Q: Should I review a manuscript again if the authors didn't address my comments in the first round of review?
I have done a peer review for a manuscript. I was requested its re-review and I agreed. However, I found that the author answered only to the comments made by other reviewers, excluding mine. I assume that the journal editor did not send my comments to the author. In such case, do I have to do a re-review? Or, can I just resend my original comments again?
As a reviewer, you have the right to ask the same questions again if the author has not received and/or addressed your comments in the first round of revisions. However, care should be taken to assess if your comments were overlapping with other reviewers. If so, it becomes important to check if your comments have been addressed in the revision, even if the authors have not provided a point-by-point response to your specific comments. In this case, it would be advisable to ask only those comments that are important and have not yet been addressed.
Alternatively, while submitting your peer review, you can communicate to the editor that your comments in the first round of peer review seem not to have been considered. There is a possibility that the editor may have excluded your comments in the first round if they received too many comments from other reviewers too. Therefore, they may have again requested you to do a second round of peer review to comment on the revised manuscript.
Related reading:
What are the types of peer review?
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage