PhD/PsyD When to call it quits on a paper?

[R. Matey]

So a paper of mine was rejected for the third or fourth time today by different reviewers in a different journal. Every review has been the same: one reviewer likes it and suggests minor revisions, the other reviewer hates it, and the associate editor sides with the reviewer who hates it. I'm demoralized about this and I'm beginning to wonder if I should just give up on it and move on to other work. I've been told by faculty to never give up on papers, but when does that advice become ridiculous?

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[erg923]

So a paper of mine was rejected for the third or fourth time today by different reviewers in a different journal. Every review has been the same: one reviewer likes it and suggests minor revisions, the other reviewer hates it, and the associate editor sides with the reviewer who hates it. I'm demoralized about this and I'm beginning to wonder if I should just give up on it and move on to other work. I've been told by faculty to never give up on papers, but when does that advice become ridiculous?

I don't know. How important is it to you to have your paper read by potentially.... several dozen people? And, depending on the journal, that maybe an overestimate.

 

[PsychPhDone]

So a paper of mine was rejected for the third or fourth time today by different reviewers in a different journal. Every review has been the same: one reviewer likes it and suggests minor revisions, the other reviewer hates it, and the associate editor sides with the reviewer who hates it. I'm demoralized about this and I'm beginning to wonder if I should just give up on it and move on to other work. I've been told by faculty to never give up on papers, but when does that advice become ridiculous?

How prestigious are the journals who rejected it? My colleagues and I have noted increased rejection rates recently.

I think my record number of rejections on the same paper is 6? Still eventually got into a good journal.

 

[WisNeuro]

I think my record is getting it on the 5th different journal submission for one. And, ironically, it;s my most cited article.

 

[Ollie123]

Had something make it into a JAMA journal on I think it was the 7th attempt? We would have kept going after that. The most times we have ever gotten a paper rejected. I also maintain it was the best and most groundbreaking paper I have worked on.

Take a break from it if you need to, but keep going. I guess the one exception might be if there really is a fatal flaw and that is what keeps getting picked up on. If the reviewers hate it for different reasons you are just having a streak of bad luck - the process has more noise than we all would like. Also depends where you are getting rejected from. If you have been aiming high....definitely keep going.

In the infamous words of one of my graduate professors...success in academia is mostly about being willing to keep banging your head against a wall pretending it doesn't hurt. A little sad, but also reasonably accurate.

 

[R. Matey]

Thanks everyone. That's really encouraging to hear that more tries might be needed. Has anyone ever given up on a paper? When and why?

How prestigious are the journals who rejected it? My colleagues and I have noted increased rejection rates recently.

IFs are like ~2-3, not super prestigious.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

I'll let you know when I actually quit on one. Just take 6 months off and do it again. Sometimes the manuscript just needs a little more time to age before reaching maturity

 

[Spydra]

Thanks everyone. That's really encouraging to hear that more tries might be needed. Has anyone ever given up on a paper? When and why?

Yes. I threw in the towel on a manuscript this year due to lack of effective mentorship from the faculty co-author to revise it and get it published. If mentorship is 'the way' to accomplish anything at my stage of training and it is effectively not being offered there aren't many other choices beyond keep wasting your time or move on.

 

[WisNeuro]

Yes. I threw in the towel on a manuscript this year due to lack of effective mentorship from the faculty co-author to revise it and get it published. If mentorship is 'the way' to accomplish anything at my stage of training and it is effectively not being offered there aren't many other choices beyond keep wasting your time or move on.

Depending on what kind of revisions you may need, you can always approach another mentor to see if they'd be willing to help with edits for authorship (if they are significant enough). Or, you can always solo it. I had a couple projects left over from grad school that I eventually published later on during postdoc largely on my own.

 

[Spydra]

Depending on what kind of revisions you may need, you can always approach another mentor to see if they'd be willing to help with edits for authorship (if they are significant enough). Or, you can always solo it. I had a couple projects left over from grad school that I eventually published later on during postdoc largely on my own.

I imagine the alternate mentor option is great in a setting where people are collaborative, but that is not the culture where I am. Something tells me there would be consequences I am not seeing now if I took the solo it option, but I don't have to make a firm decision now.

 

[cara susanna]

I know sometimes people have also contacted the editor of a journal to ask if the paper sounds like it might be a good fit.

 

[Ollie123]

I know sometimes people have also contacted the editor of a journal to ask if the paper sounds like it might be a good fit.

We do this pretty frequently. Its good for papers that keep getting desk rejections, but unfortunately tends not to help with papers that are being rejected following review (at least not in my experience).

 

[WisNeuro]

I imagine the alternate mentor option is great in a setting where people are collaborative, but that is not the culture where I am. Something tells me there would be consequences I am not seeing now if I took the solo it option, but I don't have to make a firm decision now.

As a point of clarification, the solo option referred to doing the edits and finalizing it on your own. If there are other people on the paper, they still need to be notified and have to give approval. Definitely do not resubmit without informing other authors.

 

[Spydra]

As a point of clarification, the solo option referred to doing the edits and finalizing it on your own. If there are other people on the paper, they still need to be notified and have to give approval. Definitely do not resubmit without informing other authors

Hence my calling it quits. I had other faculty say it was journal ready and two editors say the same thing, yet the approval isn't coming. Whatever revision is necessary per the faculty co-author exists in their own head and isn't being shared so I see no benefit in continuing to waste my time. Sure as a postdoc I could reconsider asking yet again, but the odds of anything being different are highly unlikely.

 

[AcceptingUncertainty]

I had a novel experimental psychopathology paper rejected 8 times before it was accepted. Was a joy developing the project, great exercise in never giving up.