220
votes
I am an editor for a lousy paper and I found a better algorithm than theirs. Must I share it with them?
I think you are treading on thin ice, ethically speaking. Obviously you, as an editor, have no obligation to help the authors in any specific way, and you are free to tell them about your improvement ...
- 136k
143
votes
How to review a revised paper I have already rejected?
When you recommended rejection, you presumably listed a series of issues that made it unacceptable. On the revision, you go back and repeat the list of issues and simply say for each one, "The ...
- 13.5k
129
votes
Accepted
What to do when you notice that a value in your paper is wrong, once it is accepted but before it is published?
This is not a major revision. Just change the value in the final version. (And explain to the editor in the cover letter that you are correcting a typo. A misplaced decimal point is essentially a typo....
- 3,743
126
votes
What should PhD students do if they submit a paper to two journals and a reviewer notices concurrent submission?
If you are a seasoned reviewer you should know the rules, so falling back on being an inexperienced graduate student probably won't hold water. So clearly this was less a 'mistake' and more of a '...
- 10.2k
114
votes
Accepted
Is it acceptable, as a Reviewer, to ask the Editor about another reviewer?
I have a very simple solution to propose:
Write a message directly to the other reviewer whom you would like to know. Address it to the reviewer, not to the editor.
In the message, identify yourself ...
- 9,447
108
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning when the editor says a paper is "provocative"?
I do not think "provocative" in this context is 'provocative' ;).
I read the rejection letter to mean: You are attacking the current consensus, and this causes me (the editor and the ...
- 23.7k
99
votes
Accepted
Is it fair to desk-reject a manuscript because it breaks relativity?
That procedure would remove the ability to overturn incorrect mainstream results. But the author should explicitly address the issue
Whilst I appreciate the Bayesian reasoning involved here (high a ...
- 70k
93
votes
Accepted
Can I write a referee report too fast?
Fast is great! Just be warned that it means editors will like you and send you more requests so you’ll have to learn to say no. If you also say “no” quickly and suggest alternatives, then you’ll ...
- 33k
85
votes
Accepted
Masters' advisor uses my work without citing it - Journal decided to intervene
First, I think you have done the right thing in bringing this to the editor. A serial plagiarizer and abuser of students should be stopped.
Second, you can't control the situation anymore. The editor ...
- 375k
84
votes
Can you share some screenshots of editor's control panels?
The following screenshot is for Editorial Manager (used by Springer, Nature, APA, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, PLOS).
The action links on the left are where everything is done. Brief explanation of ...
- 133k
76
votes
Unexpected email from Computational and Applied Mathematics registering me as an editor and then sending me a paper to review - thoughts?
You (almost certainly) haven't been added as a member of the editorial team. You have simply been added to their database as a potential reviewer - an email like this is sent automatically when this ...
- 20.8k
74
votes
Journal published a paper, ignoring my objections as a referee
EDIT: The question has been changed since this was written.
Your key misconception is that the editor needs reviewers' permission to publish a paper. Actually, the decision to publish rests solely ...
- 99.7k
73
votes
Accepted
Journal published a paper, ignoring my objections as a referee
This probably isn't something to fight over. Possibilities abound:
Perhaps you misunderstood something.
Perhaps the other reviewers were positive on the paper.
Perhaps the authors provided arguments ...
- 133k
72
votes
Accepted
I got a very bad review from one reviewer, but the paper was not rejected
Since
the editor did not reject my paper and asked me to provide a revision
you can revise the paper and resubmit with a fair chance that it will be accepted. Respond to all the comments in the ...
- 37.5k
71
votes
How to deal with an unreasonable reviewer asking to cite irrelevant articles?
From your answer, we can guess that you received a "major revision" decision. In that situation, your job is to modified your manuscript according to the reviewers' comments, not to try to find out ...
- 5,754
71
votes
Accepted
Is it bad to withdraw a manuscript one day after its submission?
I am a co-editor of an interdisciplinary journal (social sciences/humanities). I would rather an author withdraw and get the piece into shape than for us to either read it and have to desk reject, or ...
- 2,193
71
votes
Accepted
Is it good courtesy to reply and express gratitude to an editor's long letter of rejection?
It's fine to express gratitude with a brief thank you, calling out the specific thing you are thanking for (the time taken to write a detailed response), and mentioning the benefit to you (for example,...
- 123k
67
votes
Accepted
What to do if a special case of a theorem is published
With the amount of papers that are published nowadays, it’s not rare that a result gets overlooked, whether your are an author, reviewer or editor.
If the proof published in the new paper is somewhat ...
- 55.5k
61
votes
Accepted
Should I withdraw my paper because the editor is delaying the report?
The situation is sub-optimal, but not as bad as you seem to think. Remember that being an editor to a scientific journal, even one published by Elsevier, is often a volunteer job. Moreover, the ...
- 45.9k
56
votes
How to tell reviewers that I can't update my results
A frequent response in experimental fields goes something like:
"We appreciate the reviewer's suggestion to use the 'X' technique, and do believe this could lead to an interesting extension of ...
- 13.3k
54
votes
I am an editor for a lousy paper and I found a better algorithm than theirs. Must I share it with them?
If the paper is overall lousy then simply reject it. I'm sure the reviewers would give you plenty of reasons for this.
However, if all it is, is a weak algorithm but otherwise well written, then it ...
- 2,782
54
votes
Reviewers’ comments are not sufficient to reject my paper, what to do?
You make the suggested changes, assuming you agree with them, and submit to another slightly less prestigious journal.
Most likely, the editors didn't think your paper was interesting enough for their ...
- 26.1k
52
votes
Accepted
Should I withdraw my paper because review is taking too long?
Implicit in your question is the assumption "if I withdraw my paper I will be able to get it published elsewhere faster".
Are you sure that will happen though? It's entirely possible you ...
- 133k
51
votes
Referee recommends paper rejection with no further comment - how to react?
Submit somewhere else.
The accept/reject decision is made by the editor, based on the recommendations of the referee(s). In this case, the editor felt that the referee's opinion of unsuitability, ...
- 134k
51
votes
Accepted
Paper with potentially inappropriately-ordered authors, should a journal act?
I would strongly encourage you to go for Option (1) - do nothing.
You are reading a lot into a very noisy signal. It's possible that something shady is going on, but it is also very possible that the ...
- 136k
49
votes
Identity of a supposed anonymous referee revealed through "Description" of the report
If the review itself is not signed, it sounds like the unblinding was not deliberate. I would:
Reply as if the review were anonymous
Notify the editor in a separate, private message saying there may ...
- 1,338
49
votes
Spot a possible improvement when reviewing a paper
Contacting the authors directly is a terrible idea. Don't go there. Contacting the editor with a question or request is fine. If you contact the authors directly and they interpret it as a form of ...
- 375k
47
votes
What should PhD students do if they submit a paper to two journals and a reviewer notices concurrent submission?
Your best course is to write your professor, both journals, explain your reason sincerely, and let them handle the situation as they see fit.
Everyone make mistakes, and sometimes they are bad ...
- 12.3k
47
votes
Paper rejected due to short reference list
the editors reject it on the basis of size of the reference list rather than focussing on the quality of the manuscript.
I think that's a false distinction. From the view of the journal (and most ...
44
votes
Accepted
What should I do if the author didn't do what I asked them to do when I reviewed their paper?
You seem to misunderstand the review process. The authors are not obliged to follow your suggestions. Typically, when authors submit a revised version of their paper, they also include a 'response to ...
- 20.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible