r/labrats • u/AutoModerator • 27d ago

open discussion Monthly Rant Thread: December, 2024 edition

Welcome to our revamped month long vent thread! Feel free to post your fails or other quirks related to lab work here!

Vent and troubleshoot on our discord! https://discord.gg/385mCqr

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u/SuspiciousPine 26d ago

After 11 months under review at a Nature journal, 7 months for first reviewer comments, 1 for revisions, 2 more for 2nd round, my paper was soundly rejected. Not only that, the reviews were MEANER the second time! One reviewer said:

"It may not meet the standards for publication in any reputable journal."

I'm devastated. I'm a 5th year student, this is my first paper, which was mostly completed in 2022 and has been in writing/revisions since then. I was super hopeful after we made it through a few rounds of desk review and got sent out to reviewers. Now I feel like just throwing this manuscript in the trash, where that reviewer clearly thinks it belongs.

I have a 2nd paper finished and about to submit, and other work in progress. But it just fucking sucks that I have nothing to show for the largest project of my PhD

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u/General_Bumblebee_75 16d ago

Nature is not easy to get into. Funding is tight and reviewers who are your peers may not want you to succeed. You can request at least in some journals that hostile reviewers will not review your paper, if you know who the reviewer is. Are you not going to submit to another journal?

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u/SuspiciousPine 16d ago

Thanks, yeah I will resubmit somewhere else. Just need to figure it out with the PI. I actually don't know who the hostile reviewer(s) are unfortunately.

We may try to submit to a journal more focused on materials synthesis than the particular application we tested.