Resilience
In academic world, failure and rejections are too common because we always push higher and explore newer ground, and we knowingly subject ourself to criticism so that we can learn and improve. We learn from our failures more than from our success, and we fail when we stop trying. Our motto is to fail faster and learn from it—that is a faster way to success. Thus, we treasure our failures or rejections (list below) as much as our success.
2020, September
September 27, 2020. Our collaborative review paper on MAR selection guideline was rejected after review at Water Research. We don't agree with the assessment but we learned from this experience of how to write clearly to ensure the editor/reviewer know the significance. We will submit it elsewhere after significant revision.
2020, August
August 05, 2020. Our collaborative research paper on mechanism of biochar emission was rejected after editorial review at Environmental Research Letters based on misfit: it was not broad enough for the ERL audience. We learned a valuable lesson. We submitted it elsewhere.
2020, July
July 26, 2020. Our collaborative research paper on mechanism of biochar emission was rejected at ES&T. We learned that we have to be very clear and specific about title to avoid misconception and reviewer bias. We submitted elsewhere after revising the manuscript based on reviewers' comments.
July 16, 2020. Our proposal to microplastics review was rejected by an editor at ES&T. Nevertheless, we are proud for the 6 months effort of data collection and analysis (cool graphics). We will resubmit elsewhere.
