Q: What to reply when an editor ask why I didn't take previous year's studies into consideration?
I submitted a review article in a journal and I reviewed only the studies that were published after 2017 till 2021. The editor has asked why I didn't review the literature published before 2017. The real answer is that I had to review only the updated or current studies and that is the reason why I reviewed only the studies after 2017. Can I send this rationale to the editor? Will it be correct?
Dear author, thank you for your question. As your review focused on the current progress of the field, which is why you chose articles from 2017 and later, you can state this as the rationale. Please let them know that there have been significant advances in the field and you wanted your review to reflect the most recent progress, which is why you focused only on papers published after 2017.
"I appreciate the opportunity to clarify my approach. My focus was on [specific aspect of your study], and I aimed to provide a fresh perspective on [the topic]. While I recognize the importance of previous studies, I felt that [reason for not including them, e.g., they were outdated, focused on different variables, etc. However, I am open to revisiting this and incorporating relevant findings if you believe it would strengthen the work."
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