Undergrad Journals

[neuropsych33]

Hi SDN,

I'm a current fifth-year undergrad with a completed thesis. My thesis was an original work, a pilot study, and all data collection and analyses conducted by myself and my co-authors for the purposes of this project (I'm the first author). We wrapped up the study a few months ago, and after my initial effort at publication with support from my mentor, it was recently rejected outright from a mid-level neuropsych journal. I've sent the paper off to a lower-tier journal, and have yet to hear back.

My question is this: If my paper is rejected from this lower-tier journal, is it worth it to continue to try to get it published in still other lower journals? Or am I better off submitting it to my institution's undergrad research journal, where I'm (cautiously) confident it would be accepted, and simply letting it be? I'll be attending a funded PhD program in the fall, and while I'd love to see my hard work be rewarded with a professional journal article, I also realize that I'm going to have my hands full soon and will have little time to work on publishing my undergrad work.

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

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[Ollie123]

Grad school is busy, but R&R's are exactly the sort of thing that make it busy I'd keep journal shopping til it gets into a professional journal (assuming it realistically has SOME chance - your mentor can likely provide insight on that front but if he went mid-tier initially I think there is a good chance it is). Personally, I wouldn't bother at all with an undergrad journal - I think its about as likely to hurt a CV as it is to help one. The review process can provide great lessons in both humility and persistence. The latter is incredibly crucial for research. Even the folks at the absolute top of the field routinely get papers rejected, grants unscored, etc. Its part of the process.

 

[neuropsych33]

Awesome, thanks for the quick and helpful reply. I'll hold onto the paper for a while and see if it can land in some other professional journal.

 

[WisNeuro]

Agree with Ollie. When it comes down to internship/postdoc apps, we really don't even consider pubs that are not in professional, refereed sources.

 

[Marissa4usa]

Just because one mid-tier journal rejected it, doesn't mean another one is going to. Assuming that your project is solid (but just not top-tier material), I would continue submitting it and get feedback. I just recently got a paper published in a solid mid-tier journal after submitting it 7ish (I stopped counting after a while) times.

 

[Ollie123]

As an aside - I've also seen stuff get rejected from mid-tier journals and end up in top-tier journals. Was a reviewer on one of these articles (argued for major revisions at the mid-tier journal - journal rejected them, but the authors made the changes and got it into a journal that is both better respected and nearly 2 IF points higher). There is a great deal of noise in the system.

 

[FLpsychstudent]

I had to resubmit my first paper like 8 times before it got accepted. Granted mine wasn't that great lol. I did have to learn that you just keep trying even after lots of rejections. It will eventually find the right home if it is decent! I also wanted to give up but my mentors said never give up on a paper and now that I have more experience I realize it's more common than I thought to have to resubmit something several times. Esp if you try to start high.

 

[deleted343839]

I agree with what others have suggested. You've done the bulk of the work on the paper already. It makes sense to keep trying for publication in a professional journal, especially in this phase of your career when you are starting to build up your CV.