Referees' comments on submissions to peer-reviewed journals: when is a suggestion not a suggestion?

This paper examines the ways in which reviewers ask for changes to be made to submissions to peer-reviewed journal articles. Ninety-five reviewers' reports were examined. Forty-five of the reviewers also completed a questionnaire which asked about their experience in carrying out peer reviews, how they learnt to write reviews and the challenges they faced in reviewing submissions to peer-reviewed journals. The study found that requests for...