very unprofessional to suggest to a reviewer what to do. And I would never submit anything there again personally.