Responding to Referee Reports: What Reviewers Want to See
Responding to Referee Reports: What Reviewers Want to See
Receiving and responding to referee reports can be a humbling experience, but they're vital steps in the peer review process. While the criticism inherent in a referee report may be hard to take, it provides a good opportunity to strengthen your work.
New to peer review? Start with our overview of what it is and how it works.
One of the most important rules to follow is to be diplomatic at all times. Thank the reviewer for their feedback and insight on every point they raised (we're serious). After that, make sure your response to each point is clear, thorough, and detailed. You will need to address every issue the referee has raised.
How to Write a Strong Response
When the reviewer's feedback has prompted you to make changes, point them out clearly. State where in the text you incorporated those changes. For example, if you needed to add a new sentence, indicate exactly where it is (e.g., "at the end of the third paragraph in the Introduction section" or at a specific line number).
Journal articles will typically have at least two reviewers. Make sure to reply to them separately. Although it depends on the journal, the referees are unlikely to see each others’ comments, nor your responses. Thus, writing "see our response to Reviewer 1" may not address Reviewer 2's concerns.
How to Handle Disagreement
Disagreeing with a referee is not a problem, but some finesse is necessary. Acknowledge that the points the referee has raised are legitimate (even if you don’t think they are) before explaining why you disagree or are declining to make the suggested changes. Be clear—it’s fine to state that a reviewer’s suggestion goes beyond the scope of your study, for example. Just make sure you address the disagreement as respectfully as possible (the phrase "We respectfully disagree," even if trite, can be really helpful here).
Although the peer review process is referred to as adversarial, authors and reviewers have the common goal of making sure a paper is as strong as possible. Above all, assume the best about the referee and their suggestions and criticisms. The purpose of the peer review process is to ensure that publications are academically rigorous and make real contributions to our knowledge of a topic, and reviewers take that responsibility seriously.
What Happens After You Submit Your Response
Once appropriate revisions have been made and the peer review process is complete, the next step is typically to progress toward publication. If your manuscript required only minor changes, the new version is typically reviewed by the editor and published if the text has been updated to their satisfaction.
If the referees indicated that major changes were necessary, the paper essentially enters another round of peer review. Depending on the reviewers’ opinions, the revised paper can be accepted for publication or returned for further revision (or rejected). There’s no limit to the number of rounds of peer review, at least in principle. Fortunately, if the reviewers are satisfied with the first round of revisions, the paper is unlikely to need extensive further revision or to be rejected.
Peer review can be stressful, but it’s necessary, and it’s a good opportunity to develop an individual study as well as your overall research program.
Common Mistakes We See as Editors
As editors, we tend to see a few recurring issues when we edit referee responses. A common, and significant, problem is lack of completeness. It can be easy to skip over part of a reviewer’s list of concerns and neglect to address one or two points. Although we don’t know your research and can’t make new content, we can compare what the reviewer is asking for and what you’ve provided and help guide you toward a complete, clear response.
Another important—but fortunately less common—issue is the less-than-diplomatic response. While the convention to thank the referee for every point may seem excessive, it’s an expectation in most fields. It’s fairly easy to address, and we can note where your language may need to be smoothed over.
Other problems in referee report responses are those we tend to find in all types of writing: Disorganization, lack of logical progression, unclear phrasing, flaws in development (e.g., insufficient supporting detail for an argument), and grammatical errors.
Get expert support for your peer review response
Are you working on a response to journal reviewers? Our experts can provide a point-by-point review of your text, as well as edited versions of your manuscript and response letter, to ensure that you’ve fully addressed your reviewers' comments—and help get your paper accepted faster.
