Handling a request for revision

After submitting your paper to a journal, you must wait for the Editor-in-Chief (or his deputy) to make a decision on your paper. If your paper goes through the full review process, the Editor will ask reviewers to make recommendations. Finally, the great day arrives when you receive the Editor’s decision, and the reviewer comments.

If the Editor requests a revision, you now have a very important task to do: respond to the reviewer comments. The most important things to remember are:

• Be fast
• Be polite
• Be clear

Be Fast

Most research is time-sensitive. Perhaps some other group is working on the same problem as you. You want to be first to publish.

If the reviewers have requested further research to strengthen your paper, inform the Editor that you will need extra time to complete the revision. He may be able to flag your paper in the submission system indicating it needs extra time. Some systems time out after a set number of weeks. Read More

Be Polite

Remember that you are dealing with people, not just a faceless submission system. The Editor-in-Chief and the reviewers are just like you—they have feelings, likes and dislikes, and many other calls on their time. They are not infallible, but offer their comments to help you to improve your paper. Read More

Be Clear

The Editor-in-Chief may deal with thousands of papers. He may not remember the details of your paper, and he certainly will not have the time to go through your revision line by line. Impress the Editor with your clear response. 

Request for revision – be clear

The Editor-in-Chief may deal with thousands of papers. He may not remember the details of your paper, and he certainly will not have the time to go through your revision line by line. Impress the Editor with your clear response.

Tips on making your revision clear

• Convert the reviewer comments into a list
• Respond to each comment directly under the list
• Indicate what has been done
• Indicate where the change has been made
• If necessary, supply a revised version of the paper with the changes highlighted, in addition to the unmarked revised version
• Remember that the reviewers were satisfied with the rest of your paper, so the Editor does not need to re-read all of your paper.
• Don’t ignore any reviewer comments!
• Add a cover letter to your revised submission, thanking the Editor and reviewers for their comments, that a detailed response to each comment follows, and a revised version of the paper has been uploaded.

Handling Reviewer comments

Finally, you have to respond to the reviewer comments. Here are some examples of common reviewer comments, and how to respond to them

By NT in Peer Review, Request for Revision on May 8, 2020