Established researchers who had rarely contributed to a particular academic journal suddenly began flooding it with manuscripts after 2019. This...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Established researchers who had rarely contributed to a particular academic journal suddenly began flooding it with manuscripts after 2019. This surge in ______ submissions occurred despite—or perhaps because of—the journal's newly implemented stricter peer review standards, as scholars interpreted the heightened selectivity as confirmation of the publication's prestige and believed that acceptance would significantly enhance their academic standing.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
stimulating
validating
monitoring
restricting
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Established researchers who had rarely contributed to a particular academic journal suddenly began flooding it with manuscripts after 2019." |
|
| "This surge in ______ submissions occurred despite—or perhaps because of—the journal's newly implemented stricter peer review standards," |
|
| "as scholars interpreted the heightened selectivity as confirmation of the publication's prestige and believed that acceptance would significantly enhance their academic standing." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Established researchers dramatically increased their submissions to an academic journal after it implemented stricter review standards because they viewed the increased selectivity as a mark of prestige.
Argument Flow: The passage presents a counterintuitive situation where making standards stricter led to more submissions, then explains this apparent contradiction by revealing that researchers interpreted the stricter standards as evidence of the journal's enhanced reputation and potential career benefits.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The missing word needs to describe submissions from researchers who previously held back from contributing to this journal but are now eager to submit because they see it as more prestigious
- These would likely be submissions that these researchers considered noteworthy or significant—the kind they might have saved for a journal they perceived as high-caliber
stimulating
- "Stimulating submissions" refers to intellectually engaging, thought-provoking work
- Makes perfect sense that researchers who previously held back would now submit their most stimulating work to a journal they perceive as more prestigious
validating
- "Validating submissions" doesn't fit the context
- The passage isn't about submissions that validate something, but about researchers changing their submission behavior due to perceived prestige
monitoring
- "Monitoring submissions" makes no grammatical or logical sense
- Submissions can't be described as "monitoring"
restricting
- "Restricting submissions" is contradictory to the described surge
- The journal implemented stricter standards, but the researchers' submissions themselves aren't restricting anything