Q: Should I withdraw my submission due to certain statistical problems in the manuscript?

Detailed Question -

I found that my manuscript was lacking in quality due to some statistical problems, which the journal editor too pointed out. Can [Should] I withdraw my submission?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

This seems like a somewhat ‘harsh’ or ‘extreme’ step, but I guess you would be the best person to decide as you know your paper the best and also because the thought of withdrawing the manuscript first came to you.

Nevertheless, we would like to make the following suggestions, which you may have considered yourself.

  • We don’t know at what stage your submission is – whether it’s only gone through an associate editor (AE) review or a peer review, whether you’ve already made one round of revisions or more, and so on. Based on the stage at which your manuscript is and the extent of the statistical problems, you will need to decide. If you think you can fix the problems with a re-analysis or by revisiting some experiments, you could work toward addressing these and resubmit the paper.
  • You could consult with the editor as well as a supervisor or senior on how to proceed. If the editor allows you to withdraw now and submit as a new submission later (with the problems fixed), you may proceed as you are presently contemplating.

You should spend some time thinking through these alternatives before deciding on the next step.

Having said that, you are demonstrating great academic conscientiousness and perhaps even integrity by deciding on this course of action. So, congrats for that itself. :-)

Now, if you do decide to withdraw the manuscript (and later submit to some other journal), ensure you have retained all the relevant communication from this journal. For more information on things to keep in mind when withdrawing a manuscript, you may refer to the resources provided at the end.

Finally, we are not sure which field you are in, but you may also find this course in statistics useful: Biostatistics

All the best for whatever you decide!

Helpful resources:

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