In our two most recent “how can we help you?” threads, two comments were posted (by the same reader?) on whether to accept a reviewer assignment for a paper that they already recommended rejecting at another journal:

I’ve been asked to review a paper in a journal that I’ve already reviewed in a different journal and recommended rejection. I haven’t seen the new paper but the title is the same. I was quite sure the paper was not ready for publication then and its been about 3 months since then that I’ve received the request and so I think its unlikely the paper has substantially improved. Should I still take up the review request?

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Should you review a paper that you’ve reviewed before for another journal that you recommended rejection there? I’m not sure if it seems unfair to them that they have to be reviewed by the same reviewer that already didn’t like their work the first time and maybe deserve to have someone else read the work?

Good questions. Another reader submitted the following reply:

I have refused to review for a second time. Reason is that I believe that I may be mistaken. And being on the other end, my currently most cited paper (and among the top cited papers in the relevant debate) was rejected by a particular reviewer several times at different journals, always giving the same set of comments. (Almost prompting me to leave academics.) I think it would be bad to exacerbate one’s mistake.

This is my policy as well, and for the same reasons. Peer-review is such a crapshoot, and referees so different in their judgments, that I think an author deserves a shot with different reviewers in different places. 

What do you all think?

Originally appeared on The Philosophers’ Cocoon Read More