You delay submitting the manuscript
You delay submitting the manuscript, missing the submission deadline, and decide to attempt to rectify the data collection error. These are the possible outcomes:
|  | You find that the mistake was limited to a select number of variables.
|  | You find the mistake was a systematic error
|  | After determining the cause of inconsistency, you determine that the overall impact on the interpretation of data would be minimal and submit to an alternate journal .