Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers

Academic papers are the cornerstone of knowledge dissemination and crucial for researchers’ career development. This is particularly true for rapidly evolving research domains such as transportation, as evidenced by the surge of journals and papers in the past decade. While abundant literature offer...

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Main Authors: Jiaming Wu, Ivan Sanchez-Diaz, Ying Yang, Xiaobo Qu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Communications in Transportation Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242472400012X
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author Jiaming Wu
Ivan Sanchez-Diaz
Ying Yang
Xiaobo Qu
author_facet Jiaming Wu
Ivan Sanchez-Diaz
Ying Yang
Xiaobo Qu
author_sort Jiaming Wu
collection DOAJ
description Academic papers are the cornerstone of knowledge dissemination and crucial for researchers’ career development. This is particularly true for rapidly evolving research domains such as transportation, as evidenced by the surge of journals and papers in the past decade. While abundant literature offers guidance on successful publication strategies, insights into the reasons for rejection are rare. This study fills in this gap by examining why papers are rejected in the area of transportation. We present concrete evidence based on data from over 5,000 rejected transport papers. Quantitative analyses are conducted to reveal the impacts of similarity rate, duplication submission rate, and topic on desk rejections. Additionally, we shed light on the distinct focus reviewers have when serving different journals. We hope the results could equip transport researchers with a deeper comprehension of publication criteria and a better awareness of common but avoidable mistakes.
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series Communications in Transportation Research
spelling doaj-art-8c056b375dfd42fcb5e8b256a0d12e9f2025-08-20T02:38:59ZengElsevierCommunications in Transportation Research2772-42472024-12-01410012910.1016/j.commtr.2024.100129Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papersJiaming Wu0Ivan Sanchez-Diaz1Ying Yang2Xiaobo Qu3Architecture and Civil Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 41296, SwedenTechnology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 41296, SwedenSchool of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China; Corresponding author.State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Green Vehicle and Mobility, School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, ChinaAcademic papers are the cornerstone of knowledge dissemination and crucial for researchers’ career development. This is particularly true for rapidly evolving research domains such as transportation, as evidenced by the surge of journals and papers in the past decade. While abundant literature offers guidance on successful publication strategies, insights into the reasons for rejection are rare. This study fills in this gap by examining why papers are rejected in the area of transportation. We present concrete evidence based on data from over 5,000 rejected transport papers. Quantitative analyses are conducted to reveal the impacts of similarity rate, duplication submission rate, and topic on desk rejections. Additionally, we shed light on the distinct focus reviewers have when serving different journals. We hope the results could equip transport researchers with a deeper comprehension of publication criteria and a better awareness of common but avoidable mistakes.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242472400012XPublicationTransportationElsevierRejection
spellingShingle Jiaming Wu
Ivan Sanchez-Diaz
Ying Yang
Xiaobo Qu
Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
Communications in Transportation Research
Publication
Transportation
Elsevier
Rejection
title Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
title_full Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
title_fullStr Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
title_full_unstemmed Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
title_short Why is your paper rejected? Lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
title_sort why is your paper rejected lessons learned from over 5000 rejected transportation papers
topic Publication
Transportation
Elsevier
Rejection
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242472400012X
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AT xiaoboqu whyisyourpaperrejectedlessonslearnedfromover5000rejectedtransportationpapers