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 […]
A reviewer asks for additional experiments – what are your options?
Requests for additional experiments typically fall into one of three categories: The suggested experiments are fundamental to proving your argument. You cannot accept/reject your null hypothesis without these experiments. You have provided sufficient proof for your argument; however, additional experiments would add weight to your conclusions. You have provided ample proof for your argument; the […]
Impact Factor
Understanding journal impact factors What they are An impact factor is a metric for ranking scientific journals [1]. Impact factors are calculated for every two-year period by dividing the number of times articles were cited by the number of articles that are citable [2]. The following is a list of the top five highest-impact journals […]
Why was my article rejected without being peer-reviewed?
You have worked so hard on your research, and then even harder to write your article. You spent a long time selecting the right journal for your article. Finally, you submit your article, and anxiously await the result of the peer review. So it can be very disappointing if an article is rejected straight away, […]
