Comments on: REJECTION

By: Student’s first draft mistakes. « Blue Lab Coats

Student’s first draft mistakes. « Blue Lab Coats — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:54:08 +0000

[...] I managed to send out a paper for review!! My goal this week is to send out a second one, the one we discussed so hotly in a few previous posts. The text has been adjusted to address what was in the previous set of [...]

By: TomJoe

TomJoe — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:51:44 +0000

Interesting manuscript but some confusing comments in the results which need clarification. Poorly performed gels and western blots which need to be improved. This manuscript can be shortened considerably with judicious editing.

Actually, rather than looking at this as a shoddy review and getting pissed off about it, use it to your advantage. From where I sit, I envision that if you clean up your gels and western blots (which can be done in one day), and say that you’ve made changes to the Results section, you’ve met this reviewers criteria for acceptance.

My collaborator and I just received our reviews back for a manuscript, and one of the reviewers was very brief in their review. Another was a total idiot and actually was corrected by the editor at least six times in their review. Essentially, we’re going to lean on the first reviewers brief review, address those issues and then basically point out that the other reviewer didn’t read our first manuscript on this issue and probably didn’t read this manuscript either.

Conclusion: Use short reviews to your advantage, especially if they don’t consist of “This paper sucks, reject it.”

By: Letter to the Editor « Blue Lab Coats

Letter to the Editor « Blue Lab Coats — Sun, 25 May 2008 19:14:11 +0000

[...] 25, 2008 General News & Thoughts , The Lab , The System Just to keep you updated on the paper rejection situation that was detailed in my earlier post, and in Physioprof’s post on Drugmonkey (and then [...]

By: drdrA

drdrA — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:47:42 +0000

Lab Lemming-

Oh my gosh. I’m sorry about that

By: Lab Lemming

Lab Lemming — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:31:37 +0000

If it makes you feel better, my last rejection letter went, “Well, reviewer A recommended publication, and reviewer B never got back to me, so I’ll use my editorial judgment an reject the paper.

I’ve been nth author ever since.

By: BugDoc

BugDoc — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:11:14 +0000

OK, so the point-by-point version of that response is:
The reviewer has made an excellent suggestion….for some other poor schmuck that doesn’t have to worry about graduation or grants or tenure in the next five years.

By: drdrA

drdrA — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:35:11 +0000

NeuroStudent-

I believe I have uttered those same words myself in the distant past- but…

BugDoc-

I’m too junior to have heard them from a student yet!

By: NeuroStudent

NeuroStudent — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:08:44 +0000

that’s a phrase I’m quite familiar with…although it’s gotten much better since I’ve had a few postdoc interviews & have offers…I think that it’s finally sunken in that I’m leaving soon

By: World of Science News : Blog Archive : Do Appearances Indicate Anything About the Quality of the Data? [DrugMonkey]

Tue, 20 May 2008 18:57:05 +0000

[...] mired in an effort to respond to a recent post of drdrA’s over at Blue Lab Coats on the deceptively simple issue of a manuscript rejection. This post is apparently a rich vein of blog fodder because PhysioProf already responded to the [...]

By: BugDoc

BugDoc — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:19:20 +0000

NeuroStudent, I don’t see why not!

My senior students are already using “that’s a great idea….for some other student”, whenever I break out some awesome, but incredibly ambitious ideas for new projects all over them.