Hey all! Just thought I'd share an experience of mine in case anyone is in the same boat. I recently heard back from a journal that a paper I'd written (with supervisor as second author) had been rejected straight out. I was pretty surprised as I was quite confident about the paper (especially in comparison to the last one, which I didn't have a lot of faith in but managed to get accepted after a lot of editing). One reviewer's comments were pretty good, but the other one went on a complete rant and to me it seemed a bit unfair and biased- but hey, I would have accepted the rejection and sent it somewhere else. Anyway, I emailed the reviewer's comments to my sup, and she was furious, especially as the straight rejection meant that we didn't get the chance to defend the paper. So she emailed the editor, quite a long email, refuting the claims made by the reviewer, and he has actually withdrawn the rejection! The paper will be re-reviewed by 2-3 new reviewers, so might still not get accepted, but I will at least feel happier that it has been reviewed fairly. I know that often papers are rejected for good reasons, but it just goes to show that if you feel that your paper has genuinely been reviewed unfairly, or by people who were unsuitable, then it might be worth pursuing! Of course, if it was just me the editor probably would have told me to get lost, but having my sup on my side seemed to pull some weight! Anyway, just thought I'd share in case anyone else is in the same position! Best, KB

Big Up to KB.

Excellent, fingers crossed for a good final result.

Chuff

nice!(up)

Wow - I know it hasn't been accepted yet but sounds like you have a chance. I hope you get the outcome you're after! You and your supervisor seem to make quite a formidable team!! Nx

Great news KB (up)

I had a similar though slightly different experience. Submitted a paper, one reviewer tore it apart, went on a complete rant about all sorts of stuff (totally unjustified- just a real bee in his bonnet)- The editor emailed me  and said 'we (the journal) don't agree with reviewers x's comments, son essentially ignore them'....It got published!

It was before my PhD though so doesn't 'count':-(

On a better note- had a paper (review/commentary) accepted last week- editor emailed me and said 'thanks for choosing our journal, best wishes with your research!) :-)

Dee