We have sought to bring to light the duality of the concept of “impactful” in the
context of the oft-iterative nature of the research process: while it is sought
to make research impactful, the impact is much more likely to be a painful one
on the researcher, who is sent back to square one in approximately 80% of cases
by the top academic journals. This situation, and the inherent waste of
intellectual resources, is to some extent due to the archaic and overly rigid
formalistic standards that have become widespread.