All Questions
2,517 questions
60
votes
4
answers
5k
views
How to discourage irrelevant self-citation?
I once reviewed a manuscript whose authors cited many of their own published papers, which were not relevant to the subject of the manuscript. This kind of practice is evidently frowned upon by the ...
- 8,578
60
votes
4
answers
9k
views
How to offer a reviewer to be co-author?
I currently have a paper submitted to PNAS. We had two rounds of revisions, and following detailed suggestions from one reviewer, we have improved our proposed algorithm a lot: its complexity is now ...
- 74.1k
59
votes
8
answers
16k
views
Is it normal that a peer reviewer would ask for an executable file in order to check my results?
I have just received a decision letter for my submitted manuscript to an Elsevier journal. It was a revise and resubmit. However one of the reviewer asked for an executable file in order to check my ...
- 730
59
votes
7
answers
8k
views
Is requesting to change US units to SI units reasonable?
A paper I am reviewing very clearly originates from the US. The authors don't use SI units.
As a European, I am always put off by non-metric units and I would like to request to change the units to SI ...
- 22.6k
58
votes
7
answers
11k
views
Peer review: Is this "citation tower" a bad practice?
I am peer-reviewing an article "A" and I found something interesting. The authors use a mathematical lemma (which is just an inequality) for which they cite article "B". I have ...
- 653
57
votes
2
answers
7k
views
A journal editor has pretended my referee report actually came from two separate referees
I have encountered another weird situation as a referee. A couple of months ago, I submitted a referee report for an article, asking for major revisions. (This is theoretical physics, in which ...
- 21.1k
56
votes
5
answers
7k
views
How do people peer-review many papers?
I am an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. I try to be an active peer-reviewer but on average it takes a few hours to review a manuscript (reading, some searches in the literature, checking some ...
- 551
56
votes
5
answers
7k
views
When reviewing a manuscript for the second time, is it fair to comment on aspects I did not realise the first time?
I refereed a manuscript and recommended a major revision. Now, almost three years (!) later, the manuscript has come back to my desk. The editor told me to treat it as a revision and not as a new ...
- 43.8k
56
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Attributing contributions to academic work that occur in Stack Exchange
Sometimes we may ask questions on stack exchange or online forums wherein the response is helpful or even essential to a piece of work that gets published in an academic journal. If this occurs, how ...
- 673
55
votes
10
answers
17k
views
I have been asked to change the review I gave to a paper
I rejected a paper after careful review and consideration, writing six pages to justify my decision.
In less than 24 h I have received a petition to change my verdict to major changes. The rationale ...
- 685
55
votes
6
answers
21k
views
How should I interpret "English is poor" review when I used a language check service before submission?
Recently I submitted a manuscript to an international journal. It was accepted with a minor revision, but I am worried about the reviewers’ comments. The first reviewer commented that the paper is ...
- 6,546
55
votes
4
answers
14k
views
What to do when you notice that a value in your paper is wrong, once it is accepted but before it is published?
8 months ago, I have submitted my paper to the top journal in my field and finally it got accepted. Unfortunately, I have found one wrong table entry (Experiment Section), which is not a logical value ...
- 5,432
55
votes
5
answers
16k
views
Double blind peer review when paper cites author's GitHub repo for code
I and my coauthor wrote a paper and the project involved creating a (small) software library. Part of the novelty of the paper is the output of the code, which is a digital object not intended for by-...
- 1,313
54
votes
8
answers
10k
views
How to handle plagiarism on method that does not affect outcome results when reviewing a paper?
I was reviewing a paper related to my field (computational fluid dynamics) a while ago and, while reading a part of the methodology section where the numerical scheme and the equations were explained, ...
- 2,186
54
votes
8
answers
7k
views
Why don't all disciplines follow a double-blind review system?
I'm new to the journal publishing world, and I can't but help wonder why the review process isn't completely blind? By blind, I mean the reviewers don't know who performed the research or (more ...
- 4,653
53
votes
7
answers
12k
views
Should I continue reviewing a paper after having discovered plagiarised content in it?
I received an invitation to review for the International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing. I started to analyze the manuscript by reading the title, abstract, introduction, results ...
- 969
53
votes
4
answers
10k
views
Do peer-reviewers ignore details in complicated mathematical computations and theorems?
Upon reading many papers in my field, which is Mathematics. I have come across many complicated theorems and proofs in which long overwhelming computations have been done. While paying attention to ...
- 2,388
53
votes
4
answers
9k
views
What to do if a colleague is reviewing an unchanged paper that has been rejected before on my recommendation?
Around a year ago, I reviewed a paper for a journal. The originality of the paper was questionable, and content and presentation were severely lacking throughout. Consequently, both another reviewer ...
user42643
53
votes
3
answers
6k
views
When refereeing a paper, stating I am not an author of suggested literature
When getting reports for papers submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, referees sometimes suggest that some missing items be added to the list of references. In my short career I have seen all possible ...
- 7,957
53
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Can I submit a paper under an alias so as to avoid trouble in my country?
I have done research on a topic that is very sensitive in my original country. I want to submit a paper to a (well-rated) Computer Science conferences, but I do not want to use my real name or ...
- 533
53
votes
4
answers
6k
views
If a reviewer makes significant contributions to improving a paper, may he/she suggest becoming a coauthor?
I was asked by the editor of a mathematical journal to review a submission by an author (unknown to me) which heavily relies upon some of my earlier work. I do not have much experience with writing ...
- 623
52
votes
6
answers
11k
views
How should I respond to a reviewer's complaint about self-citation?
Recently, I submitted an article and got a response from a reviewer that I cited 6 of my own articles out of 44. The reviewer said that it’s a cheap act of self promotion.
If I do not cite my own ...
- 5,141
52
votes
9
answers
12k
views
Advisor getting involved in semi-pseudoscience
I am a final year PhD student and recently my advisor started collaborating with some people engaged in what I would call semi-pseudoscience. For the sake of anonymity, I won't give the details but ...
- 631
52
votes
7
answers
10k
views
Should I agree to review papers as a postdoc?
I am a post doc in mathematics, and was just sent a request to review a paper. This is the first time it happened to me. I never heard of this journal before, but it is a Springer journal, and upon ...
- 1,365
52
votes
7
answers
12k
views
How detailed should my review of a very poorly-written manuscript be?
My question has to do with whether my responsibilities as a reviewer also includes copyediting duties.
I am in the midst of reviewing a manuscript for a mid-tier applied health sciences journal. ...
- 817
52
votes
4
answers
5k
views
Is there any evidence that double blind peer review systems are beneficial?
Every so often, I stumble upon a question concerning "double blind peer review", i.e., the authors don't know the reviewers (as usual) but also the reviewers don't know the identity of the authors.
...
user9646
52
votes
5
answers
4k
views
What goes into a proper review of a paper?
I've been asked to review a paper for a publication. I've always been teaching faculty, not a researcher and I've never done a review before, but the paper is within my area of expertise and I have ...
- 31.3k
51
votes
7
answers
15k
views
Examples of harmless mistakes (on purpose) in submitted papers [closed]
Some paper reviewers feel the pressure to criticize something in order to appear competent. Sometimes they feel this pressure due to huge blank form fields for criticism in the reviewing system. As a ...
- 571
51
votes
5
answers
13k
views
Declining a paper review after accepting it and seeing the manuscript
Most of the time, when I am invited to review a paper, I am only provided with the title and abstract. The full manuscript becomes available only after I have agreed to review the paper. As per this ...
- 9,038
51
votes
9
answers
29k
views
I got a very bad review from one reviewer, but the paper was not rejected
Some time ago, I submitted my paper to a reputable journal (but far from being one of the best in my field) and have recently received two reviews. One review was positive overall and the reviewer ...
user85088
51
votes
4
answers
8k
views
Inappropriate reference requests from Journal reviewers
A journal article I submitted to a highly reputable journal has been returned with a number of revisions requested, most of which are useful and helpful and will improve the quality of the article. ...
- 993
51
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Discovered a serious error in a reviewed paper after submitting the review, what to do?
I have been reviewing a paper where the authors apply a computational method from an earlier paper they published to a specific system of general relevance. The paper seemed ok, and I recommended ...
- 19.1k
51
votes
4
answers
7k
views
A frequent reviewer seems to have a grudge against me. What to do?
(Asking on behalf of a friend.)
I work in math, in a field where reviews are not double-blind: reviewers are anonymous, but review copies of papers include attribution. I’ve received several reviews ...
- 803
51
votes
6
answers
115k
views
When / how should I ask about a manuscript's status in review?
I have a manuscript that has been in review for 60 days. The journal asks for reviews within four weeks. At what point is it acceptable (and not detrimental) to contact the editor for an update? How ...
- 3,341
50
votes
15
answers
17k
views
How to handle a paper by a reviewer who wants to be paid?
A reviewer declines to review a paper because he wants to be paid. Some time later, this reviewer submits a paper to the journal (or to another journal who's aware of what happened – very possible ...
- 137k
50
votes
7
answers
14k
views
I have a strong suspicion and weak proof that the data in the paper are fake. What to do?
I reviewed a paper submitted for a smallish magazine. It presented an algorithm to perform some allocation task and compared its performance to that of several other algorithms from the literature ...
- 603
50
votes
2
answers
14k
views
Responding to a reviewer who misunderstood key concepts of a paper
How do you respond to a reviewer who is very critical about your paper but from whose comments you can easily see that he/she has misunderstood the key concepts of the paper?
In my case, the first ...
- 1,838
49
votes
8
answers
6k
views
Is there hard evidence that the grant peer review system performs significantly better than random?
Funding agencies in academia use peer review to assess the quality of submitted grant proposals and to decide which proposals should be funded. I have some doubts that this system actually works based ...
- 9,829
49
votes
4
answers
9k
views
Withdraw manuscript from peer review after finding a major error
I just received a major revision decision (1st round) for a manuscript I submitted to a reputable journal. After looking into one of the reviewer's comments I found a major error in my analysis. The ...
- 341
49
votes
2
answers
6k
views
A paper review I've undertaken turning out to be harder than expected
I recently agreed to review a journal paper (in theoretical computer science). After I started to read it in depth, I found out it is much harder than I expected - over 60 pages with over 20 theorems ...
- 17.2k
48
votes
12
answers
14k
views
Referee wants me to add a plot – because the paper has none
Referee comments for my paper have just arrived: while one makes some circumstantial and useful observations, the other asks me to add a plot:
The paper still does not contain a single plot. I ...
- 933
48
votes
6
answers
8k
views
Should I review papers according to my conviction about correct methodology or according to the usual methodology applied in published papers?
If you disagree with most of the research community about some methodological questions**, how should you act as a reviewer of a paper?
Should you review as most reviewers would? Or should you follow ...
- 13.6k
48
votes
4
answers
73k
views
How to suggest reviewers for a journal?
I recently tried submitting a paper to a journal. It was mandatory to suggest three reviewers. Is this a norm in journal submissions? If yes, how should one choose reviewers if I do not personally ...
- 5,077
47
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Why do reviews of articles often start with a summary of the article?
In my field, peer reviewers often start their review with:
This article reports on a study that did X, using Y, in the area of Z. It found ...
This seems like a waste of time and effort to me (and ...
- 2,593
47
votes
11
answers
10k
views
How do I continue work if I love my research but hate my peers?
I am an established researcher in my discipline, which is a sub-field of computer science. In the last years, I have successfully published papers and generally enjoyed doing research, as in ...
- 1,685
47
votes
8
answers
4k
views
Can I publish the reviews I write?
This is a follow-up question to Open versus Blind reviewing process, and is somehow related to What happens to the reviews that people write for journal articles after they're sent back to the ...
user102
46
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Can I write a referee report too fast?
As a math postdoc, I received my first invitation to referee a journal article today, and I accepted the invitation. I've already read a preprint of the submitted article (which has been available on ...
- 558
46
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Contractions ("can't", "don't") in a mathematical paper
I am refereeing a paper (a good one) for a mathematical journal. The author repeatedly writes like this: "we can't do", "we don't know" etc. He is not a native English speaker, and this paper is his ...
- 579
46
votes
7
answers
8k
views
Referee made a mistake but recommended acceptance, what to do?
I recently received a referee report on a math paper in a mid-tier journal.
In this paper I proved (to give an example avoiding technicalities) that all dogs are cute.
But the referee claimed in his ...
- 441
46
votes
6
answers
4k
views
As a Ph.D. student, should I spend time reviewing papers?
I am a PhD student halfway through my journey. After I published a few papers, I am getting review requests from some medium rank conference and journal editors. While certainly it is an honour for me,...
- 1,625