BUT THE REVIEWERS ARE MAKING DIFFERENT CRITICISMS OF MY PAPER - DIVERSITY AND UNIQUENESS IN REVIEWER COMMENTS

This research studied the critical points made in 402 reviews of 153 papers submitted to 12 editors of American Psychological Association journals. The diverse criticisms dealt not only with the planning and execution of the research but also with the presentation in the report, spreading fairly evenly over all steps in research activity from early conceptualizing to final writing. The modal category is Interpretations and Conclusions. In the typical case, two reviews of the same paper had no critical point in common. It seemed that reviewers did not overtly disagree on particular points; instead, they wrote about different topics, each making points that were appropriate and accurate. As a consequence, their recommendations about editorial decisions showed hardly any agreement.