Yet, as an eager and ambitious researcher, I started exploring the journal pages and guidelines, university resources, discussed at length with more senior colleagues and my supervisory team to build as much understanding of the publication development process as I could. Once I had a pretty good idea of how to write a research paper, I set out a research question that I wanted to tackle and performed my research. To make a long story short, I used all this understanding and knowledge I gathered in the initial 3-4 months of my PhD to write my very first research paper.

After a couple of internal reviews with my supervisory team, I was about to submit my first paper to the journal. I remember exactly how I felt. I was hopeful. I was excited. I was scared… But I didn’t need to wait for a response very long. My paper was REJECTED after a week by the editor. I reflected on their comments, critically reviewed most cited research papers in my field and completely rewrote my paper. I submitted it to another journal again. This time it passed the editors and was sent for peer-review. But…the reviewers were harsh. They did not give me a chance to improve my work. My paper was REJECTED again. I was devastated. I felt like a failure and that my PhD does not make any sense. It is always difficult to have your work rejected.

But you need to know one thing about me. Whenever someone tells me I cannot do something, I become furiously motivated to prove them wrong! I didn’t give up! During my PhD I spent hundreds of hours, countless evenings and weekends, mastering the principles of academic writing and publishing. I learnt to take harsh reviewers’ comments and rejection as feedback rather than failure. I learnt to reflect on reviewers’ comments to improve my work.