Rejection is a Certainty in Academic Journals. Acknowledge your feelings as Normal & Legitimate (Anger, Frustration, Disappointment, Worry). Remember it is the end of your paper not for your research or career.
Reasons for Rejection of Journal Paper
- Plagiarism– Should be less than 10%
- Ethics in Publication– Should acknowledge proper sources of support, permission to use data, images
- The theme of the Journal– Should fall within the Aim & Scope of the Journal
- Paper is under review at another journal – a single revision process must be done
- Usage of Poor English– Avoid Grammar or spelling errors
- Journal Formatting Guidelines– Types of Font, Font Size, Margins, Reference & Styles
Technical Reasons
- Poor Validation– Results will be compared with the Standard Results. Carry out Experimental Analysis
- Wrong Research Methodology
- Inconclusive Results – Questions are unanswered
- Lack of Proper Citations
What are the various Criteria in Journal Rejection?
There are multiple criteria checked by individual journals.
- Always approach a journal that publishes your line of work.
- A good paper published in the wrong journal leads to rejection.
- Once you have chosen the appropriate journal, check whether you have chosen a strong problem statement in your article. The objective of your research must be identifiable in the Abstract and must be concluded in your work.
- Your research and its conclusion must be backed up with scientific experiments.
- Always use the correct statistical method for analysis and mention the methods in detail.
- Never edit any real-time images which leads to plagiarism.
- Cross-check images, graphs, tabulations.
- Your presentation must be simple and easily understandable.
- Proofread your manuscript to avoid grammatical errors.
- Always have sufficient data and test samples to establish & support each statement that you claim in the article. If the data size is small, there is always bias in the results which leads to rejection.
- The conclusion can be generalized only when there is sufficient sampling done.
- Carefully scrutinize your article and take expert opinions before submitting the research for publishing.
- Search for a High-Impact Journal.
- The cover letter must clearly state the details & purpose.
- If the research quality does not meet the standards of the scientific society, the research will be rejected.
- The Published Work must apply to all scenarios, if it is for a special purpose, it must be explicitly mentioned in the aim of the work applies to certain scenarios.
- Insufficient Citation also leads to rejection.
- The Scientific manuscript must have a catchy aim and a novel technique that attracts viewers.
How to Respond after Rejection of Journal Paper?
- Show the comments to others.
- Read the comments carefully.
- Figure out the underlying reasons for Rejection.
- Re-evaluate and learn.
Conclusion
There is nothing to be ashamed of if your paper is rejected. It is a basic process in Journal Publication and not to take it personally. If rejected, do the following things
- Do something else to distract yourself & most importantly sleep on it one night.
- Give yourself 3 days’ time and analyze the Rejection Letter more logically.
- Consider the other Options
- Proceed with the next Journal Publication