SS and Tech, 2/10/08

126 minutes of writing

I had not planned on working today (I spent most of the day with family or packing for our move next weekend), but received feedback from the SSRP editor who is requesting the changes by tomorrow. The journal editors were very kind to give me until 2/8/08 to complete my first round of edits (they had requested a 2/1/08 deadline) so I want to provide the with the quickest turn-arounds of the highest quality I can possibly provide.

I was pleased to read that the editor felt my changes had strengthened the paper, and he accepted all that I recommended. I did, however, note that all the areas he was requesting additional changes were those that he had commented on during the previous editing round. I had clearly not yet met his expectations for some sections. I feel badly that I was not able to make completely acceptable changes during the first round. I attribute this failure to one of two things:

1. I am so close to the manuscript at this point that I can't see the errors like and outside reader can see them; or,
2. I am so new to the academic writing and editing process that I am not yet able to see issues that would concern a journal editor or reviewer.

I figure that the truth is probably a combination of these two, and much, much more. Being new to academic writing, there is so much I still have to learn! Through experience I shall prevail... My father, though, often quotes Omar E. Bradley as saying: "Good judgment comes from experience, but experience comes from bad judgment." I just hope my experience comes from the bad judgment of those who came before me and not from me!

Here was my email response to the editor:

"I have addressed all your comments to the best of my ability. If I have failed to meet your expectations, please provide me with more guidance. I am learning a lot through this process, and even though my eyes are blurring and everything in the manuscript now is so familiar I feel that I am continually repeating myself, I do want to ensure that Eric and I provide the best possible manuscript we can to the journal..."

I hope this is one of many, many positive experiences I have with academic journal editors. To date, I have found academic writing and editing to be a very rewarding experience and the people with whom I've worked on journal articles and books in chapters have proven themselves to be wonderful at helping me to provide them with my best quality of work.