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I try to publish a text without success. In peer-review most replies are "does not fit our journal", even though some journals gave me full referee's report (with negative opinion). I understand it is impossible to discuss all "low-level" works which exist (maybe the mine is one of them...which I do not believe). Yet I would like to discuss and defend my work. "Defense" is in peer-review process impossible, referee gives his opinion and the story ends. Linking my work on the relevant stackexchange forum did not help either: few negative comments were discontinued after I replied.

Question: Is there maybe a payed option to have the work discussed with the engagement of the referee to get and give responses? Is there a way to get discussion by paying (even on potentially low-level work)?

F. Jatpil
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    Welcome to AcademiaSE. Are you a PhD student? If yes the standard process is to have this discussion with your advisor, they would be able to help you make your paper publishable. – Erwan May 30 '19 at 10:14
  • No, I am not, but I try to publish in an area which is outside my official affiliation. – F. Jatpil May 30 '19 at 10:24
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    Usually authors act on feedback, improving their submission and send it back to the editor. Once checked by the editor and/or reviewer it may then be accepted or not (requiring further revision). If you don't engage in that process, don't expect it to be published. – Solar Mike May 30 '19 at 10:26
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    Then maybe you could try to collaborate with someone who is more expert than you in the target field. – Erwan May 30 '19 at 10:31
  • Present at a workshop or (depending on your field) a conference. – henning May 30 '19 at 12:19
  • I do not fully understand your question. You have sent it out to several journals, and all have rejected it. Some reviewers thought it was too low level. These are the experts in the field, and you claim you are not in this field. It seems to me that you got the feedback you should get - your work is not up to the standard of the field. The fact that you don't believe that is concerning, since representatives of that field are telling you so... – Michael Stachowsky May 30 '19 at 16:02
  • Maybe, but discussion did not take place and I am ready to discuss. Do you have any experience with discussion when you get a negative referee's report? Not me. Text is reject, period. Of course, I cannot force anybody to review the text, it seems to me a fair idea to pay for it (and get what I want). Is discussion something wrong? Well, it might be a loss of your time... but not when you get payed. I honestly believe there are barriers in publishing: un-established authors are recognized by their vocabulary and style, stress is given to formal things (e.g. literature) and not main idea.. – F. Jatpil May 31 '19 at 07:47

2 Answers2

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How to get (a payed?) feedback with discussion?

It is extremely country specific and strongly cultural.

I can explain how I would do in your shoes in France. You need to adapt my hints to your country.

I would first attend several university PhD level seminars (or at research institutions like CNRS, CEA - I am employed at CEA, LIST but soon retiring - , INRIA, INSERM or Grandes Écoles like Polytechnique or ENS Ulm or ENS Paris Saclay -from which I graduated-). Or even Collège de France ones. BTW, Grandes Écoles and Collège de France are very French, you are unlikely to find equivalents in other countries.

At seminars with a small audience of less than 30 persons, you are allowed (at least in France) to attend them freely (no need to pay) and to ask clever (and politely) questions. You'll use Google or the Web to find such seminars.

Any scientific researcher is very happy to get oral feedback, as long as you respect his work (even if your opinions are different). That is part of the science game since at least Newton.

Then you have established some direct contact. Discuss with them your ideas. They might be interested. If they are, send them by email your draft and ask for feedback.

BTW, you should attend peer-reviewed conferences in your field of expertise. If in Europe, consider being part of some H2020 or HorizonEurope submission. Being inside a putative consortium submitting some research grant proposals will teach you many related skills. But you need to accept and contribute to your part (or even a bit more) of the submission efforts, and research grant submissions are generally highly selective (less than 10% of proposals get funded).

Read hundreds of scientific papers (in journals or peer-reviewed conferences) related to your field and scientific interests. Be sure to have a good bibliography of citations in your own text. A priori, several dozens of references (e.g. using BibTeX for your LaTeX paper).

At last, if you can afford that, consider starting some PhD. Your advisor will teach you most of these soft skills, including scientific writing skills, because that is part of his/her job.

My answer to another question on this forum also contain some useful hints.

PS. A poorly known fact is that on the average, every scientific publication has less than 2 or 3 readers. As Higgs explained in his Nobel prize talk, the "publish or perish" mindset of current academia is globally counter-productive: most of the research papers I am reading these years give a sense of déjà vu.

Basile Starynkevitch
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If your field is physics, geophysics, biology, volcanology, or neuroscience, you could talk to Sabine Hossenfelder.

Allure
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  • "We do not counsel students for homework assignments and do not review written material." Also, are you a part of the team? If not, do you have any experience with them? –  May 30 '19 at 12:36
  • @corey979 I'm not part of the team and have not used the service. It's true they don't review written material but from the OP's description it sounds like the problem with his/her paper is one about ideas, not implementation, so he could talk to them about the ideas in the work. – Allure May 30 '19 at 12:45
  • I was asking in order to clarify. Maybe you could include the info from your comment into the body of the answer? –  May 30 '19 at 13:11