The thumbs up or thumbs down decision regarding life or death might have been easy for the Roman emperors, but I have found that making thumbs up or thumbs down decisions to accept or reject manuscripts to be the most difficult part of an editor's job. New ideas, new approaches, new geographic areas, new techniques, etc. Sometimes only time will tell. Non-traditional ideas typically do not do well in the peer review process because by its nature, peer review tends to be cautious and conservative.
Provocative ideas are often difficult to assess.
But, then one is left with the nagging feeling of wondering whether something really extraordinary got away. So, without a crystal ball, I have had to chart a course without knowing how it would all turn out. I tried to broaden the scope of subjects and chose papers that contributed to and pushed forward the general understanding of sedimentary processes and deposits. Realizing that JSR has a truly international readership l encouraged authors to spell out why their contribution is important to others and to make their papers relevant to those outside their discipline or geographic area. However, having broad appeal does not necessarily flag innovative or cutting- edge science.