How do authors feel when they receive negative peer reviewer comments? An experience from Chinese biomedical researchers [Download research paper]

The purpose of peer review is to provide constructive feedback to authors in order to help improve the quality of their manuscript. Unfortunately, however, peer reviewers sometimes fail to empathize with authors and provide their feedback in a manner that is overly critical, harsh, or superficial and dismissive. This can be frustrating for authors who look forward to receiving valuable inputs from peer reviewers that will help improve their work. Negative reviewer comments defeat the very purpose of peer review as they leave the author frustrated, demotivated, and unsure of how to improve their work. This study tries to understand what kind of reviewer comments authors - particularly non-native English speaking authors from China publishing in international English language journals - perceive as negative; how they react to negative reviewer comments; and what, if any, long-term impact such comments have on the authors’ confidence and motivation levels. This article, published in the European Science Editing, has been reprinted with permission.

Citation: Majumder, Kakoli. "How do authors feel when they receive negative peer reviewer comments? An experience from Chinese biomedical researchers." European Science Editing, 42 no. 2 (2016): 31-35