March 2013: Dust Yourself Off and Resubmit

Batting 300 is Good: Perspectives of Faculty Researchers and their Mentors on Rejection, Resilience, and Persistence in Academic Medical Careers. 
DeCastro R, Sambuco D, Ubel PA, Stewart A, Jagsi R. Academic Medicine. 2013: 88(4): 497-504. Available online.

Peer review is the lifeblood of advancing scholarship in academia - pushing the boundary of knowledge - and rejection is a healthy part of that process. It still hurts, though, doesn't it?  

This article, by DeCastro et al., is one of several articles published on data collected from interviews with 128 K-award recipients and mentors. Data presented in this article specifically focus on rejection and persistence in early career scholars.  

As if personally addressing every young scholar, the authors present two major themes from their qualitative analysis. The first is “the pervasiveness of professional criticism and rejection and the need for resilience in academic medicine.” The authors found that most early career scholars expected rejection and criticism. The delineation between success and failure, however, was the way that such rejection was handled. One respondent offered: “Everybody at this level is smart. Success doesn't really vary with brains at this point; success is often more about perseverance.”(p. 500)

Given the participants, it should be no surprise that the second theme identified in the data was “the role of mentoring and other environmental factors in promoting resilience.” Turns out, resilience is tough. Much like an Olympic athlete needs a coach, so too do scholars need guidance. Mentors were found to be valuable for giving positive words of wisdom, encouragement, and advice. Male mentors likened the process to sports: “Like in baseball, a good average is 300. You need to be able to have the perseverance to be submitting grants… knowing that… a good percent hit rate will be like 3 out of 10… be aware of that and just keep trying.”(p. 501)

Not all novice scholars will be lucky enough to have mentors coaching and guiding them forward. This article, though, is a refreshing, evidence-based dose of fortitude; insightful enough to provide comfort and strong enough to pick you up after a rejection. 

Bottom Line:

This article presents data which outline the importance of resilience and the role of mentorship for early-career academic medicine faculty. It’s a comforting read for junior faculty but a critical piece of research for potential mentors.