https://jcoynester.wordpress.com/20...thors-who-were-abused-by-a-reviewer/#comments
Excellent blog post from Coyne, regarding a PACE critique by Wilshire et al (?) that was treated pretty abhorrently by the BMJ editorial staff and one of their reviewers. Details in the blog are a bit vague, due to confidentiality concerns, but Wilshire added a comment that clarifies some aspects of the situation.
Apparently the reviewer (Reviewer 2) focused exclusively on attacking the authors themselves, rather the content, and came up with some gems recounted by Coyne, such as:
To which the BMJ editorial staff added:
I strongly recommending reading the entire blog, as well as Wilshire's comment at the end. And adding your own comment, if you're up to it
Excellent blog post from Coyne, regarding a PACE critique by Wilshire et al (?) that was treated pretty abhorrently by the BMJ editorial staff and one of their reviewers. Details in the blog are a bit vague, due to confidentiality concerns, but Wilshire added a comment that clarifies some aspects of the situation.
Apparently the reviewer (Reviewer 2) focused exclusively on attacking the authors themselves, rather the content, and came up with some gems recounted by Coyne, such as:
Coyne said:Reviewer 2 expresses doubt whether there is any scientific contribution to the manuscript, although he recommends publishing it.
He makes clear his motivation for this recommendation: if the authors are not properly humiliated, “I will write in and tell the authors that they should know better and I think I would end with a “Shame on you”.
To which the BMJ editorial staff added:
BMJ said:We note that the reviewers were more positive than the editors were about your paper, but ultimately did not persuade us that we should publish it.
I strongly recommending reading the entire blog, as well as Wilshire's comment at the end. And adding your own comment, if you're up to it