You submitted your manuscript and heard back from the journal…now what?

Abstract

Maybe it was rejected outright, without peer review. Or perhaps they have given you the chance to submit a revised manuscript.Either way, it can be soul crushing to read the comments from the reviewers. "Why don't they get it?" you wonder, as your Imposter Syndrome starts to bubble up. 1 Some comments may be valid. Others might be vague or nit-picky or downright wrong. None of them are actually about you as a person even if it may feel that way! So, what should you do now? Prior manuscripts in other journals 2-6 have discussed how to approach a response to reviewers, but not in the pediatric space. We are three pediatric pulmonologists who have noted this gap in both the pediatric and the pediatric pulmonary literature. To fill this gap, we discuss how we approach a response to reviewers. [2][3][4][5][6] Step 1: Take a deep breath. This is a normal part of the process.