======= Date Modified 06 May 2011 16:46:02 =======
I've just had notification that a paper I wrote for a workshop has been rejected. It was a revised version of a paper I'd had rejected for a (fairly big, low acceptance-rate) conference.

The problem is that the two sets of reviews I've got say the work is interesting and promising but I keep letting myself down with silly little mistakes that then add up. I'm reading one of the reviews and its recommendation to reject is based on me having missed out one small thing in a definition, but that then had an impact on some other definitions (which didn't make sense due to the omission).

My worry is that I don't have any PhD-related publications (the ones I have are related to other work I've helped out on) and there's no obvious targets for my work coming up. I'm just over 18 months in, so should I be worried?

I suppose it's good that I'm being told my work is interesting, but I don't have my name out there.

Some of you might remember my thread from a couple of months back where I was worried about where my PhD was going. Well, I'm slipping back towards that again now because I feel so deflated that I keep missing out on getting my work published.

Could you run the submissions past your supervisor first next time? I got some useful feedback on an internal conference submission that I was doing this week from mine. I'd say 18 months in is still plenty of time, and it's good they say it's interesting and promising, don't lose hope!

I always do run things past my supervisor and the arrangement is that he's always co-author.

He was happy with the paper and thought it stood a good chance. And I actually posted before I spoke to him, but when I did he said he was quite annoyed at the negative review because it was very harsh for what was in reality a minor error. The actual substance of the paper wasn't criticised, but a slight omission in a definition, which in turn did mean other things didn't make sense (but they would have if the mistake had been rectified).

It was a fairly long paper, so he said to take on board all the reviews I've had, polish and expand then submit to a journal. And I'm now really motivated to do that...but on Monday! I posted when I was a bit raw after the rejection, but I'm feeling better about it now, especially if it spurs me on to submit to a journal, which is much better than a workshop.

Good luck. If you revise and submit to a journal the paper should be better, and you have a chance of success. And, as you say, a journal publication would carry more merit.

I've finally (after 8 months!) heard back from a journal today, and one of my papers has been rejected. Not surprising, because it was a niche interest I was trying a wider journal for. But I'm already picking myself up and reworking it to target it at a more specific journal (already identified). Ever onwards!