-- Toshihiko Shimamoto Invited professor ---------------------------------------------- State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics Institute of Geology China Earthquake Administration P. O. Box 9803 Beijing 100029, China E-mail: [log in to unmask] Tel. 86-(0)10-6200-9142 (office) Cell phone: 18600262139
[log in to unmask]" type="cite">While I agree with the assertion that it would be nice if editors culled a little more of the submissions which are simply not well prepared, I think it is something which can also be taken to extremes the other way. I have been a reviewer on several papers where the lead author clearly did not have english as their primary language, and as a result the manuscript was a challenge to read and understand, but where the science was so good, or the geology described was from such a novel new locality, that I felt happy to put in the hard work of helping the author with a thorough rewrite to bring it up to acceptable standards. I do this simply to make sure that the larger community will be able to see such valuable contributions rather than have them lost due to language difficulties. I think we would all be worse off if the editors had simply tossed such submissions in the circular file because they appeared to need too much work. Deciding whether a submission contains a "diamond in the rough" which is worth the effort to help an author bring it up to publishable standards is part of the task of editors and reviewers alike. As a reviewer, if I can see the diamond I will often put in considerable effort to help an author polish it up so that it is suitable for presentation. If I cannot see the gem buried in the rough, then I am more likely to give it only a cursory review and reject it as needing more work. Every submission is unique and I have great sympathy with editors who balance the scales between what is just shoddy preparation and what is a potentially valuable contribution from an author who simply needs some significant editorial help (which in the case on non-english speaking authors their advisors may not be able to provide).Scot Krueger
From: Tectonics & structural geology discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michel BestmannHi all,
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 10:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: inappropriate ms to review
I have to raise a topic probably many of us have to deal with. In the last couple of years I received more and more manuscripts to review which are not in an appropriate scientific style. Sometime it is obvious that the ms was written by a student and I do not want to blame him or her, they have to learn how to write a proper research paper. But it should be the task of the supervisor to instruct the student how to write an article and I expect that the supervisor will read carefully the ms before it will be submitted. But many times it seems that this is not the case. Even worse, once I have received a ms to review where the main author is a senior full professor and I only can use the term “it was terrible”. However it seems that also the coauthors sometimes did not read the ms before submission and also the quality of their contributions is in many times poor. Ironically, these co-authors produce by their own high-quality papers. But it seems that sometimes they do not want to make a big effort into other papers where they are obviously only marginally involved. Please do the reviewers a favor and do not contribute or do a proper job.
As we know all it is really a lot of work to do an in-depth review. As a reviewer it is not our task to do corrections which actually should be done before submission by the authors and the coauthors/supervisors. It is really annoying to read such kind of inappropriate ms.
Therefore I hope in future that only those ms will be submitted if all authors, coauthors and supervisors have carefully read the ms. And if you are not able (time problem) to stick to a deadline of i.e. special volume, o.k. no problem submit it later to another volume or journal.
But please do not bother the reviewers to correct your ms.
From now on I personally only will accept papers to review which are in a scientific appropriate style and as soon I realize that this is not the case I will refuse to continue with the review.
Finally I have to say: I also have received many excellent ms to review, from students and from senior full professors ;)
Best wishes
Michel Bestmann
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Michel BestmannPhone: +49 (0)9131-85.29026
GeoZentrum Nordbayern
University Erlangen-Nuremberg mobile +49 (0)176 24.82.85.86
Schlossgarten 5
D-91054 Erlangen
Germany
Email: [log in to unmask]
skype: elektro-michel
web-page:
http://www.elektron-performance.de.vu
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