Category Archives: refereeing

peer reviewing your first paper

Posted on October 14, 2019 by pat thomson

Patter now has over 800 posts. It’s pretty hard to find things on here, even when you know what you’re looking for. Some of the elderly posts are, I hope, still useful. I’ve decided to start an occasional ‘best of’ … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, feedback, journal article, peer review, refereeing, reviewing, reviews | Tagged journal article, peer review, reviewing a paper | 1 Comment

there’s no such thing as a free publication

Posted on June 3, 2013 by pat thomson

This is a story told against myself. It’s about doing something that I really, really shouldn’t have done. Before I go on I will just say that the story is actually pretty trivial in the overall state of the world, … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, journal editor, refereeing, temptation | Tagged major revisions, Pat Thomson, temptation, the quick publication | 8 Comments

a case of conflicting reviewer comments

Posted on May 27, 2013 by pat thomson

So you’ve sent the paper into the journal and now the referee comments are in your in-box. You finally pluck up the courage to open the email and what do you find? Contradictory comments. Not helpful. Not at all. We … Continue reading →

Posted in conflicting reviews, journal, journal editor, peer review, refereeing | Tagged conflicting reviews, editor, journal, Pat Thomson, peer review | 5 Comments

seven reasons why journals reject papers

Posted on May 20, 2013 by pat thomson

I’ve written about rejections several times, and most of this is scattered throughout the blog, so I thought it might be helpful to amalgamate the most important points together. All in one place. There are some very common reasons why … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, premature publication, publishing, refereeing, rejection, writing, writing research | Tagged journals, Pat Thomson, reasons for rejection | 36 Comments

refereeing a journal article. part 3. writing the feedback

Posted on January 19, 2012 by pat thomson

Having read the article carefully, and decided whether it’s accept without change, revise and resubmit or reject, there is now the task of writing the feedback to the author/s. There are four things to keep in mind when writing feedback: … Continue reading →

Posted in feedback, journal, peer review, refereeing | Tagged academic publishing, feedback, Pat Thomson, peer review, refereeing | 16 Comments

refereeing a journal article. part 2: making a recommendation

Posted on January 13, 2012 by pat thomson

Journals always ask reviewers to recommend whether an article should be published as is, or whether the writer should do small or large revisions. They also ask if the article should be rejected outright. Making a publication recommendation can feel … Continue reading →

Posted in acceptance, journal, peer review, refereeing, rejection | Tagged acceptance of publications, Pat Thomson, refereeing, rejection of articles | 6 Comments

refereeing a journal article. part 1: reading

Posted on January 7, 2012 by pat thomson

So you’ve just got an article to review and you’re not sure how to go about it. Before even beginning to read, the first thing to get clear about is the STANCE you have to take as a reviewer. Once … Continue reading →