The Review Process

The Review Process

Instructions for Reviewers
When your manuscript is received by the journal, an associate editor will send it out for review. Here are examples of the instructions provided to reviewers of manuscripts, from a variety of journals. If you study them, you can be aware of what the reviewers will be looking for in your paper. (PDF unless otherwise indicated).

Soil Science Society of America Journal
Journal of Forestry
Forest Science
Elsevier
Ecological Society of America Journals (Ecology, Ecological Monographs, Ecological Applications
Ecosystems
Biotropica
Canadian Journal of Forest Research (new)
Oecologia
Kluwer Academic Publishing
Northeastern Naturalists
Holzforshung PDF HTML
Journal of Ecology HTML

Sample Reviews
When you write a review, it is important to be fair, professional and not personal in your criticism, and to describe the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the paper. Specific examples will help the authors and the editors understand your points. Here are some examples of reviews (all PDF):

Biogeochemistry in Forests
Plant aluminum concentrations
Journal of Environmental Quality
Mercury and zebra mussels

as well as an article about reviewing:

Rights and Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers (pdf)

ACS is working on a video series entitled Publishing Your Research 101. Upcoming episode will address: Responding to reviewer comments and manuscript rejections html

Occasionally, there are funny responses (pdf)

Examples of Responses to Reviews
After you receive a review, unless your paper is rejected, you will be asked to respond to the reviewers' comments. You will need to submit a detailed accounting of your changes (or your reasons for not making changes suggested by the reviewers) as well as the revised manuscript. Here are some examples (html) of responses to reviewers.

WASP
Ecology
Ecosystems 1 2(PDF)
Canadian Journal of Forest Research