Copyright Questions?
The University of Michigan Library Copyright Office provides help with copyright questions for University of Michigan faculty, staff and students. Please email us with questions or visit our website for more information.
Legal Advice
The information presented here is intended for informational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. If you have specific legal questions pertaining to the University of Michigan, please contact the Office of the General Counsel.
If you require legal advice in your personal capacity, the lawyer referral services operated by the Washtenaw County Bar Association and the State Bar of Michigan may be helpful to you.
Peer Review Process for Scholarly Articles
While the peer review process for journals can vary, it typically follows the pattern shown in the flowchart and described below.
- Author submits article to a journal.
- Managing editor determines if it is suitable for review.
- If no, the submission is immediately rejected without being sent out to peer reviewers.
- If yes, the submission is distributed to peer reviewers.
- Peer reviewers recommend one of the following:
- Accept without revisions
- Accept pending revisions
- Reject
- After completing revisions, author resubmits the revised article to managing editor.
- The managing editor or peer reviewers determine if revisions are sufficient.
- If yes, the article is accepted for publication.
- If no, the article is rejected.
- If more revisions are required, author restarts at step 4.
Very few articles are accepted without revisions. Being asked to revise your work is a foundational practice in scholarly publishing, and often results in the work being stronger after it has undergone review.
Responding to Reviewers' Feedback
Below are resources that provide suggestions and guidelines for responding to reviewer feedback:
Writing for Academic Journals by ISBN: 9780335263028Publication Date: 2013-09-01Busy scholars must publish. To fulfil research output, they must write to a specific journal style and high standard while juggling other professional tasks. This book develops understanding of how writing happens, what good writing looks and feels like, what gets published and what does not and why.
- How to Review a Paper, by Dale J. Benos, Kevin L. Kirk, and John E. HallThis article explains what reviewers are looking for when they evaluate article submissions. Though focused on the sciences, the guidelines it contains can be useful to authors in many disciplines.