Revising after Peer Review
Welcome to TEA Delivered, the newsletter of The Editorial Ally (TEA)!
Academics recognize that part of the writing process is revising your manuscript after peer review. But that doesn’t make it easy—emotionally, intellectually, or logistically. Finding the emotional stamina to revisit your manuscript and new ways to conceptualize or format your project is just hard (not to mention the challenge of keeping the feedback and revisions organized). Here are a few tips to make the experience a little easier.
Process the reviews on your own schedule. I once received (and read) peer reviews at 11 pm. Thankfully, the reviews were mostly positive, and I didn’t lose a night’s sleep. But on another occasion I read a pretty tough peer review (on my phone hiding in the bedroom) during a family vacation—definitely not a good choice. Now I try to wait and read the peer reviews when it works best for me rather than the minute they pop up in my inbox.
You don’t have to integrate all of the reviewers’ feedback. It’s your manuscript, and at the end of the day, it will bear your name. I encourage authors to seriously consider all of the reviewers’ comments, but do not feel obligated to act on everything they propose. In the end, you will feel most proud of a publication that matches your vision.
Stay organized. Once you go through the reviews and decide which ideas you want to incorporate into the next draft, then you need a system for organizing the feedback. Some people use a spreadsheet for this stage and chart things such as intended changes, chapter/section where the change will be applied, any additional research required, and when it is done. Others create a Word document, where they organize the feedback they plan to incorporate by chapter and then mark when they have completed the change. A third option is to use the comment feature in Word to add the relevant feedback from the reviewers directly to the manuscript. All of these options work because they enable you to move through the manuscript, insert the applicable feedback at the appropriate place, and keep track of what you have finished. And while keeping track of what you have accomplished is important logistically, it also helps with morale to visualize your progress!
Revising after peer review often feels like one more tedious step in what is a very long publication process. But remember: if you are revising after peer review, then you are approaching the finish line of the marathon that is academic publishing. Adopting a strong mindset and staying organized can help make this task a little less arduous.
Keep writing (and revising!)—
Katherine
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