While many of us are celebrating the recent #ACL2021nlp acceptances, there are even more of us with papers rejected. This is a reminder that:
1. Paper rejections are not about you, and they are not a reflection of the quality of your research agenda. [1/3]

They are a (sometime semi-random) signal about a particular version of project X submitted to event Y and read by people A, B, C.
2. Rejections never go way, they are just part of life. Here I am, 20+ years in my career, and still getting rejects (including now!) [2/3]

3. In the big scheme of things, paper rejections don’t really matter and don’t have negative consequences. On the contrary, they often have a positive impact, as hard as it is to see that now. As TJ Watson once said “if you want a recipe for success, double your rate of failure.”