My paper was rejected. I'm invited to resubmit, but I'm not sure if I can adequately address the criticisms. I'll need to think it over and talk to the Advisors.
It's one of those situations people complain about where the reviewers had polar opposite opinions. The first said everybody knows this and the second said this is really important new and exciting information. Unfortunately, the subject editor appears to agree with Reviewer #1. Reviewer #2 also made extensive, constructive comments. Some of them are a little unexpected, but most of them are not. They are all polite and I think they will be very useful.
I'm bummed that it wasn't accepted, of course, but I don't feel outraged by the reviews. The paper will certainly be improved by the reviewer's comments and I will try to deal with them all. I'm not sure if I'll be able to address them well enough for this journal, though. But if not, there are other good journals I can try, and in fact we debated about starting with this one so I'm sure it will all end up fine. I will put it all aside until Monday and then see what I think.
15 comments:
Booo! Giving yourself time to step back and think about the reviews in a few days sounds like a good idea. Better luck next time!
Funny enough, my first paper's review was "this is unless - why didntthey sequence the genome" when the second said "this is interesting".... it was rejected...
we did new work and the submitted to a [better] journal and got it accepted. I am still annoyed with the "sequence" comment since it was rediculous at the time... no one would ever done that sine one group took the one to heart... anyway, I wish you the best and hope you can resubmit soon.
Well wishes from the South!
unless = useless...
and then a lot of other spelling mistakes. sorry.
Bummer, but it sounds like you have the right idea-- address the issues and resubmit! Good luck!
It's worth trying, and no matter where your paper gets published, it will be better than it is now due to the constructive comments.
I recently had a paper rejected after two very slow rounds of reviews. Want to be revise and resubmit buddies? My goal is to get the paper resubmitted by April 10th, but I'm not sure if that's reasonable because I'm counting on my former advisor to do some masterly rewriting and he's famously tardy.
Keep your chin up!
I am on submission try #6 (!!!) for my first manuscript,and like you, I have been suffering from the bipolar reviews, and handling editors that side with the negative.
While I have complained about it the whole way, now that I"m this far into it, I have to be honest and say that it has been really informative. A huge learning process. The biggest things I've gained:
- how to weed through the reviewer's comments and glean the useful bits, and then use them to make the manu better!
- how to disregard ridiculous comments from ill-informed reviewers...
-don't take things personally (ok, still working on this, but getting a little bit better).
Here's hoping 2nd times a charm for you.
Good luck with the revisions. It sounds like you have the perfect attitude about it.
rejection sucks, sorry...
but still, you rock and god luck withe everything.
Sorry about your paper.... At least you got some constructive comments out of one of the reviewers. Good luck with the revisions!
sorry to hear that, rejections are always a bummer... good luck with the revisions and resubmission!
It sounds like the second reviewer's comments will improve the paper either for resubmission, or for a new submission elsewhere. This is definitely not always the case with a reviewer report!
You don't always have to answer every single criticism; it's sometimes possible to argue against a requested change if you have a solid reason. I had no idea about this when I submitted my first paper, but my PI had a really good feel for what we could and could not get away with. Chances are your PI does too... it's one of those things that comes with experience.
Good luck on the reworking and resubmission!
Thanks for the support everyone. I talked to Academic Advisor yesterday and that made me feel a lot better. For one thing, he thinks the subject editor's comment was standard rather than siding with the negative review (as I interpreted it).
I went through the comments in detail today and they aren't nearly as bad as I first thought. They only ask for one small addition to the data. Otherwise, the criticisms are mainly about style and presentation. I think.
Sciencewoman, I'd love to be revision buddies! But, I think that deadline is too soon for me. Research Advisor will have to have some input and she's on vacation for the next 10 days.
Gigirose, I really hope your paper gets accepted soon! Six tries is a LOT. I admire your perseverance.
Female Science Professor had a post just a few weeks ago (maybe even last week?) about the "everybody already knows this" review and how to address it.
Bummer about the rejection. Take some time to regroup and then make a decision.
Sorry to hear about the rejection but it sounds like you have a great outlook on the revisions, despite their difficulty
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