I have already experienced the feeling that the reviewer did not understand "the essence of the article." The comments were very vague - but the conclusion was definite - is rejected :-))

We have to deal with 80% rejection in most important journals.

I do not belive that a rejection of a paper can be considered a blessing but I am sure that it improves the qualty of our writing.

Regards,

José Cola Zanuncio

Thank you very much for your answers Professors George and Jose.

I have already experienced the feeling that the reviewer did not understand "the essence of the article." The comments were very vague - but the conclusion was definite - is rejected :-))

I agree strongly with the answer of Prof. Stoica. I consider that the rejection of a totally incorrect paper must be desirable by the author, after a sufficient justification of the reviewer.

The problem is the publication of mostly incorrect papers.

Prof. Punčochář is right. I consider that in such cases (feeling of the author that the reviewer did not understand "the essence of the article" and rejection of the article) as pointed out by Prof. Punčochář, the author must respond to the reviewer’s comments, independently of the submission, or not, of the paper to another Journal.

In my opinion, some basic principles by both authors and Journals must be followed.

Yes it can

I would say it depends on why it was rejected.

If it was of poor quality, you got some valuable feedback n how to write the paper better. Any time you can make yourself better, it's best to take that opportunity.

If it was rejected because the editors friend is about to publish a similar paper that reaches different conclusions, then no. Because now you have a basis for a lawsuit against the journal and most wont take that opportunity to expose corruption within the publishing world.

If it was rejected because one reviewer says, "the results are impossible." and the other claims, "This is a standard result! How is this publish worthy?" You learn that this journal is crap and you should move on. In this case, it's neither good nor bad. It's just a learning experience. 

Dear Emeka:

Yes. Assuming that the rejection is really justified, it could have positive effects to the extent that the author is able to learn from her mistakes. The ability to overcome failures and handle frustration is a very important virtue .

Dear Emeka,

I agree with you that with the rejection, you can identify the weakness in your manuscript and work on it to submit to another journal but I also think it depends on why it was rejected. If it was because it wasn't fit for that journal or lack of reviewer, that might be a different case.

I submitted some part of my PhD to a journal and it was rejected, though I felt dejected, the feedbacks were very helpful in improving my thesis and even on the viva. I think the main issue why we don't see the good side of rejection is the fact that our effort has not be seen worthy.

Can a rejection of an article be a blessing?

Agreed on the disheartening feeling when initial article(s) being rejected.  But this is a hurdle many researchers / scholars need to overcome.  To me article rejection can yield following benefits:

The rejection of an article submitted for publication for review by the Editorial Committee of a Biomedical Journal can be a blessing only if the document has errors or deviations, which would invalidate the results and that these errors have been detected by the leader project or principal author

If the refusal to publish a research paper is that the author or group of coauthors are not known by the Editorial Committee of the Journal, or the contents do not conform with the Editorial Policy of the Journal or the Chief Editors, it would then be an injustice and possible loss to science if the original and relevant results are not considered and disseminated, to be valued at its true dimension by the scientific community.

Yes!! most of the times. Critical comments and suggestions by a referee will go a long way in improvising our research content. I hasten to add that the referee must be sensible. The rejection is not out of a sadistic pleasure. Unreasonable rejections will have be rebutted.

Yes

Yes in many ways. Helps improve the article by following reviewers suggestions, rethinking about multiple possibilities about the treatment of the topic. One also registers different journals scope and sometimes gets a chance of getting published in a better and more relevant journal. I would say it's always a learning experience. 

A rejection substantiated with very objective feedback is a blessing. As early career researcher, positive criticism helps sharpen our output.

Dear @Emeka, I have remembered a fine thread that is related to your research question. Here it is.

Rejection may be an excellent motivation!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/When_does_a_rejection_of_a_scientific_paper_become_beneficial_to_the_author_Have_you_experienced_a_rejection_that_worked_out_for_your_good

As a young researcher the rejection will probably give you instructions that will help you for the next submission. So, consider it as the first necessary step.

I remember the words of the reviewer "like a third grade repeater", in other words I had failed miserably, but was eventually accepted.

Thanks everyone for your very useful answers.

Yes, if it is rejected on merits, it is a blessing. There can not be a better gift than an honest feedback. One can get a direction to overcome one's limitations.

Thanks Dr Debi. As you said, I agree that an honest feedback can be a good gift.

Yes, it is a blessing ,especially to the other new researchers that may not notice that one article which should be rejected contains mistakes.

Hello Emeka,

Rejection is a very necessary tool, as long as it is accompanied by constructive criticism, within the communities of published journals. The value of rejection encourages the writer to review, rethink, and revise critical information in the articles written. By rejecting articles publishers reserve the integrity of scholarly print and also continue to add the most valuable and influential information possible. Rejection also opens up the possibility for new ideas to emerge from the information that was criticized. Hope this was helpful.

Yes it can because I once had an experience 

Well, one harsh truth is that almost every young researcher must have their research article rejected most likely at the first time when they decide to submit their article to leading journals in their area of research.  But the good news is that as soon as he identifies the problem and faces it squarely, then the sky becomes his limit.  

I believe that sometimes constructive criticisms from reviewers who suggested a rejection can help a researcher improve his/her paper before sending it to another journal.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. Thomas A. Edison

I don't think rejection of an article is a blessing. I would like to have my article published from the first try. However, I think a justified rejection does help improve the author's writing skills.

Its not blessing. Rather, its causes disappointment to most of us. However, we should take rejection from a good journal positively. It make out next stem easy as we can identify the weakness in the manuscript. 

All depends on the referee quality of reading. I had a few bad experiences where it was evident the reviewer did not read with attention the manuscript... and it was not possible to persuade the editor to reconsider our paper (another referee, etc.). A good reviewer should give you enough information to improve your text, but it is very time consuming for him. When you are said that the content of your paper does not fit the readership of the journal, it is difficult to go against... It may be useful to ask the editor if he can give yopu some clues about the criteria for rejection and possible improvements.

The ruling by pairs of authorial papers in scientific research has proven their strengths but also their weaknesses. And since it is not a perfect mechanism will depend on the quality, capabilities and argumentative reasons set out in a rejection that this is a blessing or just an obstacle in a career, when science becomes increasingly schematic.

Letters of rejection!

"Having an article rejected is always an undesirable experience that all scholars have undergone, or will still go through, in their professional career. This editorial will present the main motives why a manuscript is rejected, soon after submission or during the review process. I have grouped these motives into structural issues, problems of formatting and problems of content, and suggest some alternatives to reduce the chances of having your manuscript rejected..."

https://www.academia.edu/17538213/Letters_of_Rejection

Of couse. It can be a good chance to check how you believe in your idea.

This also depends on how much time the submission lasted for. If you submit an article and less than one week later, you get a rejection, one can assume that there might be a knowledge gate-keeping somewhere there.

Especially when there's no helpful comments and remarks for improving the paper

Thanks for your answers. These are helpful answers.

Of course. Sometimes,  a rejection of an article may be a blessing.

yes sometimes a rejection of an article can be a blessing in disguise because from that we can learn our mistakes and further improve the work by accepting the reviews provided.

Most times because we make corrections where they have been raised and improve the quality of the article when it has been reviewed objectively

Editorial

On Rejection, Resilience, and Retraction

"It is this scholarly publication process that forms the nucleus of this editorial. Most of us who have been involved with scientific research and discovery have had to deal with some form of rejection. Perhaps this came in the form of the manuscript that was rejected for publication or the grantthat was not funded. The specific details for the negative outcome may vary and their basis might have been appropriate, or perhaps the decision might have stemmed from real or perceived bias on the part of the evaluators...

To their surprise, however, Calcagno and colleagues found that high impact journals published proportionately more articles that had been resubmitted from another journal. Even the highly respected journals Nature and Science were publishing articles that had been rejected previously bythe other...

They demonstrated that the experience of rejection itself may indeed promote creativity. They also cautioned that rejection may constrain individuals with a more interdependent self-concept by activating inclinations to devote resources to reparative social strategies..."

https://www.academia.edu/20716028/On_Rejection_Resilience_and_Retraction

.... if you find better option of publication!

Thanks to your invaluable contributions. Your answers are indispensable.

Dear Ljubomir, thanks for the links to the papers that you also provided. They are useful tools. In fact, I have learned that some rejections can be helpful, especially if they are constructive and unbiased.

We can learn a lot from our mistakes. Especially when the remarks are made by a wise and generous person, when they are constructive and helpful. Temporary failures and setbacks stimulate us to do our best. A closed window often opens doors...

As a reviewer I always try to be fair and objective, to help authors to improve their manuscript.

 I know how painful is when someone deliberately is trying to minimize  your work. At such moment we have to be strong enough to move forward and become better and better.

It is extremely frustrating, but yes it certainly can be a blessing. I've had papers rejected, which i've then re-configured and sent to another journal, and they have certainly ended up as better papers - i have learnt a great deal in re-writing them.  

It seems that my answer from yesterday was lost... but Alexandrova is almost saying what I think. I am often reviewer and I always try to give directions for improving a submitted manuscript, even when I advise to send it to a more specialized journal, etc. Note that the language is sometime too bad to be clearly understood. Myself I know that my English if far from perfect (or even "good"...) but after reading so many papers and scanning Google Scholar, I know approximately what may be "acceptable standard scientific English" or not.

What about rejection of your funding application, when the probability is 1/10 to get funding...

As some already said here, it can be both. One of our papers took three tries to get published, but at least we took the opportunity to add a section that presented a validation of our experimental protocol.

As journal editor I always try to see if the rejection suggested by one of the referees is based on a sound argument. If it doesn't seem to be the case I try to get a tie reviewer. But I understand why the editors of journals with high impact factors often quickly reject papers basing themselves on only one suggestion - the number of manuscripts they receive is tremendous and a journal issue can only have as many articles. So often a good paper is rejected simply because the editor currently handles better ones.

As many have mentioned here, constructive feedback on how to improve an article is paramount to  us learning why it has been rejected.  We can only learn from our mistakes if we are able to fully understand what those mistakes are.  Identifying mistakes is very time consuming for a reviewer.  I still remember taking days to review one paper because the English was so bad, but I felt that the science was solid, so I was prepared to give this person the opportunity to rewrite their work.  Most reviewers don't have days to assess someone's paper, though.  I took the time because this person's supervisor was a former supervisor of mine.

I have had to make corrections on every paper that I have had accepted and I had one rejected three times before eventually getting it published.  In the end I had to run more experiments and add to the body of work to get it published.  There were times that I read the comments and was convinced that the reviewers didn't know what they were talking about and threw it into a drawer, but after a few weeks I would pull it out again and have to think about what they said - maybe they had a point, maybe I didn't explain that well enough, maybe they really didn't know what they were talking about, but I could see reasons for the misunderstanding. The process certainly made me think, be extra creative and in the end it's the paper that I'm most proud of.  

I have been very fortunate to work in an environment with a rigorous pre-submission process, where the paper is reviewed by two scientists within the organisation.  All of their feedback has to be addressed before the paper goes to a manager for approval to submit to a journal.  Going through this level of internal review has been key to a high proportion of my papers being accepted for publication. I would encourage everyone to work with their colleagues to make all the papers as good as they could possibly be before submission.  It is better to work out the issues before hand than get it rejected.  Always keep an open mind with comments, regardless of who they are from.  And remember, just because the journal said "No" once, it doesn't mean you can't rework it thoroughly and submit it again.

Wayne Gretsky said it best, “You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

"Not many people know this, but if you have not experienced "real" rejection, you probably haven't experienced "real" success...

Here are 4 ways rejection can be used as a blessing in disguise:

• Opportunity
• Fear
• Motivation
• Comfort..."

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140904181857-46951391-rejection-is-a-blessing?trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A577811291465376234751%2CVSRPtargetId%3A8167876905071927885%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary&trk=vsrp_influencer_content_res_name

Thanks Prof Ljubomir for your insightful contributions to this question.

Yes, you can gain from what you have lost, just make sure that you are not discouraged by the rejection(s). 

Gordon is right, it's like the Nobel prize...

Yes, You can take lot of input out of that .

But no if rejected without reviewer comments

Certainly yes. Choose the best and get the feedback and submit to better one if the best doesn't work. Obviously you have to improvise what is needed at any cost for good, better or the best.

Thank you very much Charles, for your explicit answer. Some review reports are very unhelpful. Some are emotive, that one begins to wonder whether the reviewer was under compulsion to accept the invitation to review the said paper.

Thanks Khan for sharing your experience. I guess you were able to revise and get it published because reviewers offered valid and constructive feedbacks. Some reviewers leave authors more confused with their comments.

An interesting article is at the stage!

Rejection of rejection.... but you have to pay to read the article!

"In a recent feature article published in the British Medical Journal (aka the BMJ), December issue, Chapman and Slade propose a whimsical approach to fighting the plague of scientific paper rejections (close to 80% rejection rate by leading journals!). Perhaps more whimsical, however, is the fact that the paper is only accessible by subscribers to the journal and not offered as open access. I mean I understand that journals need to make money, but come on..."

The link to article Rejection of rejection: a novel approach to overcoming barriers to publication is attached.

http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6326

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rejection-you-have-pay-read-article-omar-harb?trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A577811291465730570088%2CVSRPtargetId%3A8366488389427283769%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary&trk=vsrp_influencer_content_res_name

Thanks prof Ljubomir for this paper. I just downloaded and read it. It is brief and good.

Hi

I agree with Dr Khan Muhammad.

YES, a rejection of an article is most of the time "a blessing"!

In fact it could:

1) refrain scientific community form a false information2) be an excellent critical tool for the author to improve his "writing/publishing skills"

Nevertheless it is a pity that some papers would remain unpublished for "cosmetic reasons"..meaning they have scientific contains but poor language structure.I wish those papers with be deposited somewhere.

I came with the idea of UNAIS -Unpublihed Articles in Science- who actually happened to be a "flop". Abandoned Articles in Science probably is best for this kind of "depositary" box.

Thanks Alessandro Diana for your contribution. Yes, rejection can yield a positive result, but that can happen if reviewers do not give a blanket or bias report to authors.

It can not be a readily available blessing. We have to feel so , if it is legitimate. Because legitimacy always brings success, we can surely improve on.

A rejection could be the effect of other considerations which do not affect to the quality of the paper. Some referees have their own prejudices or points of view, and other referees do not have these prejudices. A good research is finally published in some places.

with the rejection

1. You’ll clarify your passions.

2. You’ll uncover new skills.

3. You’ll find out who your friends are.

4. You’ll check your blind spots.

5. You’ll Burn away pride and arrogance.

6. You’ll grow elephant skin.

7. You’ll never again wonder “what if?”

8. You’ll finally ask for help.9. You’ll go to the drawing board.

9. You’ll go to the drawing board.

10. You’ll appreciate your success.

Now i'm 21 and till date i have published around 11 papers and non of them got rejected. But still i have a paper to get published which was done by us and it got rejected, but it was accepted in another journal, but at the last moment i did not want it to publish in that journal due to my team's decision. And at present i have sent it to another journals and hope it will get accepted there. So, before sending it once if we can check the work and send it to appropriate journal then i am sure it will get accepted.

Regards,

Teja

Thanks Khan for this. As you pointed out, it is when one tries journals that conduct thorough reviews that he/she can learn what rejection is.

Yes deaar @Khan, we do speak about nonpredatory journals! There was a discussion on some other threads before, as far as I can remember. I have a collaborative research about.

https://www.researchgate.net/project/Navigating-the-challenges-of-predatory-publishing-for-the-sake-of-legitimate-science?_esc=profileOverview&_viewIds%5B0%5D=a66Np4hIZexUqXkAH1yklGPm&_viewIds%5B1%5D=Jrov65I15uIbilTwMv4VMQ4p

As it was mentioned above by Josef Punčochář  I also have already experienced the feeling that the reviewer did not understand "the essence of the article." The remarks and comments were absolutely irrelevant.

Well,some rejections really really hurts. For example, just imagine a paper lasted for over a year under review then you are asked to do a revision thereafter may be 6 months it got rejected. This is peculiar to IEEE transactions. While it could actually be a blessing as i got a paper which suffers 4 rejections that spans 2 years now. Finally i got a minor revision recently from much higher impact journal.

Yes. I have been rejected by various journals only to find that another one was more suitable to the topic.  So, I am more careful about finding applicable content/audience match instead of wasting time.  Further, rejections can be a good source for critical review that will allow you to modify topics for clarity. This can be invaluable if peer reviewers have taken the time to make relevant commentary. Getting top tier journals is important, but sometimes they are not the best place for work that is important but not in the mainstream. 

It may depend of the content and of the persons involved.

In some cases may be a temporary blessing for those that are not politically interested in the divulgation of its content?

Also, many independent, competent, fair and conscientious referees exist, the question is if they are selected or not. It may depends of the purpose to be reached?

In my opinion, reviewers opinion is based on the quality of your article plus also on their bias-ness or hatered-ness (including, your race, religion, country origin, reviewers own research conflicting with your paper, how much big person you are, are you a chairman of NIH grant reviewers committee etc; how many times you met with him in conferences and had dinner in groups etc ; are you a member of society of similar societies).

One reviewer rejected my paper since I was a single author of the paper. I sent to other journal and got accepted. So personal opinion not science does matter.

Hope there is some new system of reviewing-

Thanks everyone for these helpful answers. I asked this question because I have learnt that too many factors are involved in peer reviewing. Some of these answers pointed them out too.  Some reviewers, for the reason best known to them, will suggest rejections without good reasons. Some reviewers also return a blanket review to editors and this is unhelpful to authors. Of recent, I received what I felt was a biased and blanket review from one reviewer (thank God he/she was not the only reviewer of the said paper). In fact, the reviewer left me more confused based on his/she comments. I had to write the editor, pointing out the reviewer's bias and unhelpful comments. It is better to decline the offer to review a paper than to accept and fail to do a good review.

Dear @Emeka, your statement is very good: " It is better to decline the offer to review a paper than to accept and fail to do a good review." I think most of the people agree with.

PS I also peer review for several journals. Because of my experience with some reviewers who gave a blanket 'no' without explanation for improvement, I make it a point to 1) provide a general comment on the direction of the research (e.g., interesting or novel perspective; consistent with the work of XYZ researcher, or indicate that the novel status of the concept requires more plausible research, etc.); 2) suggest that the author(s) revisit the order of information that was presented/format (I find that many writers bury the topic of their 'new' research in literature instead of introducing in the intro and supporting it in the literature/theory review; 3) determine if a sufficient systematic literature review was conducted; 4) review elements/application of theoretical perspective; 5) if research, review if their design is appropriate for the data; 6) determine if the author(s) has presented a logical paper supporting their outcome conclusions with appropriate predictive values associated with certain qualitative/quantitative research; and 7) review if the authors have been plainly concluded that x->y.  I try to avoid rejecting on the basis of language but have done so because the language usage muddled content.  It is easy to spot a researcher where English is not their native tongue. I encourage those individuals to have a native language speaker review the content as I discovered that expensive editing services do not review content, order of information, etc. but only charge an arm and a leg for a 'review' that may consist of minor changes such as capitalization or punctuation. I do not have to agree with the topic but if they do not convince me with confidence that they can defend their position on the paper with substance, then I have no problem rejecting and letting the author know that their input has not successfully defended their position.  I have often wondered if this was 'too much information' especially for young researchers to handle.  But I think not knowing what to correct or why something was rejected is worse in the long run than a flat out rejection.  Licking your wounds and staying in the game is important to the long-term success of any researcher.  The only time you really lose is if you give up.

Thanks Beth Ann Fiedler; these points are explicit. As you pointed out, if every reviewer can do what you listed here, then rejection can be a blessing, in that authors will know why their paper was rejected.

Unfortunatelly many reviewers and editors are not wiling to help. If English is the main scientific language we and specially those native speaker should be more helpfull. It is frustrating to receive a letter saying something as "our journal receives more manuscripts than we can publish, so you manuscript will not be sent out for review".

I believe that all manuscripts should be submited to peer review but problably more than 60% stop with editor.     

Thank you José Cola Zanuncio. This has been my experience recently. It is frustrating because a similar paper was recently published in the said journal. I submitted my work because it developed and furthered debate that was raised by the paper they just published, especially with novel findings.  The authors of the paper they published are ''big names'' in the filed while I am a starter. This may be the reason why it was not sent for review.

Dear Emeka,

I use to include two citations of the journal to where I submiit my manuscripts, These references are within the same area of my manuscript, but many times I received a plain letter that helps nothing.  

Thanks Khan for your answer. That said, I will also point out that names, (status or prestige) of authors and where their paper is coming from (the rating of their school, continent, etc.) also determine whether or not it will be sent out for reviews. Quality of a paper is not the only factor in peer review process. Politics of publication is important too.

Dear Khan,

Thanks for your helpful answers. It will be interesting to read your story when you share it. I am not denying the fact that some good journals publish papers from journal researchers (some even have mentorship programmes), but some also do not even send them out for reviews, and this is my worry because it will not help the author to learn.  

 Just a thought for José Cola Zanuncio ·I understand the difficulty in obtaining a native English language speaker when you are studying outside the US or United Kingdom. However, I might suggest that you talk to your department head or Dean regarding university resources that they have for students. For example, an English professor in another department may be willing to help. Also, conduct your own research to determine if there is some 'sister city' relationship with your city and one in the US.  This is often the case and many times that city has a university near it that contains various language programs either as their own program or within a major program.   It is not a 'sure thing' but if you network you might find that you can also provide your native language experience on some of their work for publication in journals that are other than English speaking. I have maintained a relationship with other doctoral students from Turkey and often work with these researchers and others whose primary language is Spanish. It does not require a fluency in the other language, only a general understanding of the topic and the intent of the researcher.

http://sister-cities.org/org/ostrava-czech-republic

Thanks Khan. Hiring native English speakers is possible in countries where research is prioritized and funded. Such is not possible in many developing countries because of lack of fund and misplaced priority. In this case, researchers have to bear the consequences.

Yes, I  experienced the same even though I am editor for few journals. Some of the reviewers can able to read the manuscript thoroughly but some can't. It is very difficult to get a positive response from the experts and editors. Most of the peer-review standard SCI journal has announced that their rejection rate is about 80%. But as per my concern rejection is just a step stone for the improvement of paper.

Best Wishes to RG members

I had a private request from a PhD student with little publishing experience request that I elaborate on one of my 3 comments in this thread re: " suggest that the author(s) revisit the order of information that was presented/format (I find that many writers bury the topic of their 'new' research in literature instead of introducing in the intro and supporting it in the literature/theory review."  I felt my response might be helpful to other students who may be experiencing the growing pains of learning what they need to know when they don't know what they are looking for!

RESPONSE with minor edits for clarity

You are asking for a short explanation to a process that is dependent on many variables. First, the type of paper you are writing dictates certain items that must be included and in a certain order. Second, the journal you are expecting to publish your manuscript in also has certain formatting and section requirements also based on the type of paper you are submitting. You must research the types of research papers because I cannot explain all of them. However I will provide a short answer to the basic premise. I see papers whose topic is not mentioned or introduced in anyway until very deep into the paper in a section on research discussing the survey or selection of the study population.  Other times, a one line or one paragraph mention of the study topic at the end of five pages of introduction talking about the work of famous theorists is thrown into a paper to make it seem more important but in fact, it makes the author look ridiculous because they are relying on the theorists existing material instead of the point of their paper and any research findings that they might conclude that is their original work. In this case, the paper is just a summary of work and offers no new information in the field. Researching, identifying, and presenting NEW information is the point of any academic research whether it is qualitative or quantitative. I will give you a couple of general resources to help start your process. The rest is on you.

EXAMPLES OF TYPES OF RESEARCH PAPERS

http://www.college-paper.org/news/types-of-academic-research/

http://www.personal-writer.com/blog/7-most-popular-types-of-research-papers

https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html

KNOW YOUR JOURNALS AND THEIR AUDIENCE (difficult even for seasoned researchers)

And I would suggest that you also seek out journals that apply to your field. I do not know your particular area of interest so I will just pick a journal as an example. The Journal of the American Medical Association or JAMA.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/journal.aspx

You will note on their homepage that there is a header called "FOR AUTHORS".

Click on this heading and find the INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS.

You will find that every journal has specific criteria including the topics that they are interested in publishing due to their specific subscribers. There is also a section on Categories of Articles. You can learn a lot about what a specific journal is looking for and in what order by reviewing this content.

Please find a journal that applies to your topic of interest and/or general area of study and follow these general guidelines. Good luck.

REMEMBER-ASK THE QUESTION, RESEARCH THE ANSWER

Part of good writing is the willingness to search for resources when a gap in your understanding needs to be filled--not just on a topic for a paper but on how to write a good paper. You'll become a better writer when you become a better researcher.

MODEL YOUR PAPER ON VETTED, PUBLISHED WORK FROM A TOP JOURNAL THAT IS RELEVANT TO YOUR FIELD

You can also use existing published papers to see how they are presenting materials. Ideally when you find a journal in your area, find a paper that is a topic of interest and you can build on that premise. It is a safe way (as long as you follow copyright laws) to learn what information is important, how they are skillfully using vocabulary that explains a major concept in a few words, how they focus on the topic, and learning to eliminate extraneous information that may be important to your understanding but is not generally relevant to the paper.

Together these will build your skills and generate papers more likely to be accepted with only minor edits. Good luck.

LAST MINUTE ADDITION

Becoming a member of a professional organization that is often affiliated with a journal is another way to be mentored into your field.