How to Revise and Resubmit Your Manuscript

Although it could be disappointing to receive a “receive and resubmit” or a “reject and resubmit” decision, this does not mean that your paper will not be published. It means that the reviewers or the editor liked your paper but think that it needs some tweaking and edits. It is important to make use of this second chance to avoid a rejection again. This can be done by using professional copyediting services, such as eContent Pro, which can help you make the changes recommended and ensure the best quality for your second submission.

The decision to “receive and resubmit” can mean different things. Sometimes, the editor will decide to keep the paper in the system and have it go through multiple rounds of reviewing. Other times, the editor will decline the paper and ask the author to resubmit after considering the reviewers’ comments. The editor will usually give the author(s) a deadline to submit the revisions to the original paper. This could be a few weeks if it is a minor revision or a month or two for major revisions (Cochran, 2022).

Many authors question if resubmitting is their best bet for their paper to get published. Traditional peer review usually consists of an editor, sometimes an associate editor, and 2-3 expert reviewers who provide the feedback regarding the paper. It is quite rare for a paper to be accepted without any revisions recommended. Some authors will ignore the reviewers’ comments and submit the paper to another journal. This is not a good idea, as in many fields, the reviewer pool is not large. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the same reviewer to receive your paper again. The reviewer is then presented with two options. They will either decline the invitation to review and explain why or review the paper again and recommend that it be rejected again for the same reasons (Cochran, 2022).

However, sometimes receiving a rejection and simply submitting to a different journal is the right path. This is the case when the feedback is explicitly that the paper simply is not a good fit for the field that the journal deals with. In this case, it would be a waste of time to resubmit, so it is better to find a more relevant journal. It is recommended that you let the editor know that you do not plan on sending in a revision, as that allows them to withdraw the paper from the system (Cochran, 2022).

Some authors may be unsure about whether they would want to revise their papers based on the recommendations or not. A good way to go about this is to ask your co-authors and colleagues who have read your paper prior to submission whether they think the requested changes are helpful, explain why you disagree with the reviewers’ comments in a rebuttal document, or call the editor and let them know that the reviewer comments do not seem constructive to your paper. Editors are usually practitioners and academics in the same field of the authors and the journal. They would understand your approach, as many editors are also still in the process of publishing papers themselves (Cochran, 2022).

You can submit your reviewers’ comments to eContent Pro’s professional English language copyediting team and scientific and scholarly editors to perform an extensive overview of your paper and advise you on how to increase the likelihood of your paper being accepted after resubmission. Specifically, the Premium Editorial Services bundle will give you the tools you need to submit a polished manuscript with all the revised recommendations.

As publishing is an important pillar of building a standout research profile, it is paramount to make use of available author services, many of which are available on the eContent Pro website. Services such as English Language Copyediting, Scientific and Scholarly Copyediting, Journal Selection, and many other related services will greatly improve your chances of getting your manuscript accepted into a journal. You will find eContent Pro’s author services to be top quality, turned around exceptionally quickly, and affordably priced. Here are what our satisfied customers are saying about eContent Pro Author Services: