The Philosophers' Cocoon

A safe and supportive forum for philosophers.

Owned & Moderated by Marcus Arvan (University of Tampa)

Contact: marvan@ut.edu

Blog mission & moderation policy

IMPORTANT NOTE on how to ensure anonymity in commenting
Job-Market Reporting Thread (2025-26)
Job-Market Discussion Thread (2025-26)

recent posts

about

(When) can you submit a new version of a paper that a journal previously rejected?

In our new “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks,

What are the conditions for a paper being new enough that you can submit a version of it to the same journal that a distant ancestor of the same paper was also sent to? I hear of some people sending multiple versions of a big idea to say phil review or whatever over multiple years, and of other people saying this is impermissible. Would be useful to get people’s impressions.

I have wondered about this, as well. I think I’ve tried it a couple of times in the past years after the initial rejection, but only when the overall argument of the revised paper turned out to be quite different than the original one (which necessitated a different title, etc.). But I don’t think I’ve ever had any luck with it.

Do any readers have any helpful tips/experiences to share?

Posted in

7 responses to “(When) can you submit a new version of a paper that a journal previously rejected?”

  1. rough ref

    I am inclined to think that you should never submit a radically revised version of a paper that has already been rejected to the same journal. There are plenty of journals out there. So, move on. I think it is a bit of an abuse of system to submit the paper again.
    I cannot recall doing it, but as a referee I would be quite pissed off. And I would probably decline to review it even if I had already agreed to do it. (And I referee a lot … 200? papers).

    Reply
  2. Piggyback

    I would like to add the question if it makes a difference if the original paper was desk-rejected

    Reply
  3. Daniel

    I’ve never done this, so I have no firsthand experience to share. But I do know someone who did not do this, but who the journal thought had done this. (They submitted an article on a similar topic and the journal confused this article for a new version of the previous article they had submitted.) They were banned from submitting to the journal for a year. I can’t remember what journal this was, but I think it was Phil Studies or Phil Review (their similar names mean they blur together in my head…). So at least one journal is very against the practice of resubmitting a (much) revised draft, so much so that they are overzealous in their attempts to prevent people from doing this.

    Reply
  4. Setting it Straight

    Clearly the correct answer to this question is something other than “never”. There’s a certain point at which a paper can have evolved so much from the previously-submitted paper that they no longer remotely resemble one another. (Setting aside questions about whether such an evolved paper actually qualifies as a “version” of the original paper!) I think the answer, roughly, is “only when the revised paper will not be identified as a revised version of the original paper”.

    Reply
  5. Worth asking

    I asked the editor before submitting a different version of a desk rejected paper again. The editor asked me to self evaluate whether the paper is in fact radically different. It went out for review.

    Reply
  6. Had success with it, sort of

    I have done this– and had the paper accepted. I think it can be fine.

    BUT

    Though the idea was the same in my head, the actual paper was RADICALLY different. I rewrote it entirely- different frame, different examples and suchlike. Different enough that it is not at all clear to me that an external observer would have experienced it as the same paper even if I told them that it was. I think that matters.

    Reply
  7. Yes and no

    I don’t remember the exact details now, but vaguely:

    when I submit a paper to a journal, I clicked an option that a version as been submitted before, and entered according to instruction the title of the previously submitted one. There was no problem at all as far as I can remember, and the paper was sent out for review.

    P.S. the paper was new, just had overlap with a previous paper.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Discover more from The Philosophers' Cocoon

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading