How to get your paper rejected

BMJ 2004; 329 doi: 10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1469 (Published 16 December 2004)
Cite this as: BMJ 2004;329:1469

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

  1. Horacio Plotkin, assistant professor of paediatrics and orthopaedics (hplotkin@unmc.edu)
  1. University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, USA

    These days, if you do not publish, you perish. Well, you don't perish, but you do not get promotions. With promotions come more responsibilities, more paperwork, more income tax. If you want to stay comfortably in your position, you should not publish. Here are a few tips to get your papers eternally rejected. Proving the efficacy of the method, this article was rejected by the Lancet on 14 May 2004, by the New England Journal of Medicine on 19 May 2004, by JAMA on 27 May 2004, by Science on 24 June 2004, by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on 29 June 2004, and by Nature on 30 June 2004.

    Getting started

    Start by looking …

    Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment

    Article access

    Article access for 1 day

    Purchase this article for £20 $30 €32*

    The PDF version can be downloaded as your personal record

    * Prices do not include VAT

    THIS WEEK'S POLL