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Withdrawing a manuscript because of typos and structural issues?

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

About withdrawing submissions: a while after submitting my draft to a journal, I found a tons of typos and structural problems. I am sure that the draft has been sent out for review but not sure if it is under active review. What should I do? I am early-mid career so I do have some (minimal) reputation to keep. I am embarrassed about having submitted it, but wonder if withdrawing the submission would be even more embarrassing. 

Given that the paper is already under review, I’d stay the course with it and learn from the experience, taking more care in future submissions. First, it’s possible an editor or reviewers might be even more irritated if reviewers have already put a bunch of work in writing reviews and the paper is withdrawn. But second, you never know: maybe you’ll get an R&R despite all of the problems!

What do readers think?

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4 responses to “Withdrawing a manuscript because of typos and structural issues?”

  1. typos are ez to fix

    can’t speak to the structural problems you noticed in your paper, but I can say that I was in a similar situation with respect to your typo concern. was told to stay the course and that my reviewers would evaluate my argument, not my glaring and many typos (though some refs might flag those typos just to show you and the editor that they actually read your paper). not one of my reviewers mentioned the typos in their review. and even if the referees do mention your typos in their review, I would trust that those typos are not grounds for rejecting a paper (as a reviewer myself, I have never and would never reject a paper on the basis of typos I found). hope this one data point gives you some comfort!

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  2. Anonymous

    I agree with Marcus’ assessment. Chalk it up to learning. But, it is reminder that many of us need to slow down … take your time before submitting papers. Working fast does not increase output or quality.

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  3. Anonymous

    I had this recently and during the R&R one of the reviewers told me to fix all the typos but still recommended acceptance.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    My sense is that no one really cares about this kind of stuff during the review process. I, qua reviewer, certainly don’t. With my reviewer hat on: I also am pretty lenient when it comes to an untidy reference section. I’m always a bit stunned when I hear from colleagues in other disciplines regarding the amount of time and energy they spend on citation etiquette and such. A few years ago a friend of mine was taking a graduate course in human development and the majority of comments she got on her assignments pertained to proper MLA citation and such.

    Reply

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