What does the request to "benchmark your manuscript against recent articles" mean? My manuscript was favourably received, with a recommendation to publish after a minor revision.  However, after submitting the revised version, the Associate Editor (or Editor-in-Chief) responded:


  Please benchmark your manuscript against recent articles in [other journal] to increase the relevance of your manuscript to the journal's readership.


What does this mean?

Does this mean the Associate Editor (or Editor-in-Chief) doesn't like my manuscript?
First, are you sure this is a reputable journal?  Avoid publishing with disreputable journals.

The editor is requesting that you compare your results to recent results published in the same journal.  It is normal to expect that you compare your results with previous work, however, it is a bit odd that the editor specifically requests that you compare with work from the same journal.  Perhaps the editor is attempting to inflate the journal's citation statistics.  It is also possible that the editor knows the journal has published multiple relevant papers you should have mentioned in your submission, but did not.

If you can identify similar papers from the journal with which you can compare your results, do so.  If you cannot find any similar papers, you may have selected an inappropriate journal for your work.