How to Respond to Reviewer Comments: Response Letter Structure

A "major revision" decision can feel discouraging at first, but it actually means the journal is interested in your paper. At this stage, success depends on a well-organised response letter that shows you took every comment seriously.

Structure of a response letter

1. A short thank-you paragraph to the editor and reviewers for their time.
2. A separate section for each reviewer: "Reviewer 1", "Reviewer 2"…
3. Three parts for each comment: • Comment: quote the reviewer’s comment (abridged if long). • Response: explain what you think and what you did. • Change: state what changed and where in the manuscript (page and line numbers).

Golden rules

• Answer every comment. A skipped comment leaves the impression that it was ignored.
• Be polite and professional, even if a comment seems unfair. Avoid defensive or sarcastic language.
• Be specific. Instead of "Fixed", write "A paragraph justifying the sample size has been added to the Methods section (p. 8, lines 12–20)."
• Make changes visible with coloured text or tracked changes if the journal asks for it.

If you disagree with a comment

You do not have to accept every suggestion. But when you disagree, give a scientific rationale:

"We carefully considered the reviewer’s suggestion. However, because …, we believe this analysis is not appropriate for the aim of our study. We have nevertheless discussed this issue in the limitations section (p. 15)."

This is respectful and makes the editor’s decision easier.

Common comments and how to approach them

• "The sample is small": add a power analysis or justification; if it cannot change, discuss it as a limitation.
• "The literature is outdated": add recent relevant studies.
• "The language needs editing": have the manuscript professionally edited and say so.
• "The findings are over-interpreted": soften causal language for correlational results.

Checklist before resubmitting

• Has every comment been answered?
• Is every change you claim actually in the manuscript?
• Do page and line numbers match the final version?
• Are you still within the word limit?

Response letters with Academiana

Open "Respond to reviewers" from the Tools menu in Academiana and paste the editor and reviewer comments. The assistant reads your current manuscript, drafts a Comment–Response–Change letter for every comment and lists the changes you need to make in priority order. It never claims a change was made when it was not — those are marked [TO DO] — and leaves page numbers for you to fill in.