The objective of a good research question is to transform a general problem into a well-focused and defined question that can be answered from the research itself. The research question is often a gap in existing knowledge or research. 

High impact journals will only accept your manuscript if your research question is perfectly clear.

Writing in suboptimal english can lead to the rejection of your work due to a lack of clarity in the purpose of your research.

Keep track of the most recent advances in your field and become familiar with research problems that are similar to yours, and are already published; ask yourself what makes your research different.  The things that are unique in your scientific approach should be a guide for your research from beginning to end.

To publish in prestigious journals your ideas must be original and unique. 

However, even if the topic of your research is rather common, your paper will have way more acceptance if your approach is unique and reflects a significant advance in your scientific discipline.

However, keep in mind that even if you are addressing an original and unique topic, your manuscript will probably be rejected if there are errors, a lack of clarity in your arguments, or a suboptimal use of the English language. These errors often prevent reviewers from appreciating the novelty of your scientific approach and lead them to conclude that your work has no relevance

Review your work several times to verify that it truly reflects your contribution to the most current scientific context.

Do not assume that you are always right, ask yourself if you are asking the right questions. Do the different parts of your text have a logical order? Are your techniques the most appropriate for your type of research? Are there limitations to your research? Does the structure and logic of your manuscript really reflect the contribution of your research? 

If you have doubts or questions it is important to seek help from an expert in academic editing and publishing.

The experience of a good editor often makes the difference between the rejection or the success of your publication; at Casa de Lletres we can help you

The most common reason for rejection is that your manuscript does not meet the objectives or scope of the journal. Verify that the journal publishes both your research topic and your type of study. For example: If your project is "A case study" On biochemical disorders, check if the journal's scope includes biochemical disorders, but also that the journal publishes "Case studies".

If your manuscript is rejected without even the chance of being read it is very likely that it does not meet the journal's formatting guidelines or that there are many errors in the english language.

Remember that language errors may prevent the editor-in-chief from verifying whether your type of study or its scope, is appropriate for the journal.

Do not despair, many scientific authors experience the rejection of their manuscripts, and even grant proposals; so, don't take it personally.

Take the rejection to your advantage and turn your next manuscript into an article published by a different journal.

Make sure you understand why your article was rejected; letters from peer reviewers will give you clear answers. Be objective when reading these letters because they usually point out errors that you can correct before submitting your work to a different journal. 

If a journal rejects your paper before peer review, you will never have the chance to resubmit it to that journal, so you'd better secure your paper.

If errors, such as lack of structural logic, grammatical errors, apparent lack of originality, or poor language, overshadow the relevance of your research, the outright rejection by the journal represents a closed door to peer review; which is a pity, because peer reviewers would help you understand the  problems of your manuscript, and then you miss the opportunity to improve it.

Remember, rejection from a prestigious journal does not mean that you have to send it to a lower-tier one; it may simply mean that you chose the wrong journal, or that your findings were not well presented.

It has been well documented that manuscripts with perfect use of the English language have the lowest rejection rates at high-impact journals. So, it is good advice to ask for help before your first submission.                

Nowadays, there is a huge number of journals to choose from. Both the journal’s impact factor and the quartile ranking are used as metrics of the quality of researchers for academic positions, grants, funding, etc. Therefore, you should choose very carefully!

Even if your research is not very trendy, you should always aim for the top two quartiles. 

If you addressed a valuable research problem, your experimental approach is sound, and you have relevant findings that are not obscured by language errors or suboptimal argumentation, you should at least publish in journals from the top two quartiles.

1.  A clear question

2.  An important scientific problem

3.  A clear text without errors

4. Logical and well-structured arguments

5. Constant revision of the text and the global context of your research topic.

6. Revision of the different parts of the text to make sure it reflects your contribution to science.

7. If in doubt, ask for help.

8. Choose journals from at least the first two quartiles.

9. Check the subject, scope, and accepted types of studies for each journal so that they match your paper

10. Learn from rejection during peer review, and do not choose a journal of lower quality for your next try.

11. Make sure you have perfect use of the language, and publish in English preferably.

The most common reason for rejection is that your manuscript does not match the objectives and/or scope of the journal. Therefore, you should ask yourself if the journal publishes both your research topic and your type of publication. 

For example: if your project is "a case study" on biochemical disorders, check that the journal's scope includes biochemical disorders, but also that the journal publishes "case studies".

Also, keep in mind that errors in the use of language may prevent the editor from evaluating whether your research is suitable for the journal.

Did you read the guide for authors of your target journal?  

If you have not met the style, structure, and format guidelines requested by each journal, your manuscript will likely be instantly rejected.

Take your time and make sure you follow all the guidelines of the journal of your interest

When we read a scientific publication, our purpose is to learn something new. 

In the same way, when analyzing a new manuscript, the editor of a journal evaluates the new information in the field and decides whether it can be used to advance global knowledge.

If you have spent months or years completing a research project, it is highly unlikely that you have spent all this time on a project that has no use at all.

If you have a valuable project and you chose the right journal, but your manuscript was quickly turned down, or the editor indicated that your work does not provide new or useful knowledge, you likely failed in conveying the importance of your work: you may have errors in the use of language, your argumentation may not be perfect, or perhaps you couldn't highlight what makes your work unique.

Your use of language and your argumentation skills are really important, especially if you are targeting prestigious journals that publish only in English. 

Do not hesitate to ask an expert for help if you are unsure about your expertise.

It has been documented that manuscripts with perfect use of the English language have the lowest rejection rates in high-level journals. 

So, ask for help BEFORE your first submission.

It is highly advisable to write a manuscript that is accessible to as many readers as possible; however, you must take your audience into account.

For example, if our topic is very general but your language is too specialized, few readers will be able to understand it in depth. On the other hand, if your topic is very specialized but the language is too general, it will give the impression that you a treating the subject with little depth.

If your use of language does not match the scope of the journal, your manuscript will likely be rejected, so be careful.

Sometimes this error is caused by the project design itself; however, in many cases, it may be simply that you are not using the language properly.

If you are trying to publish a study with many objectives, stop to think if it would be better for you to focus on a single objective, or to divide your work into different manuscripts that could be published in journals with different scopes. 

In general, articles with multiple objectives are rejected because they do not offer information in sufficient depth to assess their overall relevance.

Even if you have a well-defined objective, it is also possible that your use of language creates the feeling that you are addressing multiple objectives: for example, if there is no consistency in the way you name your variables, or if you express your research question in different ways throughout the text.

The clarity in your study objective will help editors and reviewers to assess the scope and relevance of your work.

Very often, research projects are carried out by several people, who then write a part of the text to compose a final manuscript.

If the entire work has not been edited, it is likely that the text is not consistent. For example, it is possible that the names of the variables change, that the text changes from passive to active voice for no apparent reason, that different abbreviations are used, or simply that there is repeated information that distracts reviewers from the main message of your work.

Make sure that the most experienced author has done a good job at editing the text, or seek the help of an editing professional, especially if your article was written in English.

A somewhat common mistake, among inexperienced authors, is to draw conclusions from data that are not supported by statistical analysis. 

For example, a difference of 20% or 30% between groups, whose p values are over 0.05. 

If your sample size is large enough, these types of results indicate that the differences between groups have no meaning in the real world, so you should NOT draw conclusions from these data.

A good discussion can make the difference between the rejection or acceptance of your work in a prestigious journal.

The discussion should contextualize a new research paper and show its contribution to the scientific world. 

In this section, you must show how your work integrates with existing literature and composes a new piece of global knowledge.

Independently of how valuable your project is, if you are unable to achieve this goal, editors, reviewers, and readers will be left with the feeling that your study does not add anything new to global knowledge.

An extremely common mistake is to write a discussion in which previous studies are described one by one, numerical data are provided, the existence or absence of differences between the study data and previous reports is pointed out, but no explanation for the possible significance of these differences is provided.

If on top of that, your argumentation style is not optimal, you may not be able to clearly show which are the original ideas that YOU are contributing to global knowledge and which are the ideas of other authors. 

A poor argumentation style can also create the feeling that you are mistaking facts and opinions.

We recommend you consult books or articles on how to write a good discussion, as this section is TRULY the key to getting your work published in prestigious scientific journals.

At Casa de Lletres, through the optimization of the content and the argumentative style of the discussion, we have transformed dozens of articles that were rejected over and over again into important scientific publications. 

Do not hesitate to ask us for help if you need it.

Other common causes of rejection have to do with more technical or specialized issues. 

For example, a sample size that is too small, an incorrect use of the methodology, the lack of validation of an instrument, etc.

Avoiding the errors that we have pointed out here guarantees that your article will go into peer review.  If a journal rejects your paper before peer review, you will never have the chance to resubmit it to that journal, so it's in your best interest to secure your work.

During peer review, the reviewers will point out methodological or conceptual errors that you should correct before your manuscript is ready for publication.

As you may have noticed, many of the errors that lead to the rejection of an academic manuscript are closely related to errors in the use of language or the argumentation style, so they are easily avoidable.

At Casa de Lletres we can help you polish your scientific paper and guarantee that your article will be peer-reviewed in high-level scientific journals. Upon peer review, the reviewers will be able to help you correct methodological errors if there are any, and help your publication to have the highest possible impact on the scientific community.