All Questions
Tagged with writing-style peer-review
21 questions
32
votes
11
answers
12k
views
Is humor unacceptable in referee reports?
I am from a country where humor is a part of the culture, and I recently prepared the following referee report:
The manuscript solves an interesting problem, but, unfortunately, the
authors are a bit ...
- 477
1
vote
2
answers
209
views
Does a problem statement chapter contributes / addressing a research question by establishing a deeper problem understanding?
Considering a PhD thesis that use a problem statement chapter in the middle of the thesis. The reason for the chapter is that the required background information is only, fully available at this point....
- 564
0
votes
1
answer
196
views
Can I suggest certain proofreading software in article review?
The questions that deal with language errors during peer-review
(1
2 to name a few)
typically recommend suggesting the authors seek proofreading help from a person who is proficient in English.
From ...
- 398
18
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Rebuttal: directly address reviewers with "you"?
I'm writing a rebuttal (response to the reviewers) with a group of co-authors. Someone in this group changed all the formulations referencing the text of the review (e.g., "To address this point, ...
- 3,623
0
votes
1
answer
124
views
Question for review [closed]
What are the type of question you can ask someone when you send you manuscript to for review. The person may not necessarily be in your field.
- 173
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is it usual to write referee reports in the first person?
It is common to write papers in the third person, using sentences such as "The author(s) did this", "the author(s) thank XYZ" etc. Is the same convention true for referee reports? ...
- 99
1
vote
1
answer
418
views
How to response to the editor for a minor suggestion given by the reviewer via a formal letter?
I submitted a paper and after about five months the editor sent an email: "I have decided that your manuscript can be accepted for publication after you have carried out the corrections as suggested ...
- 13
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Writing High-Quality Research Papers [closed]
I have submitted a manuscript to a reputable journal, the article was rejected because it didn't pass the grammar check. The journal editor also mentioned the low quality of the figures.
My ex-...
user39171
18
votes
4
answers
3k
views
What is the recommended level of detail for published mathematical proofs?
Suppose I am writing a Mathematics paper to a peer review reputed journal. I have to go from step 1 to step 2 in the paper which needs the knowledge of some well-established theorem X. Can I go from ...
- 1,225
5
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Paper submitted with repeated sentences in the introduction
I have submitted a research paper to a peer-reviewed journal two months ago. It is my first submission. I have noticed two unfortunate elements in my introduction:
I wrote the same sentence twice in ...
- 4,384
-1
votes
2
answers
78
views
Experimental results summarized in a single large table OR smaller tables with subset of results?
In my experiment, I have obtained a large chunk of results for many different problems being effectively solved by my implemented hypothesis.
If I keep my results as subsets for each problem, then I ...
- 13.1k
29
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Refereeing a lazy, but correct paper [duplicate]
When refereeing a paper, I often have objections to the work that do not rise to the level of using the coercive powers of a referee to delay or reject the work. For instance, I find myself wanting to ...
- 4,807
1
vote
3
answers
5k
views
Dimensionless axis plots
How to properly label graphs that can be dimensionless?
One of reviewers of my document strongly emphasised on labelling plots with which I generally strongly agree. On this occasion, however, I was ...
- 113
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How should I adress (grammatically) a referee whose gender is unknown? [closed]
I'm responding to an anonymous referee who made comments and suggestions on an article I wrote.
Since I don't know the gender, I thought of two possibilities:
We agree with the referee on its ...
- 2,849
1
vote
1
answer
193
views
Reviewers asked me to make my conclusion more "analytical" - how?
The editors of my peer-reviewed article asked me to write a more analytical conclusion, one that is more conclusive...Any pointers on how I can make it more analytical and less of just a synthesis?
...
- 11
5
votes
2
answers
277
views
How one can learn to write successful cover letters and rebuttals to referees?
Having a good scientific idea and writing a good paper out of it are the most important steps in order to publish in high-ranking journals, but they are not the only steps needed. The other steps are ...
- 1,435
34
votes
4
answers
6k
views
What is too obvious to explain in a scientific paper?
Recently I had my paper reviewed for potential publishing. With no big surprise I need to make some adjustments to my paper. One of the criticisms was that my work lacks "textbook explanations" (e.g. ...
- 443
67
votes
11
answers
14k
views
How can I obfuscate my writing style when I review papers?
Does anyone have any good advice for obfuscating one's writing style when reviewing papers? I have a fear that I would inadvertently use the same turn of phrase in a referee report as in some ...
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
7
votes
4
answers
755
views
Revision letter and grammatical errors
I got a major revision and I will prepare a revision letter. The editor asked me to review my manuscript for grammatical errors, in addition to the scientific comments he made. Should I present all ...
35
votes
6
answers
15k
views
Should you correct grammar mistakes during peer review?
In almost any paper there is an abundance of classical errors, such as omitting the "s" at the end of a third person singular verb. I am growing tired of painstakingly listing the page and line for ...
- 1,149