Email Templates

Acknowledgement of Submitted Article

Dear Professor [Name],

Thank you for your submission to [Journal Title]. I am the managing editor and will be shepherding your article through the review process.

In the course of the next two to four weeks, I and the editors will review your submission to ensure it is ready and suitable to be sent to referees. At that point we will either return it to you with suggestions for revision or begin contacting suitable referees. Once the submission is ready for review, we will begin contacting potential referees.

The whole process tends to require a minimum of 12 weeks, but varies considerably depending on the availability of referees.

Thank you very much for your submission to [Journal Title] and you will be hearing from me soon.

[Signature]

Managing Editor
[Journal Title]

Request for Peer Review

Dear Professor [Name]:
My name is [your name] and I am managing editor at [journal name]. [Editor name] has recommended that you would serve as an excellent reviewer of the manuscript, [manuscript title], which has been submitted to us, or possibly recommend someone else if you cannot undertake a review at this time. The submission’s abstract is inserted below, and I hope that you will consider undertaking this important task for us. If you do decide to review this manuscript, please be advised that we now publish our peer reviewers’ names on the final article. For your reference, the recommendation options are listed below.

The review itself is due [deadline], although we are able to provide some flexibility should you require it.

<!– Included for DS/CN only: Additionally, if you do agree to do the review, I will enroll you as a reviewer in OJS, our workflow management system, which is where you will access the manuscript and log your recommendation. –>

Although a form is available, we find that most referees prefer a more free-form or narrative approach to discussing a contribution’s strengths and weaknesses. If you too prefer this format, we ask you to provide both a general sense of the submission’s strengths and weaknesses, any more specific comments you feel might help the editors or the author(s), and a publication recommendation:

<!– The below is tailored to DS/CN but can easily be re-worded for DM or CJNS –>
1) Accept (with at most minor stylistic or typographical corrections)
2) Accept pending revision (i.e. paper is more or less publishable, but needs some clarification, a few additional citations, some extra examples or data, etc.).
3) Revise and resubmit (i.e. the paper contains publishable material and is suitable for DSCN, but requires substantial revision, reworking, expansion or contraction, or significant amounts of extra work).
4) Reject (i.e. the paper is unsuitable for publication or unsuitable for publication in DSCN).

Options 1 and 2 are recommendations to publish. Options 3 and 4 are recommendations to reject. If you recommend options 1 or 2, the editors will make sure that any suggested revisions or corrections are addressed by the author(s). If you recommend options 3 and 4, the article will be required to undergo further review before it can be considered for publication.

Finally, if you recommend options 1 or 2 (i.e. a recommendation to publish), we would also like you to give us permission to publish your name on the article colophon (i.e. below the author information) as a “recommending referee.” DSCN uses a modifed version of the refereeing system recommended by Geoffrey K. Pullum, “Stalking the Perfect Journal,” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 2.2 (1984): 266–67. Referees who recommend rejection (i.e. either “revise and resubmit” or “reject”) are and will remain anonymous. Referees who recommend publication, however, will be identified on the colophon of all articles published in DSCN as a “Recommending Referee” (the editor who acts as the “Accepting Editor” will also be named in this fashion). This is to acknowledge the efforts of our referees in a public way, demonstrate the quality and rigour of the DSCN review process, and ensure transparency (for an example of how this approach works, please see the online journal Digital Medievalist).

Unless we hear otherwise, we will assume a positive recommendation will grant us this permission. Because this method ensures that our review process is transparent, we cannot act on a recommendation to publish if we are not granted permission to publish an accepting referee’s name.

Thank you for considering this review and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

[Your name]
Managing Editor
[Journal title]

*****
[Manuscript Title]

[Abstract]

Recommendation Options:

  1. Accept
  2. Accept with revisions
  3. Revise and resubmit
  4. Reject

*For DSCN and DM; omit for CJNS.

**For DSCN only; omit for other journals.

 

Revision Email to Authors after Peer Review

Dear Professor [Name],

Congratulations! Your submission to [Journal Title] has been accepted with revisions for publication in our [season] issue. Because the this issue is set for publication in [month], we hope to receive your revisions by [deadline date].

Included below are the reviewer comments and we hope you find them useful in your revision. In addition to the revisions, please provide us with [anything else required from author, i.e. abstract, keywords, author details, etc.].

When you submit your revised text, we would appreciate it if you could indicate in the accompanying email or other form whether there are any suggestions you decided against adopting, especially if this means you have not made any corrections or revisions at the point in question. We can track minor changes using the track-changes function.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thank you for your submission to [Journal Title]!

[Signature]

[Journal Title]

Review Reminder

[Journal Title]
Dear Professor [Name],

This is just a gentle reminder that your review of the submission, “[Title],” for [Journal Title] is due in [number of days], on [Date].

Please let me know if you require additional time to complete your review. Otherwise, I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you,
[Signature]