Review

[astra_nomer]

I don't know if I should admit this, but I just turned in my very first review of a journal article.

I feel a little embarrassed about losing my referee virginity so late in my career. All my friends seem to be old hats at this.

Also, I've come to the conclusion that I hold very high writing quality standards. I would hate being refereed by myself.

Comments

[astrogeek.livejournal.com]

I didn't get my first paper to referee until after I'd left astronomy!

[schnerf.livejournal.com]

My advisor passed me my first review a month or two ago, because he was busy and it would be good for my Education. So it's not like editors are calling me up, but I think I may be getting these hand-me-down reviews pretty regularly.

I got my second one back for a response to the author's responses, and I could see that Reviewer 1 was extremely lazy and left only a comment like "Looks great, just one typo," whereas I'd given a two-page review discussing everything from suitability to the journal to language. I commented to my advisor that I thought the authors would much rather have Reviewer 1 than me, and he said no, that it's much better to get a long picky review, because it shows that the reviewer thought your paper was worth the time to read carefully.