Today I just finished editing my first journal article. It seems a bit strange, knowing that your input can affect someone's career. Someone you don't even know, don't even care for but yet, part of me wanted to be nice. I wanted to not be too harsh because i know that one day, there will be some anonymous person from around the world, reviewing my article and I would like them to be favourable towards me.
However when reviewing the article I found incoherent sentences, poortheoretical exposition, an under-utilised discussion and a lack of implication and as much as I want to help this stranger out, I found myself whipping out my red ink (or comment boxes in Word) and basically tearing the article a new one.
To be fair I don't use expletives, although at times I felt like it. Also, I am but a PhD student so sometimes the spectre of 'oi, maybe you don't know well enough' still hangs over my head. But there were things (many things) which I felt needed to be changed, added and revised before that article is worth publishing.
I hope the author appreciates the time I put into editing his/her paper. I hope he/she takes the suggestions to heart and makes an effort to improve his/her writing and plug in any shortcomings. I recommended it to be returned with major revisions... which I suppose is still better than an outright rejection... hm.
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