An editorial decision of “reject with option to resubmit” is inherently confusing, for inexperienced and seasoned authors alike. Has the paper been rejected? Should you revise and resubmit? To complicate matters further, for those journals that offer this option, a “reject with option to resubmit” can have very different meanings. In this blog, we examine […]
Conflicting reviewer comments – what are my options?
Conflicting reviewer comments are one of the most frustrating aspects of the peer review process. It is understandable to be irritated when, for example, Reviewer 1 wants you to remove Table 1, but Reviewer 2 wants you to expand Table 1. Or Reviewer 1 says “drop the STRUCTURE analysis and provide only the AMOVA”; Reviewer […]
Want to peer review but never invited?
There are many benefits to peer reviewing articles for journals. Reading cutting-edge research can inform your own research, help you keep up to date with current trends in your field, improve your writing skills, and expose you to new ways of presenting your work to the scientific community. Peer reviewing is also a great way […]
How long should you wait before sending an enquiry to the editor?
In short, 3 months. From reviewing academic forums (see here, here, and here), the general consensus among researchers appears to be 3 months (but see here and here). It is not clear where this figure came from. It may be related to the typical wait times researchers have become accustomed to. An analysis of ~3 […]
My paper was rejected. What are my options?
Almost every scholar has had a paper rejected. Journal acceptance rates are typically low, ranging from 5% for higher impact journals (e.g., The Lancet) to 69% for “pay-to-publish” open access journals (e.g., PLoS ONE), whose criteria exclude the perceived importance of the paper. However, most rejected papers ultimately go on to be published [see 1 […]
