19/05/2025
This screenshot represents more than just an image—it's the story behind a successful publication.
At first, my professor planned to submit our paper to an MDPI journal like Cells or IJMS, thinking the process would be easier. But I felt we could aim higher. After some discussion, both my professor and the senior researcher (the first author) trusted me to lead the project and listed me as a co-first author.
I performed additional experiments to strengthen the manuscript and also took full responsibility for submitting the paper, handling communication with journals, and managing the revision process.
I carefully selected reputed journals from publishers like ASBMB, Elsevier, and Nature—considering both their acceptance rate and response times. But things didn’t go as planned. We faced three rejections in a row. After the third rejection, I was emotionally exhausted and thought about giving up. We decided again that if the next submission was also rejected, we would go with MDPI.
Alhamdulillah, the fourth journal (Communications Biology, IF: 5.9) responded—with a minor revision! That gave us hope again. We carefully addressed the reviewers’ comments, worked closely with my professor and co-authors, and submitted a clear rebuttal letter. After a second round of revision, the paper was formally accepted for publication.
N.B: This was also my first time submitting to a journal under the Nature group. I learned that even journals with a lower impact factor, have strict standards. They require full transparency—every detail about experiments, raw data, and sample collection must be documented and traceable.
Above story, I’m sharing not to show off, but to motivate others going through tough phases in research—don’t give up. Sometimes, success is just one more try away.
