Questions tagged [peer-review]
On the evaluation of work (typically, a publication or grant proposal) by the author's peers. This includes: refereeing, which is often used to determine an academic paper's suitability for publication in a journal or conference; peer evaluation of teaching skills; peer review of research grant proposals; and post-publication review of a book or article, as is common in the field of mathematics.
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“Awaiting Referee Invitation” to “Awaiting Decision Approval” within 2 days!
My paper submitted through Scholar One had the following status for over 2 months: Awaiting Regional Editor's Recommendation. One fine day, the status was changed to Awaiting Referee Invitation. Then, ...
6
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2answers
609 views
What is research misconduct of Xuetao Cao about?
Recently on social media, news broke that Xuetao Cao duplicated or manipulated images in more than 50 papers of his. These accusations were brought to the public by Elisabeth Bik and explained in ...
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2answers
133 views
Why are authors not made anonymous during the review process? [duplicate]
During the review process of an article, the reviewers are (almost always) anonymous by default for obvious reasons.
Why are not authors also made anonymous?
It could help remove the weight that ...
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2answers
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Is it possible to change paper title after send back from reviewers for revising?
Me and my supervisor were written a paper on medical imaging as a part of my master thesis, we sent a paper to a journal for publishing, after a period of time the journal send us back the paper with ...
16
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8answers
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Should I tell an editor that I believe an article I'm reviewing is not good enough for the journal?
Here's the scenario: I was asked to review an article for a given journal. I did, the authors addressed my comments/corrections, and now the manuscript is back with me for a second time to review the ...
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21 views
Definitions of IEEE RAS review “dimensions”
When reviewing for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, you are asked to rate the submission on the following qualities:
Originality of concepts
Theoretical contribution
Technological ...
7
votes
4answers
243 views
Are there publicly agreed-on standards or definitions of what constitutes peer review?
It seems like a very difficult problem to discern whether a "peer-reviewed" journal is reputable. When a journal claims to be peer-reviewed, is there a commonly-agreed-on definition of what this means?...
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51 views
Question regarding the review process in IEEE Transactions on Multimedia [duplicate]
I looked over previous questions similar to this topic but did not find any answers I appreciate if anyone has a similar experience:
I submitted my paper to IEEE transactions on multimedia more than ...
22
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5answers
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How to react to unfair reviewer comments?
I'm in a situation where my paper is accepted conditionally, thus I need to revise it in some way as stated by the reviewers. While two reviews were encouraging and mostly constructive, the third ...
0
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2answers
132 views
Is it safe to use up all the words available in a word count limit when submitting a journal article?
Let's say that a journal article submission wordcount limit is 10,000 words. Does this mean that only really awesome or important submissions should be over 9,500 words? Or any article can be at 9,999 ...
5
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2answers
207 views
Is doing research alone and publishing solo frowned upon by colleagues and superiors in engineering sciences? [closed]
Research has become more and more complex and difficult to be successfully conducted by a single person. However, there are fields (such as some branches of engineering) in which a researcher can ...
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2answers
163 views
Basic paper outside area of expertise: reject or decline?
It sometimes happens that I receive referee requests for theoretical papers which deals with the same phenomena I do in my research, but from a totally different specific theoretical starting point. I ...
3
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2answers
169 views
Conflict of interests and the assignment of referee for a very narrow field
Consider a very small scientific field with three major contributors and a total of 15 authors, all of them had coauthored with everyone else.
In this field how could the editor choose referee for ...
9
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1answer
158 views
Ethics questions concerning a referee assignment
Asking this question here as it was suggested in one of the comments from MO.
I recently refereed a paper that I returned to the author(s) for revision. The thrust of their argument relied on a claim ...
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2answers
109 views
I read online that one should wait at least 1.5 months before submitting a revised article. Is this advisable? [closed]
Otherwise the editor and the reviewers will think that one's work was rushed. Do you concur?
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vote
1answer
71 views
Should I refer to the line numbers in the PDF generated by the submission system?
When you refer to your revisions in your revision submission, should you refer to line numbers in your manuscript document or the line numbers in the PDF generated by the submission system?
8
votes
2answers
259 views
What is the threshold for a software paper to be publishable?
I've been asked to referee a paper about a software tool. I'm struggling with whether this particular work is sufficient to warrant publication. The journal I'm reviewing for doesn't have a "...
2
votes
2answers
181 views
Sending a manuscript to editor of journal before submission to journal
I submitted my manuscript to two journals online (not at the same time). During the process of submissions I was asked to determine the editor and I selected the same editor in both journals. Need to ...
6
votes
1answer
1k views
Asking an academic for a cursory look at a paper
Suppose that Alice has a PhD but then left academia more than a decade ago. Alice has written a short paper on a topic unrelated to her thesis. Suppose moreover that :
the paper has been submitted a ...
32
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7answers
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Reviewer wants me to do massive amount of work, the result would be a different article. Should I tell that to the editor?
I received a major revision decision. But it is a strange one:
Reviewer 1 loved my article, called it excellent and recommended publication with very, very minor comments against it.
Reviewer 2 ...
1
vote
1answer
65 views
My R01 application was re-assigned to a study section that doesn't seem like a good fit (NIH)
I submitted my first ever R01 application a few weeks ago and indicated that it be assigned to a specific study section (let's call it study section A). Yesterday, I received an email from the chief ...
1
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0answers
44 views
Is Notes and Queries peer-reviewed?
Notes and Queries is a very famous and very long-running humanities journal, noted for its pioneering question-and-answer format. It's spun off a number of regional editions, a series of anthologies, ...
7
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1answer
154 views
How should I treat this prior work?
I submitted a theoretical paper about new algorithms to a computer science conference. Now I found out that the most important theorem of my paper was actually proved 20 years ago (in a workshop paper ...
16
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2answers
253 views
Does the GDPR cover reviewer blacklists, and if so, how? [closed]
I've served as an area chair for several conferences. Following the review period, the program chairs asked the area chairs to submit to them an annotated list of problematic reviewers. Mostly these ...
0
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1answer
100 views
Waiting with a lot of uncertainty [closed]
I have to choose between industry and academia (1 year left). I think the success of below two points according to me is a minimum qualification to get accepted for PhD. But I am afraid of total ...
1
vote
3answers
151 views
Should I withdraw a submission?
I worked on a paper in computer science (CS) from half a year approximately, so I decided to send it to the JUCS journal. They kindly informed me that they were not able to find enough reviewers for ...
1
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1answer
52 views
How to Present an (Essentially) The Same Proof, in a Different, Earlier Working Paper, in a Present Paper?
I was requested to provide a simple proof for a side assertion made in one of my submissions. Regarding feasibility, it can be done; but the simplest proof that I came up with is already present in ...
24
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2answers
7k views
Response to referee after rejection
I recently had a paper rejected: both referees pointed to a unique issue with our work. One referee's criticism was fair, hence I feel the rejection decision was fair.
The other referee however, ...
0
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1answer
152 views
Fairness of assigning different reviewers for final decision on paper
I recently submitted a paper to a journal. My paper came back with a reject and resubmission allowed decision. When I resubmitted the paper it went to other reviewers.
Under the journal's rules, this ...
1
vote
2answers
210 views
My accepted paper now appears as “under review” - could it still be rejected? [duplicate]
I have a paper that was accepted at a conference and in publication of conference special issues of a journal. The acceptance email stated that we will be contacted by the journal editorial office for ...
5
votes
5answers
182 views
Should I be asked to serve as a peer reviewer for other universities' Pre-Proposal Support efforts?
I received a request from the sponsored projects office person at a well known university, asking me to peer review a grant proposal that was in preparation at their university. The idea was for me ...
0
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3answers
171 views
Is it rude to ask the associate editor about manuscript status for second time?
About six months ago I submitted a paper in one of the very reputed IEEE Transactions. I have observed from different papers published in that journal that the average time for receiving the first ...
12
votes
2answers
7k views
Why is my paper “under review” if it contains no results?
I've recently submitted a paper for review for a reputed math journal. The main paper is just 2 pages (everything else being in appendix), where I setup a new problem, and the central result I had ...
21
votes
2answers
6k views
Paper status “Accept with Shepherd”. What does it really mean?
Recently, one of my works have received the status of Accept with Shepherd. We have received many suggestions from the reviewers.
I'd like to know in more detail in which real status is my paper and ...
7
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2answers
250 views
Paper unknowingly describing technical bias as if it was a biological phenomenon of interest
Let’s take a very hypothetical situation. Suppose that a scientific journal (let’s use Scientific Reports for the sake of the example) recently published a paper that seems to be completely off track. ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Is it appropriate to send out a manuscript under review to a professor?
I have a MPhil and planning to start my PhD soon. I sumbitted a manuscript to a popular journal in the field. After two rounds of major revisions, the editor is requesting a minor revision now. I ...
11
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4answers
10k views
Should I withdraw my paper because the editor is delaying the report?
I am clearly disheartened by the editor's behaviour:
I sent a manuscript for peer review nearly three months back to an Elsevier journal with impact factor 0.625 in mathematics.
I inquired about the ...
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vote
2answers
74 views
Giving feedback as external reviewer for grant application outside own field of expertise
Asked to be an external reviewer of a grant application, I think the proposal looks good, but I don't know the small field well, though I'm in the same big field. So it's a bit hard to write comments. ...
3
votes
1answer
227 views
Are there journals that prevent authors from contacting reviewers?
This question stems from a comment to a recent question - "instructions for authors at some journal(s) stating that authors should not contact (potential) reviewers".
I was wondering whether ...
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1answer
108 views
How should I refer to myself (single author) when addressing reviewers comments?
I'm referring to the detailed answer to each of their comments. For example, under each comment, which of the following is appropriate: "The author believes that...", or "We believe that...", or "I ...
5
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2answers
1k views
Should I answer a revise decision saying that I will?
Should I answer an EiC email that communicates a revise decision and sends me the reviews, saying that I will? Or just revise an upload the revised manuscript when it is ready?
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7answers
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Anonymous reviewer disclosed his identity. Should I thank him by name?
A "friendly" reviewer purposely disclosed his identity to me (the author) during a previous round of reviews of a paper that was not published back then. However, he helped me to make the article ...
2
votes
2answers
85 views
grant application review request [closed]
If reviewers get requests for reviewing grant applications from people they know personally, what should they do if they don't know how to comment, as the proposals are good, but don't want to quit ...
0
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1answer
89 views
Should I address an EiC by his given name after he undersigned an email with it?
An EiC very politely answered an enquire of mine via e-mail. He signed with his given name. In case I write to him again, should I keep greeting him as "Prof. [His surname]"? That strikes me as ...
2
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1answer
84 views
Citation problems, in supporting general information, what kind of paper should I cite?
A country implements the most stringent environmental regulations in a
region.
For a general statement/common knowledge like this, I cited a peer-reviewed journal paper, which has a similar claim ...
2
votes
2answers
204 views
Submission changed to a different status, but with the same explanation as the previous status
(this line is added later ) : The length of the paper is only 3 pages.
Soon After Submission
Article Status: Reviewing
Your paper is being reviewed by the journal’s editors and you will be ...
24
votes
3answers
5k views
Is it acceptable to say that a reviewer's concern is not going to be addressed because then the paper would be too long?
It is my understanding that philosophy papers have less chance of being published if they are over 7,000 or 8,000 words long. But at the same time we philosophers often complain that a given author's ...
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1answer
125 views
Evaluating Recommendation status [duplicate]
For a submitted paper, what does the status "Evaluating Recommendation" mean and how long does it last?
3
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2answers
113 views
Editor reviews paper directly
Is it possible for an editor to review the paper directly without inviting another reviewer if the editor feels familiar with the content studied in the paper?
37
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2answers
4k views
What do you do if you have developments on your paper during the long peer review process?
We all know that the peer review process of a manuscript can take months, and months, and more months. In this period, one continues to research, and sometimes your manuscript keeps experiencing small ...
