Several years ago a previous editor of a journal accepted an article for publication following peer review. The current editor feels that the article should not have been accepted in the first instance, but rejected instead. After acceptance, the article was sent to a copy editor who was scheduled to work on it. However, the process was stopped by the previous editor and the copy editor. The language was very poor and was deemed to be un-editable. Also, the equations were incomprehensible.
The author has recently enquired as to when their article will be published online as it was accepted five years ago. But the editor does not think it is right to publish the article.
COPE advice
This situation should never have arisen in the first place – the journal should take responsibility for their mistake and be as transparent and up-front as possible with the authors. The journal cannot reject the paper given that the paper was formally accepted. The journal should offer to pay the costs for language editing.
The best way forward in this very awkward situation is to work with the authors to improve the paper. There are many good editorial services that can improve the paper.