To learn about common reasons why your submission might have been rejected, see Why was my submission rejected?
If you believe your rejection was unfair, submit a dispute using the steps below. Our team will investigate the issue and work to ensure unfair rejections don't negatively impact your account.
How do I dispute a rejection?
Before submitting a dispute, review Prolific’s guidance on what constitutes a fair or unfair rejection to check whether your situation qualifies.
Submit a dispute from this page by opening the chatbot and selecting "Dispute a rejection". You will then be able to provide supporting evidence and submit your dispute.
Our team will review your dispute and contact the researcher if further investigation is needed.
You will receive a follow-up message about the outcome and any actions will be applied to your account. You can check on the status of your rejected submission on your Submissions page.
Please note you can only contest each rejection once, and the outcome from the Support team review cannot be appealed.
What are the possible outcomes?
Rejection Valid - If our investigation confirms that the rejection was valid, the rejection will remain on your account and will not be overturned
Rejection Unfair - If our investigation determines that the rejection was unfair, we will remove the rejection from your account. Depending on the circumstances, you may also receive the expected study payment
Underpayment - If we find that a study underpaid you or you didn't receive adequate compensation for work completed (such as screening-out), our team will credit your account with the additional amount
Policy violation - Our mediation team works to educate researchers to ensure studies align with our policies. If there is a significant breach, we will take action on the researcher's account
Mediation
If your dispute requires further investigation, it will be passed to our mediation team. This team contacts the researcher to resolve issues such as:
Underpaid studies
Personal identifiable information concerns
Inappropriate communication
Unfair screen-outs
Unfair rejections (such as technical issues and NOCODEs)
Studies that violate our policies
The mediation process typically takes longer than a standard dispute since it involves communication between multiple parties.