What To Do When You Are Rejected

(a break from my Reasons for Rejection series, which I'll get around to finishing soon, promise)

Notice I didn’t say “if” you are rejected? It’s just part of academic life, especially at the early  career stage. Yes, there are the few academics out there who have never had anything rejected, but expecting to be one of these academics is a pipe dream. I know that’s harsh, but the “publish or perish” environment means we get an awful lot of submissions despite our number of pages not increasing.

So, what should you do when you are rejected? In my experience, the following should prove useful. Have you found anything particularly useful in dealing with rejection? Let me know. For further reading, Pat Thomson (@ThomsonPat) has some great blog articles available here: https://patthomson.wordpress.com/category/rejection/.

1.) First and foremost – CALM DOWN.

Take a deep breath. It’s very easy to get upset when you receive that email. Let yourself be upset for a little bit, it’s OK. Better to get it out of your system.

Other ECRs are an important support group

 

2.) Accept that the comments and the decision are not personal.

This is not a personal commentary on you or your academic abilities.

3.) Read the comments. Re-read them. Read them again. And when you’re finished, go away for a bit and then read them again later. 

This should be you

Why? Because it’s easy to misconstrue the comments and suggestions. Reviewers, in general, are very constructive. Editors also want to help. Not all comments will be constructive, but it’s quite rare to get nothing helpful back, even on the rare occasion that it's done poorly and harshly.

 

4.) Make sure you understand the comments

WHAT are the reviewers and/or editors trying to tell you about your paper? Have you been rejected because your word count is over, or have you been rejected because you haven’t used a coherent structure?

WHY have they told you this? Usually a reviewer will give justification for modifications.

HOW do they suggest you rectify any issues with your paper?

5.) Remember that reviewer evaluations are honest evaluations.

They tend to be honest. Use them constructively. A reviewer isn’t getting paid to write all those comments about how you can improve your paper. The editor probably isn’t getting paid much (if anything), so if they invest time in your paper to make comments, do them the courtesy of respecting that it’s an honest evaluation. The anonymity of the double-blind system really helps with this. 

That moment when you realise that you agree with the reviewers

 

6.) Consider whether it’s in your best interest to rewrite your paper.

You don’t have to take all the suggestions on board. You are free to disagree with them. Once a decision is made on your paper, it is “released” (see my post on multiple submissions), and you are free to submit to another journal. It might fit better somewhere else. But make sure you’ve addressed any fundamental issues that have been identified, or those issues will affect future submissions.

7.) Last, but certainly not least, LEARN from the process.

Remember that just about all academics will be rejected at some point. It is not unusual, and journals prefer to have a high rejection rate. Learn from the process and from the reviewers’ and editors’ comments in order to better your chances in the future.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Comment below, or keep the emails and tweets coming.

-theAdmin