I wanted to talk about this topic in this weeks post because this is something that has happened to me fairly recently. Around the summer of 2020, I started writing a research paper that would become the third chapter of my PhD thesis. I spent a couple of months organizing and interpreting my data in a document and then spent another couple of months writing everything up into a research paper. By October 2020, myself and my co-authors were happy with the paper. I proceeded from that point to submit the paper to a prestigious scientific journal (I will won't disclose the journal's name for privacy sake) and await responses from the reviewers and editor. In December 2020, I received a major revision/resubmit email saying that the reviewers think the paper has potential, but the paper requires some major work in order to meet the standards of the journal. I went over the reviewers comments, proceeded to address them and edit the paper.
I resubmitted the paper after the winter holidays in February 2021, and once again awaited responses from the reviewers and editor. After about a month (which is a quick turn around for a paper review) I got an email saying a decision was made about my paper. With excitement and dread, I quickly opened the email. As I slowly drifted my eyes from the email title to the main message, I unfortunately read the first few words, "After careful consideration, I regret to inform you..." I was distraught. I did not know what to think because I thought I had addressed all of the reviewers comments and submitted a strong paper. Different emotions flooded through me. Anger, sadness, depression, fear, anxiety, etc. All prompting me to question whether my paper maybe wasn't as good as I thought and that the reviewers had a point. I had to brace myself and read through the comments left by the reviewers, and I once I started, I began to see the issues.
The biggest concern they had about my paper is that the strenuous word limit prevented me from elaborating on some important interpretations I was making in my discussion and that I was not able to talk about all of my findings in the results section. The reviewers recommended that the paper would be better suited for a journal that would allow a larger word limit and greater figure/table limit. That feedback made me feel a bit better, since it meant it was not yet over for me. However, there were a few misunderstandings that the reviewers were making about the rationale of my work and some of my interpretations. Two claimed the rationale of the paper was lacking strength and the other wanted some thermal modelling data that was beyond the scope of my expertise and work (I had mentioned this in the addressing reviewers comment document, but it seems to have not mattered in the end...). Nevertheless, even with the harsh comments and scrutiny from the reviewers, I took a step back and reevaluated the situation. Since the word and figure/table limit was my biggest downfall, submitting the paper to a different journal seemed like the most logical choice. I already have another journal in mind and plan to strengthen the paper even more and submit it this summer before I defend my PhD thesis.
Now, you are probably wondering, Gavin why are you telling us this story about your paper being rejected? Well, rejection is something everyone has and will experience in life, more times than succeeding. In academia, paper rejection is part of the research-writing-publish cycle. It is unavoidable. I wanted to spend the rest of this blog talking about how you can best cope with rejection (especially if you are a graduate student) and how you can learn from it and bounce back even stronger.
Coping With Rejection
Put Your Work Aside For A Bit
As I mentioned previously, rejection is a common occurrence in academia, and it is something we all have to face when submitting research. The most important thing to remember is even the most accomplished scientists have and still experience rejection. When you get a rejection, you can't help but feel like you are personally being attacked by the reviewers (trust me, when I got my first paper rejection a couple of years ago I felt like the reviewers were saying I had no research capability what so ever). But trust me, they are definitely not attacking you personally. Think about this quote I found while reading an article last week about academic paper rejection: "They Are Not Rejecting Me, They Are Not Rejecting My Work, They Are Rejecting How I Worded It". If they are attacking you personally, then they are a kind of person that should not be in the field of academia in the first place. The best way to cope with rejection is to take a moment to let your emotions calm and to decontextualize the situation.
When you get a rejection, you will mainly feel a mixture of anger and sadness and you may have the thought of directly messaging the editor, publisher, and/or reviewers (if they reveal their identify to you). DONT! Responding while you are full of these emotions will only cause more harm than good. It does not give you the time to reflect on the rejection you received, to understand why you got it in the first place, and in the end you may tarnish your academic reputation before it even grows (editors do spend a lot of time deciding on whether a paper should be rejected or accepted. Saying they made a mistake could make you sound petty or worse pretentious - unless you have evidence proving a mistake was made or the editor or reviewer rejected you because of a personal dispute). When you receive the rejection, take a few days to a week and put the paper and comments aside. Come back after you have had some time to destress and think about the rejection more. This way, you can come back with a clear head and are ready to read through the comments and begin improving your paper.
Think About Your Accomplishments
Take a piece of paper or open up an empty document and list all of the things you have accomplished the past year. Reflecting on what you have achieved as an individual or as part of a team can remind you that you have the capability to publish your work. You were able to achieve so much before, perhaps you just need a bit more time and more hours into improving your paper. I started doing this recently and it does help remind me that I am not an under achiever. I have achieved great things in the past and will continue to do so. I just need a little extra push and time!
Talk With Friends and Colleagues
Remember, you are not the only one who has experienced rejection. Remember, everyone has experienced it. The problem is, no one ever talks about it. Especially on social media, people will post about their accomplishments but rarely post about the PhD program that rejected them or the job that turned down their resume. Reach out to friends and colleagues and explain your situation to them. You will not be surprised when they share stories of their own saying they to have experienced a rejection in one form or the other. It may not be a paper rejection per say, but the concept is similar. Even speaking with your supervisors can help a lot because they have been through it multiple times. Hearing how they have experienced rejection and coped with it can help you learn how to do the same. Your supervisors and your friends want you to succeed. Being open about rejections can do more wonders for you than you realize.
Learning From Rejection
Use The Reviewer Comments to Your Advantage
I have covered a couple of ways to cope with rejection. Now, I am going to talk about the next step, learning from it. With the example of a paper rejection, the reviewer comments will be your best tool to move forward. It may not feel like it at the time, but trust me, it will do. Even with all of the harsh comments, constructive ones are present and they are the comments that will help you make your paper stronger before you submit it to a new journal. The reviewers have provided you with advice, hints, and suggestions on how to improve your work and perhaps present it in a different way that will grasp the attention of your target audience. Most of the time, a reviewer wants to help you turn your paper into the best version of itself. The only way to do that is to listen to what the reviewers have to say. It will be hard reading through the comments, but once you do, you will already start to think of ideas on how to improve your work.
Submit To A Different Journal
Some paper rejections happen because the work you submitted may not be the best fit for the journal. Some journals only publish very specific topics, which limits the wiggle room you have in your paper, and makes it harder to justify why your work should be published in this particular journal. The best thing to do is to look for new journals that publish work more suited to your research topic. It may take a couple of attempts to find the right journal (especially if your work focuses on a specific topic in a specific field), but down the road, you will find the right home for your paper.
Turn That Rejection To Motivation
Look at it in this way. Every time you fail, you want to succeed even more. You want to become a better version of yourself and prove the naysayers wrong. A reviewer says you need to improve the structure of your paper, so you spend time working out how to do so. An editor says the aim of the paper feels lost, so you work on making sure the aim of your work is clear in the abstract and introduction of your paper. Rejection is another form of failure, but it does not mean it is the end of the road. It is just a minor obstacle that you have to figure out how to overcome. Walk off the sadness and anger, read the comments, rethink your writing strategy, and show everyone that your work can be published!
Finding New Opportunities
You may have been rejected by one journal, but now you have the freedom to pick a new journal and perhaps find a better route to showcase your work. Maybe the journal that rejected you because it was not the right place for your work. Perhaps they did you a favour and made you rethink where your work would be best suited.
Use the rejection as a chance to keep looking for new opportunities. You may end up finding a journal that is much better suited for your work and will give you more exposure to improve your academic statue.
I wrote this blog from my own personal experience and information posted in the sources below. I wanted to bring this to everyone's attention and show that we can turn a rejection into a positive situation, but only after we take a step back, reevaluate, and act.
If you have a paper rejection story you would like to share, please leave a comment.
If you would like to learn more about what I do you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter @gavinonthemoon
Hope you all had a great Easter weekend! Until next time!
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