{"id":37473,"date":"2017-01-12T12:02:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T20:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=37473"},"modified":"2017-01-12T12:02:53","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T20:02:53","slug":"peer-reviewer-actually-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/peer-reviewer-actually-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"What did that peer reviewer actually mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"peer_review\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We all know that real estate agents write in code. Renovation potential<\/em> means it\u2019s a dump. First home buyer\u2019s dream<\/em> means it\u2019s a dump. Original condition<\/em> means it\u2019s a dump.<\/p>\n

Now, journal reviewers have codes too. You may find that sometimes you get reviews where it isn\u2019t immediately obvious what you are being asked to do. That\u2019s because the review is written in reviewer-speak. Reviewer-speak\u00a0\u00a0varies by disciplinary community and by cultural location. As well, each reviewer has their own idiosyncratic way of telling the writer what they think, some less polite than others. But there are patterns in\u00a0reviewer-speak. It is possible to identify it\u00a0when you see it. \u00a0Here are a few\u00a0examples:<\/p>\n

I suggest that author read further about\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

It would be helpful if the writer\u00a0took account of\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The paper could benefit from\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The author(s)\u00a0might familiarise themselves with\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

It would be worth the writer citing\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

So making suggestions about what to change in the paper is common. Well that\u2019s not too hard. These are things you might<\/em> do. They are not even recommendations. Just possibilities, right?<\/p>\n

Wrong.<\/p>\n

These are not suggestions<\/strong>. Strong reviewer recommendations are often couched politely. \u00a0Obliquely even. We all talk about the rude reviewers, but actually many more of your peers\u00a0write their reviews in this kind of language. Considerately. Hoping you won\u2019t take offence.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t be deceived. The reviewer is basically saying \u201cDo this. And if I get this paper back for re-review and you haven\u2019t done it you\u2019d better have a pretty good explanation for why not.\u201d<\/p>\n

And those\u00a0reviewer \u2018suggestions\u2019 often\u00a0point to very specific actions. For instance:<\/p>\n

The most recent writing in the field argues that<\/em>\u2026 \u00a0means<\/p>\n

\u201cRead more current material and work it in.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article would benefit from more detailed information about methods \u2026\u00a0<\/em>means<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to do some serious work on the methodology section in order for this to be taken seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article lacks a compelling conclusion \u2026\u00a0<\/em>means<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no So What here. I finished the paper and didn\u2019t have a clue why you wrote this. You have to have a message. Simply reporting your research won\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author might think about the match between the claims and the results<\/em>\u00a0\u2026 means<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think your research says what?\u00a0Unbelievable. You really need to match up the findings and the claims and implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d be a little more cautious in linking x and y<\/em>\u00a0\u2026 means<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they don\u2019t go together. X and Y can\u2019t be linked in this way. You need to change this.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, the nightmare scenario. Reviewers may appear to be saying different things. Take these excerpts from two reviewer comments:<\/p>\n

Reviewer 1: Perhaps it might be helpful to explore the conceptual and theoretical issues around identity and how that links to the issues around power in much more depth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reviewer 2: The theoretical approach brings together roles, identity and habitus as if these were commensurate concepts. Identity is not anchored to any theoretical paradigm, Bourdieu is given pretty short shrift and the potential of field theory is not explored. Role theory is used most in the paper even though it could be explicated more fully. One of these approaches needs to be adopted and explicated in detail.<\/em><\/p>\n

Both comments here do ultimately agree \u2013 they say\u00a0that the writer\u2019s take on identity is confused, perhaps even simplistic and facile. But\u00a0it would be a mistake to read these comments as minor. Reviewer 1 says more depth<\/em> while reviewer 2 says in detail<\/em>. Both of these\u00a0are code for a text requiring substantial rethinking and rewriting. This is not about a paragraph or a few more references. This is a fundamental reworking of the theoretical basis of the argument.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0Reviewer 2 is very\u00a0direct and more specific. Perhaps verging on rude. Blunt, certainly. However, although both reviewers say much the same thing, the writer might have a much better idea about what to do from Reviewer 2\u2019s comments. In many cases genteel\u00a0hedging\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0as helpful as it might be.<\/p>\n

This is just one example of the need to decode and read below the surface of reviewer comments.<\/p>\n

Of course, simply understanding the reviewer comments is not enough. There is always a choice about how to respond, about what to do. Writers can decide which or any or all of the reviewer comments they will attend to. Many writers, particularly if they\u2019re new, think that they have to follow each and every recommendation slavishly.<\/p>\n

Early career writers can treat reviewer reports as a set of exam questions to be answered. One writer Barbara and I know, for example, was critiqued for not showing the significance of her research to the field. Her solution was to insert two pages of additional literature work to show other scholars also addressing her research problem. The result was a mess. Her paper lost focus and balance. She answered the reviewer diligently and methodically, but at the expense of her own argument. A mentor helped her reduce these two pages to one paragraph and acknowledge the point, within reason.<\/p>\n

Keeping the integrity of the argument and the article is of paramount concern. Just like writers, reviewers don\u2019t always quite know what they are trying to say. At times, they know there is a problem, but they can\u2019t put their finger on it. So they have a stab at saying what they think is going on \u2013 the result is that it\u2019s not always clear what action might resolve the problem. \u00a0And reviewers can go off on a tangent; they see something interesting that may not be germane to the main argument. In this instance, the writer may need to say \u201cI\u2019ve made a note that this is a potential area to be explored, but not now.\u201d At other times, reviewers may make suggestions that disrupt the flow of the article or add unduly to the word length.<\/p>\n

The writer has to keep their eye on their own purposes \u2013 decode and attend to reviewers, yes \u2013 but not rigidly. It is important to remember that reviewer comments, however vital to the progress of the publication, are the backstory to the final performance \u2013 which is the published article. The actual performance \u2013 the paper \u2013 must be coherent and stand on its own. You can\u2019t let what happens backstage ruin the production.<\/p>\n

And, it always helps to ask experienced writer to help you to translate reviewer-speak and work out what you<\/em> want to do. And it can be a bit of fun to attend to the codes \u2013 in the absence of an actual review. Sharing reviewer-speak is a very educational after-work game. So do\u00a0add your favorite examples of reviewer-speak in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know that real estate agents write in code. Renovation potential means it\u2019s a dump. First home buyer\u2019s dream means it\u2019s a dump. Original condition means it\u2019s a dump. Now, journal reviewers have codes too. You may find that sometimes you get reviews where it isn\u2019t immediately obvious what you are being asked to […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":37474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[12428],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-37473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-peer-reviews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat did that peer reviewer actually mean? - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/peer-reviewer-actually-mean\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What did that peer reviewer actually mean? - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We all know that real estate agents write in code. Renovation potential means it\u2019s a dump. First home buyer\u2019s dream means it\u2019s a dump. Original condition means it\u2019s a dump. Now, journal reviewers have codes too. 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