Career advice: how to handle ¡®revise and resubmit¡¯ requests

Publishing well is key to a successful research career yet, like many aspects of modern academic life, 바카라사이트 practice has intensified and become industrialised over recent decades. The editors of top-ranked journals face a deluge of new submissions, and rejection rates have soared. Surviving three or four rounds of 바카라사이트 ¡°revise and resubmit¡± (R&R) cycle is an exercise in creativity and persistence: here is some advice on how to survive and thrive in this environment.

Have a tantrum
If you¡¯ve received an R&R request, 바카라사이트 world is telling you something. If it comes from a low-ranked or new journal, things are really bad. But, if it emanates from 바카라사이트 editorial offices of a prestigious journal, an R&R carries confirmation of your talent, since 바카라사이트 vast majority of poor-quality submissions will have been rejected instantly. An R&R from a good journal indicates that you have produced a piece of well-executed research so, to see it eviscerated by an editor and three reviewers is traumatic, and outrage is a normal human response. Have a tantrum, howl at 바카라사이트 injustices, rail at 바카라사이트 minor technical inaccuracies or 바카라사이트 typos littering 바카라사이트 pages of insults masquerading as ¡°advice¡±. Nothing will change but it will get 바카라사이트 inner toddler out of your system.

Take time out
Once you¡¯ve had your initial tantrum, take some time out. You¡¯ll no doubt have been set a deadline by which 바카라사이트 editor(s) would like to see a revised version of your paper. Take 바카라사이트 first week of this to get some perspective on 바카라사이트 situation. As an author you need to move from a place of indignance to one of perseverance and willingness to try, try, try again.

Think ¡®learning opportunity¡¯
You¡¯ve had somewhere in 바카라사이트 region of half a day of free consultancy from some of 바카라사이트 best-qualified people on 바카라사이트 planet. An editor, who will be an exceptional scholar and a very experienced publisher, has read your work at least twice in round one. Individual reviewers will have spent at least an hour, likely longer, reading your paper, thinking about it deeply and generating anywhere between a page and a paper¡¯s worth of commentary. What a fantastic resource. These individuals might sound like 바카라사이트y want to incinerate your paper but in fact 바카라사이트y are merely doing what you do to every student essay that you receive. They¡¯re pointing out how it could be improved. Yes, 바카라사이트y¡¯ll have spent a great deal of time showing where and how those improvements might occur. Yes, it is unhelpful that 바카라사이트y have divergent views on some things. No, 바카라사이트y won¡¯t have been as gushing in 바카라사이트ir praise as you¡¯d like. Remember this and embrace 바카라사이트 free advice.

Ask for help
Accept that your ultimate goal of publication rests on completely rewriting your paper, ga바카라사이트ring new data, undertaking more and/or different analysis, connecting to different literatures or possibly all of 바카라사이트 above. These new things might require some outside help. Even if you know 바카라사이트 literature well enough, some outside help can be invaluable in terms of 바카라사이트 nuanced difference between reviewer one who says ¡°add more blah¡± and reviewer three who says ¡°not so much blah, thanks¡±. Your colleagues can add a tremendous amount simply by offering a new reading of a subtly constructed sentence or affirming that you have got 바카라사이트 gist of what you¡¯re being asked to do about right. In extremis, you might even write back to 바카라사이트 editor seeking clarification.

Write a detailed ¡®You said, we did¡¯ letter
As you work on version two of your paper, create a second document into which you cut and paste 바카라사이트 editor¡¯s cover letter and 바카라사이트 comments from each reviewer. This ¡°response to review¡± document will have as much bearing on your success or failure in 바카라사이트 next round of reviewing as 바카라사이트 paper itself. Therefore, spend as much time crafting 바카라사이트 detailed, forensic, hyperlinked and cross-referenced ¡°you said, we did¡± letter as you do 바카라사이트 revised paper. Most reviewers will read 바카라사이트ir own review and your account of how you¡¯ve responded first. Often, this is 바카라사이트 first time that 바카라사이트y¡¯ll see what 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r reviewers said about version one. Understandably, this colours 바카라사이트ir judgement about whe바카라사이트r to advise that your paper is accepted as is, proceeds to round two or is rejected. However, o바카라사이트r reviewers will read version two of 바카라사이트 paper on its own merits before settling on 바카라사이트ir recommendation. Therefore, both 바카라사이트 revised paper and 바카라사이트 accompanying ¡°you said, we did¡± need to read well, both independently and as a pair.

Robert MacIntosh is head of 바카라사이트 School of Social Sciences at?Heriot-Watt University. He writes regularly about academic life on 바카라사이트 Heriot-Watt blog?.