When you get an email from a journal where you submitted an article, you always skim it looking for the word “unfortunately.” Seasoned academic know that the rejections always state, “Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept your article for publication.”
So today I received an email from one of the journals where I had submitted an article and it started with the dreaded “unfortunately.”
“Well, thank you very much for putting me in a vile mood at the end of the semester,” I thought.
As I kept skimming the email, though, I couldn’t find the word “rejected.” It turned out that the unfortunate event the publishers referred to was that they had taken so long to confirm the receipt of the article.
Of course, I felt relieved that the unfortunately wasn’t as unfortunate as I feared.
Two hours later, I received an email from another journal where I had submitted an article. Once again, I skimmed it and saw the dreaded word yet again.
“I guess I’m destined for a rejection today,” I thought despondently.
Then, however, I saw a phrase that makes every academic’s heart leap with joy, “with minor revisions.” The article was accepted and the “unfortunately” this time referred to the fact that the journal wasn’t going to be able to publish it in the next issue but only in the one after that.
Dear journal editors, try to be careful with the word “unfortunately” because you might start causing heart attacks to people.
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