Being A Fair Commentator/Marker

A while back, I received some comments on a paper that I submitted to a journal. (The paper has since then been accepted and will be published in December.) One thing that struck me was how fair the comments were.

The comments pointed out some problems that I need to address–some of which I spent quite a bit of time thinking about and drafting a response. But when the referee points out a problem, they would always (i) accurately describe what my argument is, (ii) explain the problem, (iii) acknowledge what I wrote that has attempted to address that problem, and (iv) explain why it is not sufficient. Being on the receiving end, I realized how important (iii) is. It demonstrates that the referee has read my paper carefully and knows that I have thought about the problem that they are raising; it is only that they think a stronger response is called for. Not doing (iii)–I have received numerous comments in the past that didn’t–would make the person who is receiving the comment feel that the commentator did not read the paper carefully and is giving comment offhandedly.

This is a very positive experience. I am grateful that the referee took their time to read my paper and gave me constructive feedback, which have certainly improved the paper. I have also learnt from them how to give fair comments. This, of course, is also applicable to marking students’ papers and giving them comments. I wasn’t expecting that submitting a paper to a journal would teach me how to be a fair marker!