EDULITE: Journal of English Education, Literature and Culture
Vol 11, No 1 (2026): February 2026

Dealing with journal review results: How successful and productive authors avoid and respond to manuscript rejections

Safnil Arsyad (Docotoral program of Applied Linguistics of Education, Faculty of Bengkulu University)
Muhammad Zaim (English Language Education, Universitas Negeri Padang)
Juliana Othman (Department of Language & Literacy Education, Faculty of Education, Universiti Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)



Article Info

Publish Date
05 Mar 2026

Abstract

Both early-career writers and authors with more experience may get rejected when they submit a manuscript to a distinguished or high impact journal; however, different authors may respond to rejections differently and this will determine whether or not an author is successful and publish a lot of articles in good journals. This study is aimed at investigating how productive authors react to article rejections they obtain from journal editors. This study used a qualitative approach and inductive coding data analysis techniques and processes were used to examine the data from semi-structured interview. Ten productive authors in the field of education from Malaysia and Indonesia were interviewed using a semi-structured interview to get the data. The results show that: 1) when responding to a rejection, most authors revised their manuscripts following editor or reviewers’ comments and corrections before submitting it to another journal with a lower ranking or Quartile value, 2) the major factor causing a rejection according to the respondents is a manuscript which is very similar or a duplicate of an already published one, and 3) the major factor causing a rejection according to the respondents is a manuscript which is very similar or a duplicate of an already published one.. Thus, productive authors keep writing although their manuscripts often got rejected by journals because authors learn from comments and corrections from editors and/or reviewers. Novice authors should not give up writing and revising their manuscripts although they often experience rejections from journals’ reviewers and/or editors. 

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

edulite

Publisher

Subject

Education

Description

EduLite Journal of English Education, Literature and Culture is a blind peer review international journal which publishes manuscripts within the fields of teaching English as a first, second or foreign language, English language teaching and learning, English language teachers' training and ...