7

Some weeks ago I completed the first draft a paper. I then decided to approach one of the experts in the field, who is working at the same school as I. She seemed interested and were willing to read the draft. However I sent her the draft ~ 5 weeks ago, and I have not heard from her since then.

I am now wondering if this is normal? Can I send her an e-mail and ask if she has looked at it yet (or is that considered inappropriate?).

I am getting quite stressed about this, the reason being that my advisor expects a draft of a new paper soon, and it would be valuable to have her comments before I talk to my own supervisor (who knows less about the subject I am writing my paper about).

Improve this question
1
  • 6
    You don't say what field you're in and how long the paper is. Reading a short paper that's mostly text doesn't take long; reading forty pages of dense mathematics can take weeks or even months. Also, why on earth are you writing papers that your own supervisor doesn't know about?
    – David Richerby
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 15:22

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
10

After 5 weeks, I think you can safely assume that she has forgotten about it. You can either accept that you will not hear back from her, or send a polite reminder.

Most people do not mind a friendly reminder about tasks that they have committed to but forgotten about. It is definitely not inappropriate. However, it is of course possible that she simply has no time after all, but then the right thing for her to do is to just tell you.

Improve this answer
4
  • Thank you, what confuses me is that she seemed interested the first time we met, and encouraged me to contact her if I had more ideas. But maybe she has just forgotten as you say.
    – Phd
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 14:09
  • Maybe I should add that 4 weeks ago I sent to her a new draft (corrected some errors). I do not know if she got put off by this. Would an friendly reminder still be appropriate?
    – Phd
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 14:23
  • 2
    @Phd Yes, a friendly email every few weeks can hardly be over the top.
    – xLeitix
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 14:27
  • ok, thank you! I really appreciate your help.
    – Phd
    Commented Jun 10, 2014 at 14:28

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .