evising Your Paper

1. Note that there is a time limit for resubmission, 1 year from the date of the invitation letter. A paper that is resubmitted after the deadline will be automatically disqualified.

2. Remember that this invitation is made on the basis of reports by some referees who had good first impressions about your paper. Do not wait until that positive aura vanishes.

3. If you do not intend to revise and resubmit the paper for whatever reason, let the editorial office know of your intention (via email/fax).

4. If you have an important question concerning a planned course of revision, you can email the editorial office (always mention the manuscript number). The editorial office may transmit the message to the referees, provided that they can be contacted by email. However, the questions must be brief - requiring short answers like yes, no, or where (e.g. references) - and should not be used to challenge the view of the referees. This service would be especially useful when you disagree with the referees and are contemplating a different course of revision.

5. Remember that for all practical purposes this is your last chance to revise the paper for publication in IREF. The probability that you will make it is about 1/2. Sloppy, rough revisions will surely result in rejection. The editorial office will not continue to provide mediation between the referees and authors because there are other papers demanding attention. In the first round, papers that are not accepted fall into two categories: they are either rejected or accorded a chance to revise. In the second round, papers that are not in publishable shape are simply rejected, rather than receiving a chance for another revision.

6. You received an invitation to revise the paper because it might contain a publishable idea. However, no papers will be accepted unless they are presentable and polished enough for publication.

7. When you submit a revised paper, also include the following:
   • Your cover letter which briefly explains what you did. The cover page should contain complete correspondence information about the author: (i)address, (ii) telephone and fax numbers, and (iii) email address. This enables the editorial office to contact you quickly should the need arise.

   • Prepare a package ready to be mailed to each referee. This would include:
     • Copies of the referee reports. (The referee might have lost the files that contain the Reports or might not remember even vaguely what s/he asked you to do. Copies of the reports help the referee remember what s/he said about your paper. Accordingly, the referee cannot deviate much from his/her earlier report. The editorial office also has copies, but it is your responsibility to provide the copies of the reports.

     • Your responses to individual referee reports. Explain what you did or did not do in response to the comments. You need to respond to every comment made by the referee.

8. The cover page of the revised papers should include the current date (or month and year) of revision; you do not want the office to send an old version to the referees by mistake.

9. If there were any complaints about the writing style, try to get some editorial assistance. In particular, if you are not a native of an English-speaking country, you might consider getting professional editorial assistance. Remember that many papers are rejected because of writing style problems.

10. Eliminate typographical errors in the cover page and the abstract. This is an absolute minimum courtesy.

11. Last, but not least, make sure that there are no pages missing in any of the three copies.