ON INFLUENTIAL BOOKS AND JOURNAL ARTICLES INITIALLY REJECTED BECAUSE OF NEGATIVE REFEREES EVALUATIONS

This article describes examples of influential and/or highly cited papers that were initially rejected by one or more scientific journals. The work reported in eight of the papers eventually earned Nobel prizes for their authors; six papers later became the most cited of the journals in which they were published. Also described are influential and highly cited scientific books whose authors encountered problems in publishing them. These case studies suggest that, although rejection may subsequently result in an improved manuscript, on other occasions referes may simply have failed to appreciate a paper's importance. Many of these rejected papers also reported unexpected findings or discoveries that challenged conventional models or interpretations.