Question about Paper Revision Request

[windrainfireandbooks]

Hi everyone! I have a question about a requested revision for publication.

 

Over a year ago (and in my first term as an MA student), I submitted a conference paper for a graduate student conference proceedings book. After a couple of months, I was notified that the paper had been accepted and to expect the publication to be printed in around 6 months. I was sent some paperwork to sign saying that I gave permission for my paper to be published in this conference proceeding; I signed the paperwork and sent it on its way. I didn't hear anything for a long time and, of course, life went on - I graduated from my MA, took on a rigorous writing job, accepted an offer to start a PhD, and so on and so forth. Quite honestly, I sort of forgot about the paper and conference proceedings.

 

This morning, I was emailed by the editor who I had sent the signed paperwork to all those many, many months ago. They told me that I need to significantly revise the paper and gave me less than a month to do so. In a nutshell, they want me to erase half of my argument, re-write the paper to only focus on one aspect of my argument, look at this side of the argument in a deeper way, and make the paper significantly longer. And after over a year, many semesters, and a thesis between me and that paper, I will fully agree that the paper needs revision.

 

After having written my thesis to be published and undergoing the gruelling process that it took to get that paper publication ready, I am quite aware of the huge commitment it would take for me to get the paper in question publication ready. And, truth be told, I am not currently in a position where I will have the time to get it ready, especially within the time frame they have given me. Is it okay to be upfront with them about not being able to dedicate the necessary time to editing the paper properly and, thus, to withdraw my paper from the publication? Or is this a big no-no, especially considering I signed paperwork? As someone who submitted my paper for the conference proceeding, I know I should edit when asked. But I also don't want to produce something that is low-quality because I do not have the time to dedicate to editing properly. 

 

Any insight from those of you with publishing experience would be much appreciated! Thanks so much!

Edited April 16, 2015 by windrainfireandbooks

[TakeruK]

It's not a big deal for you to withdraw the paper at this point. Revise and resubmit requests are "optional" in the sense that you can choose to not revise and not have it published. So, I think it's really up to you at this point to decide whether or not you want to spend the time to revise it. It's up to you to determine whether it's worth it or not!

[windrainfireandbooks]

Thanks for your insight TakeruK! Very much appreciated, and definitely comforting to hear. 

[lifealive]

Withdraw your paper and submit it somewhere better, preferably a peer reviewed journal.

 

Conference proceedings are not recommended publishing venues--especially not graduate conference proceedings. They don't count as real publications. You shouldn't throw your articles away on them.  

[fuzzylogician]

At least in my field having a non-peer-reviewed conference proceedings paper does not affect one's ability to also submit the same paper to a peer-reviewed journal (often after some revisions for style/content have been made, stemming from the fact that proceedings papers tend to have a low page limit whereas journals have a much higher page limit). Some proceedings can be quite prestigious, though they are obviously less prestigious than a journal publication. They can be a good way to get started and be productive, since proceedings often come with a submission deadline, unlike journals, which allow you to submit any time. 

 

That said, OP, if this seems like too much work and isn't worth the effort, you could take the paper and submit it to a journal making only the revisions you deem necessary. Maybe the reviewers won't request some/all of the changes you are currently being asked to make. Withdrawing from the proceedings isn't a big deal. More generally a R&R counts as a rejection in my field (but with the promise that if you make the changes and resubmit, the paper will go back to the same reviewers you had in the previous round). You are not required to make the changes, you can always decide to start over with another journal.

[lifealive]

At least in my field having a non-peer-reviewed conference proceedings paper does not affect one's ability to also submit the same paper to a peer-reviewed journal (often after some revisions for style/content have been made, stemming from the fact that proceedings papers tend to have a low page limit whereas journals have a much higher page limit). Some proceedings can be quite prestigious, though they are obviously less prestigious than a journal publication. They can be a good way to get started and be productive, since proceedings often come with a submission deadline, unlike journals, which allow you to submit any time. 

 

That said, OP, if this seems like too much work and isn't worth the effort, you could take the paper and submit it to a journal making only the revisions you deem necessary. Maybe the reviewers won't request some/all of the changes you are currently being asked to make. Withdrawing from the proceedings isn't a big deal. More generally a R&R counts as a rejection in my field (but with the promise that if you make the changes and resubmit, the paper will go back to the same reviewers you had in the previous round). You are not required to make the changes, you can always decide to start over with another journal.

 

In English, conference proceedings won't "hurt" you; they're just considered a waste of time and a waste of a good opportunity. It's just more advantageous to find the best venue for your publication that you possibly can. And conference proceedings are looked at as a "last resort" publication--meaning that you either couldn't get your paper published in a better place and ran out of time, or you didn't really know what you were doing. 

 

If you've got something good, get it into a peer reviewed journal. That's much more meaningful on a CV than a conference proceeding.

[fuzzylogician]

So you're saying that unreviewed proceedings papers cannot be turned into articles to be submitted to peer-reviewed journals? If you can do both, then the entire spiel above about getting the paper into the best possible venue becomes redundant. The proceedings paper just becomes a step along the way in turning the paper into a peer-reviewed journal publication. The usefulness of the step is in getting your work out there more quickly, and as I mentioned some proceedings can be considered quite prestigious. Of course, if one precludes the other you should go for the best possible venue. And you should always try to get peer-reviewed publications out of every work you have, regardless of whether you also have a proceedings paper.

[windrainfireandbooks]

Thanks for the insight everyone. I appreciate it. As I said, I submitted this paper back during my first term as an MA student, prior to having received insight about publishing from professors, supervisors, mentors, and so on. I likely wouldn't have submitted the paper for the conference proceedings had I been asked to today. That being said, the paperwork I signed for the conference proceedings did say that I would be able to submit the paper to any other publications I desired.  Regardless, this weekend I withdrew the paper from the conference proceedings. I really like the idea that the paper presents, so perhaps one day I will revise the paper extensively and send it off to a few reputable journals. 

[lifealive]

So you're saying that unreviewed proceedings papers cannot be turned into articles to be submitted to peer-reviewed journals? If you can do both, then the entire spiel above about getting the paper into the best possible venue becomes redundant. The proceedings paper just becomes a step along the way in turning the paper into a peer-reviewed journal publication.

 

That's not quite how we see things in English. You don't want two papers out there treating the same subject, one vastly better than the other. In general, you don't want anything other than your best work out there, period. One way to ensure that the article is good is to get it into a reputable journal.