Impostor syndrome with submission

[CharlieR]

Hey everyone,

So I'm a first year PhD student with a research intensive MA, I have written about 200 pages of research for my MA thesis already and didn't have a problem with that. In fact I was pretty confident about my results when I defended and graduated with highest honors. My research is pretty inovative, and although my jury was made of good professors, they don't really know much about my specific topic.

However, now the time has come to sumbit papers from this research, and I am paralyzed. I keep on pushing the deadlines because I don't think I can physically put it "out there". I second guess absolutely everything I have done and I am terrified of getting negative feedback from researchers. 

 

Any advice or similar experiences ?

[FishNerd]

I don't have any advice but I definitely understand how you're feeling. I'm so nervous about getting my masters thesis published that I keep putting it off. I also have an opportunity to present my thesis research to a much different audience than I have in the past. I'm super nervous that reviewers or outside eyes are going say that I did something completely wrong and my whole study will be a wash. I'm not really sure how to move past it but I just wanted to say I also sympathize. I just know I need to push past my nervousness because I know at heart my thesis is worthy of publication and I need to do sooner rather than later. Not sure how I'm gonna do that other than pushing all my nerves to the side and just going for it!

Edited September 5, 2018 by FishNerd

[PsyDuck90]

Just try to remember that the peer review process is double blind. They have no idea who you are, and you don't know them. Also, getting rejected or accepted pending major revisions is not uncommon, especially for people new to the field. My MA thesis was rejected upon 1st submission, and I felt awful about it, but I revised based on their suggestions and resubmitted and was successful afterward. Even the most ground breaking research is worthless if it is never seen by the scientific community.