GRARGH!!!

The paper was rejected.

*head, desk*

That science paper I editted back at the beginning of July. The one I ripped apart at the seams and put back together in a completely different order, and then wrote that brilliant summary of what it was all about. Bleh.

I knew I shouldn't've gotten lazy with those tables. I haven't read through all of the reviewer comments yet, but the part I saw said that we hadn't clearly explained how we made our calculations. And yes, that's probably true. Is it my fault for letting it slip by without comment?

At this point I don't actually know. I really needed a lot more time with that thing to get it up to my best perfectionist standards. As the deadline loomed I had to lower them. I thought it was acceptable by the time I was done - but I guess it was not.

Maybe I should've calmly ignored my former-boss's constant comments about the journal's philosophy, back when it had that other Editor-in-Chief - who is dead and gone now and replaced by someone with a much different view. Former-boss said that the previous guy could see the core importance of a paper, and didn't fret so much about the "trivial" details. Therefore, I should edit the paper with that same approach - make sure our key points were clear. That's what I did.

But that past guy isn't there anymore. Maybe we shouldn't try to cling so hard to philosophies of the past. Maybe we should've paid more attention to the philosophy of the current gal.

*sigh* This is what happens when I don't speak up when I know I'm right. Former-boss is not an easy guy to want to argue with. He's the type that's larger than life, a well-respected member of the scientific community with a very distinguished career in his field. His very presence commands respect - and I respect him a great deal. He's a great guy, deeply cares about the Institute we work for and the directions it's going, cares about the students that come through here, and gets very impassioned about his own work. Ask him a simple question and he'll stand there and arm-wave about it with great enthusiasm for an hour or more. He's the kind of scientist that never truly retires because the research is his life and he will be doing it until the day he dies.

And he's also supposed to know how to publish papers by now. :p

I know he's going to be royally outraged, too. It's probably a good thing that he's in Germany right now, and will have had about a week to digest the news before he gets back here to try and talk to me about it.

They better not have complained about the English this time around. :p I'm still afraid to look. Maybe tomorrow.