Re: Sinosauropteryx

[Richard Cowen <cowen@blueoakfarm.com>]

I don't think the Royal Society journals publish discussions, no  
doubt on the grounds that if it's published by the Roy. Soc. it must  
be true.

Which raises the question of reviewers: presumably there were at  
least two. One wonders what they said. Of course, just because you  
get bad reviews doesn't mean a paper is rejected. And, by the way,  
just because you get good reviews doesn't mean it gets accepted.

Sometimes if a manuscript is slammed by reviewers, the authors will  
plead prejudice, and an editor will instruct the authors to revise  
the paper "taking into account" the criticisms. When the revision  
comes in, the editor may not want to go through the bother of re- 
reviews, and just prints the "revised" manuscript as is, despite the  
fury of the reviewers and the scorn of readers. Print them all and  
let God sort them out. It's clear that some journals are more prone  
to that syndrome than others.

Cheers

Richard