Step 8: A Second Letter From The Editors

Once we have received two or three referee comments, these are sent to the senior editors. They review them, discuss them, and then decide on a strategy.They will write to you a second time, either accepting the paper, or outlining the very specific minor changes that are required. These can normally be completed in a matter of a few hours. On rare occasions, papers are rejected at this stage, but this is extremely uncommon. It tends to occur only where authors have made insufficient effort to respond to referee feedback.

You will also be asked to check that your references are in house format, and to include a title page at the front of your article, reattaching your name and institution details.

At this stage, you must also ensure that you have permissions for all images in your document. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide financial help with this.

It usually takes the senior editors 2 weeks to write this letter.

The average time lapse between original submission and receipt of an editorial decision letter is 12 weeks.