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I am a graduate student. I recently completed the review of a submission and its subsequent revision for a journal in my field, in the peer review process. My comments were taken into account by the authors, and the entire process went fine.

Since it was my first time, I'd like to get some feedback on my reviews. I had a professor read over them before turning them in for tone and content, but am thinking of contacting the editor who asked me to review to ask for feedback as they are more involved in the process and have spent time on the paper and the reviews.

Is this acceptable? Recommended? What other avenues are there for getting such feedback?

Edit: I can and have looked at the other reviewers' reviews. They are pretty similar to mine, perhaps a bit more aggressive and to the point.

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    I have done this a couple times, and the editors did not seem to mind. That said, the feedback was fairly bland. ("Looks like you did a good job, thanks for your efforts!") So I'd say go ahead if you like, but probably don't expect detailed suggestions.
    – academic
    Jun 2, 2020 at 17:06
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    I have done this at least once, even asking to doublecheck the review before it would be sent off to the author. (It was one of those cases where you don't quite know whether it's you who is new to the subject or the authors who are being sloppy.) The editor smoothed a few judgmental statements, which I think was a win-win (no content got lost).
    – darij grinberg
    Jun 2, 2020 at 18:11
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    As editor I never had a request like this but I'd have no problem with it and would respond.
    – Christian Hennig
    Jun 2, 2020 at 22:41
  • Some journals send you the complete review as sent to the authors, so you can get some feedback on the quality of your review, by comparing your comments to those from the other reviewers.
    – user000001
    Jun 3, 2020 at 7:19
  • @academic Perhaps you should write feedback about the editor's feedback!
    – JiK
    Jun 3, 2020 at 12:42

2 Answers 2

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This is totally acceptable. It means more work for the editor, of course, but I think most of us are also teachers and hope that by helping you become a better reviewers, that we can draw on your again in the future.

In particular, in your email, you might want to ask whether it is possible to get the other reviews. That may, strictly speaking, not be quite allowed, but I have often done that to help younger scientists see what other reviewers saw in the paper in question.

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    At least in my field, it's pretty common (I'd go so far as to say standard) that reviewers see other reviews along with the authors' responses.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Jun 2, 2020 at 19:00
  • I do see the other reviews!
    – Théophile Cantelobre
    Jun 2, 2020 at 20:09
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Your initiative is commendable.

IT is a very sensible thing to ask, especially if you are interested in mainatining contact with the editorial board of that journal. However, receiving an answer, let alone a meaningful one, is very situational and depends on the character of the editor, the workload, the mood, the dynamics among editors etc. There is certainly no harm, however.

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