Rejected Again? Anushram’s Expert Tips to Make Your…

Rejected Again? Anushram’s Expert Tips to Make Your Manuscript Ready for Peer Review

Your first rejection can be quite heartbreaking. Your second can cause self-doubt, and by the third, many researchers start to wonder if their work just isn’t good enough. But in some cases, your work is great; you just need to improve your manuscript! The editors aren’t judging your years of work but a document that can be improved.

1. Read the Rejection Letter Twice

Read it once with emotion. Then, the next day, read it with a pen. Was it a desk rejection or a peer review rejection? Desk rejections are extremely common. A compilation of 94 journals found that the average desk rejection rate was 30% (usually between 1–3 weeks). This means that your few pages have been rejected, not your years of work!

Common Reasons for Rejection:

Outside the scope of the journal: This means that it’s not your research that’s bad but your choice of journal (Tip 11).

Lack of novelty: Usually means that your contribution isn’t clear (Tip 3).

Significant concerns: Means that there are issues with the design or reporting of your study (Tip 6).

Language editing required: Your ideas are being lost (Tip 9).

2. Identify What Can Be Improved

Use a simple table to identify what comments you can improve:

Comment	Can Be Improved?	Action
Contribution	Can be improved	Improve the abstract and introduction.
Sample size too small to make these claims	Fundamental	Collect more data or reduce claims.
Figures difficult to read	Can be improved	Redesign with labelled axes.

Most papers will have many comments that can be improved. Therefore, you just need to polish your paper!

3. Make Your Contribution Clear

Often, papers are rejected due to an unclear contribution. Try to complete the following sentence: Before this paper, we didn’t know ______. Now we do! Ensure you include this in your introduction and conclusion.

Weak: This study looks at urban heat islands in Indian cities.

Strong: This paper is the first to map out heat across Jaipur’s rapidly expanding outer wards. It shows where tree cover would provide the most cooling for households.

4. Write an Introduction That Narrows Down Your Topic

Start broadly and then get specific. Many rejected papers will have long introductions giving background information. Try to get to the question you are answering. Use four short paragraphs.

Example:

Why it matters: Farm income is being threatened due to falling groundwater levels in India’s arid districts.
What we know: Previous studies have mapped out the fall in groundwater.
What we don’t know: Little has been studied at the village level, where farmers make irrigation decisions.
What this study does: We used satellite data and a survey of 40 villages to show where the decline is fastest and why.

5. Update Your Literature Review

If your reference list is outdated (stopping three years ago), reviewers will know your paper is old. Search for recent literature. Use Google Scholar to find recent studies (especially from the targeted journal). Engage with the literature to show how your study aligns with, builds upon, or challenges previous findings.

For example, if the most recent study in your references on flooding is from 2020, reviewers will assume you haven’t looked at anything recent. If you search for literature from the past three years, filtering by your topic, you will often find 10+ papers to discuss.

6. Make Your Methods Unchallengeable

Ensure your methods are detailed enough to be replicated. Explain why you used certain methods. List any limitations.

Vague: Data was collected via a questionnaire.

Clear: We completed a questionnaire with 312 households across 18 villages (March–May 2025). The questionnaire was piloted with 20 households.

7. Results and Discussion

Results show what you found. Discussion explains what it means, compares it with other studies, and outlines the implications. Often, papers are rejected due to a lack of discussion. Don’t just repeat your results in sentence form.

Example:

Result: Households within 2 km of the river reported crop yields.

Discussion: This aligns with findings from river basins; however, the gap is larger, likely because the canal system is newer. Villages outside of the 2 km belt should be prioritised for irrigation support.

8. Use Your Figures to Support Your Argument

Many reviewers will look at your figures before reading anything. Ensure each figure has ONE message, labelled axes, and a self-explanatory caption.

Weak: Figure 2 shows a land use map.

Strong: Figure 2 shows land use changes between 2005–2025. There has been an expansion of built-up areas (Red) along the highway, replacing farmland (Yellow).

9. Keep It Simple

Long sentences will make the reviewer tired. Tired reviewers aren’t usually generous.

Before: It is to be noted that the results obtained in the study clearly show that there has been a significant increase in temperature in the region.

After: Our results show an increase in temperature in the region.

(Same meaning, one-third fewer words!)

10. Ensure Originality and Ethical Standards

Always run a plagiarism check before submitting. Even if you have taken text from your thesis, it can still come up as plagiarism. Rewrite the text. Cite all ideas you have taken. Include any funding and conflicts of interest. Issues with this can ruin even the best research.

11. Pick the Right Journal

A common reason for desk rejections is that your paper doesn’t align with the journal’s aims and scope. Don’t just resubmit your paper. Look at recent articles from the journal and tailor your paper.

For example, if you are studying flood risk, you may want to start with accuracy of mapping (for a remote sensing journal) or evacuation planning (for a disaster management journal).

12. Ask for Feedback and Be a Reviewer

Ask a colleague or professional reviewer: If you were a reviewer, why would you reject this paper? Go ONE step further and become a reviewer. According to the 2018 Global State of Peer Review by Publons, editors needed 2.4 invitations to complete ONE review in 2017. Indian researchers submitted more papers than they reviewed. Becoming a reviewer will teach you what the editors want quicker than anything.

This rejection will tell you what the journal needed. Make sure to give them exactly what they want!

FAQs

What should I do after my manuscript has been rejected?

Take a day to sort through the comments. Identify what can be improved and what fundamental changes are needed. Revise your paper and find a suitable journal.

What is the difference between a desk rejection and peer review rejection?

A desk rejection means that the editor has decided to reject your paper without sending it to reviewers (within 1–3 weeks). A peer review rejection comes with comments from the reviewers, which can be used to improve your paper.

Can I resubmit to the journal?

Only if the editor asks you to. Otherwise, revise your paper and submit somewhere else.

How many rejections are normal?

There isn’t a set number. As acceptance rates are around one-third, many papers that have been published had at least one rejection.

Conclusion: Rejection Is Part of the Research Journey!

Every researcher who has published a paper will have a folder of rejections. However, what makes them stand out is what they did next. They calmly read through the comments, improved what they could, picked the correct journal, and continued.

Your paper can do the same! Take a day and open up the file. Start from scratch with a clearer plan.

Every accepted paper was once a rejected draft that someone refused to give up on!

Join Anushram and Turn Your Rejections into Acceptance!

If you currently have a rejection letter, don’t worry! We can help you understand what the reviewers meant, improve your manuscript, find the right journal, and confidently respond to your reviewers.

Get Your Manuscript Checked! Send us your paper and decision letter, and we’ll tell you what to improve.

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Publishing Notes (Not Part of Blog)

Meta Description: Manuscript rejected again? Use our 12 expert tips from Anushram to improve your paper, find the right journal and get your paper through peer review in 2026!

Keywords: manuscript rejected what to do, desk rejection, peer review tips, journal rejection.

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