Tips on Responding to Reviewer Comments

An author’s response to reviewer comments can make or break a manuscript’s successful publication, but the process is filled with unforeseen pitfalls. In an article on The Incidental Economist, Austin Frakt shares his tips on responding to reviewer comments from an editor and reviewer perspective. He recommends quoting the actionable sections of a reviewer’s comments when responding to them. In addition, he recommends assigning unique numbers to responses to make responding to near-identical requests easier.

As well, he suggests being fully responsive, writing, “I am responsive to every comment. What is a response? This is an art. It’s everything I can think of within reason and within scope of the paper and that isn’t likely to raise new objections. Mostly it’s doing substantially more than just saying, “No we won’t.” (I call that giving a reviewer the “stiff arm.” It doesn’t feel good to them, so I don’t do it because I want them to like me and my paper.) That doesn’t mean do stupid stuff. At the least I explain why I considered the suggestion and decided against it, or refer the reviewer elsewhere for support for my view, etc.

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(Source: The Incidental Economist, January 29^th, 2022)