Hi, I am a 20 year old high-school student.
I wrote my first academic paper for a conference together with 3 scientists/engineers.❤️
Yes the conference is quite difficult to get in, but the work is solid, original and well written.
Well, I just got a mail from the peer review process, it has been rejected….
I am so surprised, and really hurt…
I put my blood sweat and tears I to this project, and it took a year to finish, and now I feel pushed back.
I really thought it would be accepted.
I could really use advice on what to do now. If the idea is not good enough, should I just discard it? Or should I keep working even though it clearly is not good enough for acceptance?
I could really use an advice from other academics, or if anyone’s tried this?
Have a great day ❤️
Comments
You should talk to your co-authors. Rejection is part of the game. Maybe it’s something that can be revised, or maybe it’s not going anywhere.
Without more information, like your co-authors should have and the reviews should provide, there’s not much else to say.
Get over it and resubmit. Getting rejections is part of the game.
It’s part of the process. Don’t be discouraged. It will not be your last rejection in life.
Rejections suck but are common. Every researcher gets rejections even when they are experienced so you shouldn’t feel too bad.
After getting rejected you should look at the feedback (why the paper was rejected) and address it (make it better). After you’ve addressed the feedback you can submit it to another conference/journal with likely higher chances of acceptance
Lol welcome to academia 🤣👍
It’s part of the game, keep on grinding
You should read the reasons it was rejected, revise it, submit it somewhere else, and not construe it as a personal attack on your work ethic and the quality of your work. Good luck.
“My first paper got rejected… what do I do now?”
Step 1 – Eat Ice Cream.
Step 2 (If you’ve received feedback, peer review comments etc.) – Ignore the comments for a few days/weeks/months and then work on them. The break and fresh eyes makes the comments easier to swallow as you’ve digested the rejection, and it makes seeing errors in your paper and killing your darlings easier.
Step 3 – Resubmit to the next place.
(Repeat cycle as necessary)
What everyone else has said – I’d just like to add that I understand how much it sucks and how easy it is to feel disappointed and like you’re a total loser when this happens.
Take a few days, maybe even weeks if you can afford it, of distance from your project – try to focus on other things, things that make you happy and make you feel accomplished overall. Then put on your big person boots and go back to it and the reviews.
You’ll look at it with a fresh and more neutral mind and you might have new ideas on how to improve it.
At least that’s what works for me 🙂
Good luck
One thing to keep in mind, there are lots of academic journals and conferences out there. One not liking doesn’t mean none will like it. I’ve had a paper rejected from a journal because it didn’t have contributions to the field with the reviewers at the next journal saying it could be a seminal work.
Dust yourself off, write another paper.
3Rs: Reread, revise, resubmit. Flip the page within 24hrs. You don’t always get what you want the first time.