That was the subject ine on an e-mail I received yesterday morning from a friend and colleague with whom I've worked for a number of years. Immediately I thought to myself: "Damn! I thought we did a really good job on those revisions. How could the editor decide to reject that paper?" I was beginning to get a little angry.
But then I looked at the title of that e-mail again. Having a paper rejected is bad news, and it always angers me a bit, but it's part of the business. Peer review matters. Every paper I've ever published has been improved by reviewer comments, even those that made me really angry at first and even when those comments came from a reviewer for a journal where the editor rejected the paper. In other words, having a paper rejected is bad news, but it hardly qualifies as really bad news. No the bad news had to be something worse.
But then I looked at the title of that e-mail again. Having a paper rejected is bad news, and it always angers me a bit, but it's part of the business. Peer review matters. Every paper I've ever published has been improved by reviewer comments, even those that made me really angry at first and even when those comments came from a reviewer for a journal where the editor rejected the paper. In other words, having a paper rejected is bad news, but it hardly qualifies as really bad news. No the bad news had to be something worse.
"No, it couldn't be that. It couldn't be that the computer with all of our shared data, analyses, and manuscripts blew up and the backups are faulty?" I have copies of most items, but probably not all, and I'm sure they're not the most current.1 "Damn! It's going to take us a long time to reconstruct all that work, but at least I have copies of all the data, even if I don't have the most recent versions of the analytical code and manuscripts. We'll recover, but this is going to be a real pain."
The news was much worse.
My colleague learned on Thursday that (s)he suffers from a serious disease. I don't know all the details. This disease has long-term survivors, but the fact that I wrote that clause also tells you that it has claimed many others. My colleague has tremendous determination and spirit. If anyone can beat this disease, (s)he can. (S)he has the strong support of her/his employer and of a multitude of family and friends.
A reminder that we often get so absorbed in our lives that we lose sight of the larger picture. As academics we regard things like the rejection of a paper as bad news and the loss of a computer as a tragedy when, really, they are annoying and inconvenient. They affect what we do, but not who we are.
Sometimes it takes really bad news to remind us of that.
1My colleague leads our joint work and has he most current and complete copies of everything.
The news was much worse.
My colleague learned on Thursday that (s)he suffers from a serious disease. I don't know all the details. This disease has long-term survivors, but the fact that I wrote that clause also tells you that it has claimed many others. My colleague has tremendous determination and spirit. If anyone can beat this disease, (s)he can. (S)he has the strong support of her/his employer and of a multitude of family and friends.
A reminder that we often get so absorbed in our lives that we lose sight of the larger picture. As academics we regard things like the rejection of a paper as bad news and the loss of a computer as a tragedy when, really, they are annoying and inconvenient. They affect what we do, but not who we are.
Sometimes it takes really bad news to remind us of that.
1My colleague leads our joint work and has he most current and complete copies of everything.
I'm a bit behind on your blog and usually I read posts in chronological order but today I skipped right to this one, immediately worrying that someone near and dear to you has encountered tragedy. I'm sorry to hear about your colleague's diagnosis. I hope that (s)he is able to receive the best treatment and attain the highest quality of life possible for the longest period of time.
I agree that "really bad news" is reserved for well, really bad news.
It is really not easy if we or one of our friend or family is diagnosed of having some serious illness. Any problem that each of us encounter, we always need someone to be there for us always. To give us support and keeping us aware that we are not alone is really nice feeling. It will keeps us strong despite all those challenges that will come.
Anna Marie