With reference to the paper I mentioned last month, I just noticed that the last (presumably) Referee #1 added their comments some time ago...and within 20 minutes, Ref #2 had added a somewhat abusive rejoinder! That's his 4th contribution so far, and he's looking increasingly obsessed IMO. OK, perhaps "abusive" is a bit strong - it is only a rather feeble ad-hom, the sort of thing I wouldn't be surprised to see on usenet or a blog, but hardly what I'd expect in a referee's comment. Maybe I've just had a sheltered life. But anyway, it seems to me that the effort he's making to block the paper is rather more embarassing than the paper's publication itself could ever be.
2 comments:
Its a bloodbath out there... mind you, its pretty weird to add comments from blogs
Hi Harold,
I'm pleased to see such eminently sane comments from a journal editor :-) (not greatly surprised, as for the most part editors seem to do a pretty good job IME, but I have had one or two disappointing experiences.)
One editor of one of these open-access on-line journals did mention that he thought that the reviewers tended to pile-on after the first one: a simple solution to that would be to withold all comments (and perhaps even keep the paper itself under wraps) until the official reviews are in, and then publish all the official reviews together. But that would extend the process if there is also a further wait for public comment.
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