PT has an acceptance rate of just 5%?
And EJPT has an acveacceptance rate of 8%! According to https://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/editors-annual-report-theory-journals
This is shockingWhy are you shocked? Were you under the impression they were easy journals to publish in?
I'm shocked that there are so many theory articles produced & submitted to journals of which only a tiny share can find publication (at least in decent outlets). It is the total volume of paper production that is astonishing
No idea why my messages keep being erased but let me try again: acceptance rates are not informative without knowing how many bad submissions journals get. A 5% journal can be easier to get in than a 10% one if it gets tons of hopeless submissions that aren't desk rejected.
If you're a grad student or a postdoc, find out how long it takes to a first decision. That's way more important than comparing journals that are a few percentage points apart.
No idea why my messages keep being erased but let me try again: acceptance rates are not informative without knowing how many bad submissions journals get. A 5% journal can be easier to get in than a 10% one if it gets tons of hopeless submissions that aren't desk rejected.
If you're a grad student or a postdoc, find out how long it takes to a first decision. That's way more important than comparing journals that are a few percentage points apart.
All these acceptance rates are calculated to include desk rejects, so the "that aren't desk rejected" caveat is irrelevant. Of course the distribution of quality of initial submissions is a factor, but it's unknowable so kind of pointless to speculate about. Desk reject rate might be a clue, but it's more influenced by editorial policy than paper quality distribution.
(Desk reject does give you a better clue about your chances if you make it out to review of course.)