Q: Should I reply to the editor when my paper is rejected (and how)?

Sorry to hear your paper was rejected. But you seem to have taken it in your stride. :-)

So, it’s nice but not necessary to reply to the editor. It’s always good to be graceful. Plus, it leaves the door open or the bridges intact (choose your metaphor) for future submissions. So, you should go ahead and reply to the mail. You can say something on the lines of…

“Thanks for your review and comments. They are quite valuable, and I shall go through them for greater understanding, for this and future manuscripts. Thanks also for the opportunity to submit to your journal, and hoping there will opportunities in the future, along with a greater chance of acceptance.”

You may also find some helpful templates to use or adapt in this handbook: A practical handbook of templates for communicating with the journal

However, you should soon begin taking your next steps, especially as you seem to have taken the rejection quite admirably. Based on the comments from this journal, you may make changes as necessary and submit to another journal. To increase your chances of acceptance, you may employ measures such as the following:

• Sending a presubmission inquiry to other journals
• Understanding the most common reasons for manuscript rejection
• Understanding how to avoid the chances of a rejection
• Selecting a target journal better

Hope that helps. All the best for the next submissions and also for future submissions!