Imagine this: after weeks, or even months of relentless work, you finally submit your academic paper, excited and hopeful. The reply comes: “We regret to inform you…”. The pang of rejection hits hard and all your efforts seem to have been for nothing. If you’re an academic, this scenario probably sounds all too familiar.
Rejection is a phenomenon well-acquainted with scholars around the globe. We invest so much of ourselves in our work and when it’s declined, it can feel like a personal failure. However, it’s essential to remember that rejection, especially in academia, is a mere stepping stone to eventual success.
When I embarked on my PhD journey, I was unaware of the persistent dance with rejection I would be stepping into. As a perfectionist, the concept of failure was alien to me. But over the years, with the sting of numerous rejections from different avenues, I found a way to make peace with it and even derive something valuable out of the experience.
My first encounter with rejection was with my very first scientific article, which got rejected on my birthday. Luckily, my supervisor knew this, so she waited until the day after to tell me. The rejection had a deep impact, shattering my confidence, making me question my competence, and even leading me to worry about my supervisors regretting their decision to hire me.
As years went by, I began to perceive the reviewing process as an enigmatic black box.
Unraveling this mysterious Reviewing Black Box proved crucial in managing my reactions to rejection. This black box is occupied by two key entities – Editors and Reviewers. Editors ensure your work is in line with the journal’s scope, while Reviewers, often anonymous, evaluate the depth of your paper. It’s crucial to understand that a rejection does not necessarily reflect the quality of your work. Many extraneous factors like lack of expertise, undeclared conflict of interest, time constraints, or even just a bad day can result in a rejection.
A vivid memory of rejection was with a student’s literature study that was excellent and that we intended to publish. Despite an expert on our author team, the paper was harshly criticized by one of the reviewers. There was no way we could tackle these comments. We retracted it, and submitted it to another Journal. Today, this is my paper that has the highest number of citations/year (out of 45+ articles)!
This experience made me finally realize that rejection is not a measure of my competence. Rejections are a part and parcel of the academic journey, and they often open the doors to new opportunities, provided we don’t take them personally.
If you’re facing rejection, my advice is to:
💡 Close your laptop, grab a coffee and go talk to a colleague/friend/supervisor/mentor. It’s important to share your disappointment. You will also feel comforted that rejection also happens to your colleagues.
💡 Don’t rush resubmission: put your manuscript on standby for few days and come back to it later.
💡 Read the comments again, identify another journal with a different scope, and revise your work accordingly before submitting it.
💡 Try to treat every rejection as a learning experience (I know, it’s not easy). It pushes you out of your comfort zone but that’s also the way you learn new skills (hello, resilience)!
💡 For supervisors: know the birthday of your (PhD) students and postdocs.
In the world of academia, rejection can feel like an overwhelming obstacle. However, it’s merely a stepping stone to refining your work and developing resilience. Remember, every ‘no’ you receive brings you one step closer to a ‘yes’.
If you feel stuck with negative emotions when rejection happens, feel free to contact me to see how I can help you overcoming this!
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