Peer review primer: 7 tips on responding to peer review comments
Leah de Haan
It is always exciting, and a bit nerve-wrecking, when you receive feedback from a journal to which you submitted your article. Especially intimidating can be the peer review comments that accompany the journal’s editor’s decision on moving your article forward in the evaluation process.
There are two key points to keep in mind when you get comments back from the reviewers. First, the journal’s editor decided to send your article out for review because they saw something interesting and new in it. Second, peer review is not only beneficial to the journal as a way of getting an unbiased verdict on an article from experts in the field, but it is also a great moment to improve your article. Based on these ideas and my own (limited) experience, here I share my seven tips.
1. Don’t be defensive
From experience I can say that it is very easy to read the negative comments on the article which you have painstakingly researched, written and improved and be quite frustrated. What gives them the right? Can they not see how much time you have put into this?
However, I have learnt that this is both unfair on the reviewer and not very helpful. These critiques, which most likely come from key people in your subfield, will be able to make your article and further research significantly better, if you let them. Of course it is important that the key message of your article is not lost, and you should fight to ensure that this does not happen. But make sure to get some distance and try to be as objective as possible when incorporating the comments into your article.
2. See this as a learning moment
Throughout the process of writing a paper asking colleagues and mentors for comments is invaluable, but it is important not to see the submission process at a journal as the end of this. The reviewers may suggest alternative interpretations, introduce you to other reading material or show you how a particular part of your article could be read in a way you did not intend. Follow up on all of these comments, not just to improve the article you are currently working on but also to see how it can enrich your research going forward.
3. Take your time to understand the key advice…
To benefit most from the peer review process, the most important thing is to take your time reading through all the comments to see the broader lines of advice that are being recommended. Then make sure to adequately incorporate these into your article. More often than not, this does not simply mean changing some wording in your conclusion — you will have to be happy to make more substantial changes. Remember, you are not making the changes simply to please the journal’s editor, but the changes will improve your article.
4. … but don’t miss the smaller details
This, however, does not mean that you should disregard the smaller changes. If a sentence is hard to read, change it. If the explanation of a term is not clear, improve it. Not only are these the easiest ways to boost your article, but you make the editing phase after acceptance easier too. At International Affairs, the editing process is done in-house by our team who you will be communicating with throughout the production process and we will very much appreciate this…
5. Be specific and clear in your reply
Each of the reviewers may have different ways of structuring their comments. This can mean that when it comes to responding to the different comments your response can get a little messy. Be proactive in trying to avoid this. Separate out the different suggestions for revisions, explain what you have done to meet these suggestions and use page numbers to highlight where these changes have been made. This way you will make sure to reply to each specific piece of advice and it is easy for the editor to see where the changes have been made.
6. Be polite
I’d like to think this is obvious, but make sure you are polite about both the reviewers and to the editor. The editor has taken the time to assess your article and has thoughtfully selected reviewers who will help improve you it. The reviewers, especially those with the longest list of specific critiques, have taken time out of their busy schedule to carefully read your article. While it may feel difficult to respond to more stringent critiques in a polite way this is definitely the way to do it — not to mention a key way to ensuring your article is accepted.
7. Make changes
This is the last moment to improve your article. So, armed with the comments of the reviewers, make sure to change your article. It is not enough to simply acknowledge that the reviewers’ comments are good suggestions or to make token changes, make sure the advice is reflected throughout the revised version of your article. This does not necessarily mean making all the changes that are suggested, but a good rule of thumb is to make the change unless you have a good justification for not making it. You will be expected to explain why you are not incorporating certain advice. Remember that the editor has looked at the comments and agreed with them enough to send them on. Try to find the right balance between being your article’s advocate and objectively listening to the advice in order to improve and clarify your argument.
Leah de Haan is the Marketing & Project Assistant for International Affairs.
This blogpost is part of our Editor’s Desk series.
Read more from the series here.
All views expressed are individual not institutional.
