Why I Rejected Your R&R Submission and What You Could Have Done to Secure an Acceptance

Abstract

Richard Daft’s (1995) now classic chapter from Cummings and Frost’s edited volume, Publishing in the Organizational Sciences, titled “Why I Recommended That Your Manuscript Be Rejected and What You Can Do About It?” highlights the many reasons initial manuscripts are rejected. Daft presented the results of a content analysis he conducted on 111 manuscripts reviewed for Administrative Science Quarterly and the Academy of Management Journal to identify common manuscript problems. Following his lead, this manuscript includes a content analysis of manuscripts returned after a revise and resubmit decision granted by Group & Organization Management (GOM) and ultimately issued reject decisions. In effect, this manuscript, as part of the dialog on the revise and resubmit process, details “worst practices” that authors commit when returning a revision.