Prolific rejections
A plain-English guide to rejections on Prolific - what's normal, what to do about an unfair one, and how to check a researcher before you start.
A Prolific rejection happens when a researcher decides your submission didn't meet their study's requirements. The submission is unpaid and it lowers your approval rate - the score Prolific uses to decide which studies you can see. A few rejections across a long history is normal; a pattern of them from the same researcher is the kind of thing worth checking first. On Prolific Tea you can look up any researcher's rejection count and approval rate, reported by real participants, before you accept their study.
Most active participants keep an approval rate at or above 95%. An occasional rejection across hundreds of studies is normal and rarely a problem. What matters more is the pattern: a single researcher with an unusually high rejection count, relative to their review volume, is the signal to watch - and exactly what a researcher profile here makes visible.
Prolific does not publish a single fixed number. Rejections lower your approval rate, and a low approval rate limits the studies you can access. Repeated or clustered rejections can trigger an account review. One honest rejection is not the end - but it's worth understanding why it happened and whether the researcher rejects often.
Yes. Message the researcher first through Prolific and politely ask them to reconsider, referencing the specific task and what you submitted. Researchers can reverse a rejection. If they don't respond or the rejection breaks Prolific's rules, contact Prolific support to mediate. Keep your messages factual and calm - it works better than it sounds.
An unfair rejection is one without a valid, study-related reason: being rejected after passing the attention checks, for a researcher's technical fault, for time limits that weren't stated, or with no explanation at all. Prolific requires researchers to justify rejections. If yours can't be justified, appeal it - and leave an honest review so others know.
Search the researcher by name, institution, or study title from the homepage. Their profile shows a rejection count and approval rate from real participant outcomes, and you can filter the reviews to read only the rejections and what happened in each. The browser extension shows the same ratings inside your Prolific study list.
Check a researcher before you start
Look up any researcher's rejection history and approval rate, reported by participants who actually took their studies.