Writing as Communicating with Reviewers: Strategies for Anticipating and Addressing Insightful and Skeptical Reviews

Abstract

Communicating research insights is challenging and is often work that is underestimated. In this chapter, readers are invited to take the stance of writing as communicating with reviewers. After sharing how reviewers are assigned to manuscripts, the authors (experienced journal editors) discuss three of the common issues reviewers usually raise when recommending that manuscripts not be accepted for publication—coherence, claims, and contribution. They also share strategies that prospective authors can use to anticipate and address these issues when preparing and revising their manuscripts.

Appendices

Appendix 1: JRME’s Characteristics of High-Quality Manuscripts

Retrieved from www.nctm.org/Publications/write-review-referee/journals/Characteristics-of-a-High-Quality-JRME-Manuscript/

Inclusion of Appropriate Purpose and Rationale

• Describe a clear purpose for the study.

• Establish why the general area of study is important and how this particular study can contribute important information to the field. (One should not conduct a study simply because no such study has ever been done.)

• If examining a second context for an existing study, explain why the second study is useful. (This is not intended to suggest that replication studies are not appropriate.)

Clear Research Questions

• State research questions or research hypotheses explicitly and clearly in the manuscript. (The reader should not have to guess what the research questions were.)

• Clear research questions are guided by the theoretical framework and are addressed by the data collected and analysis performed on that data.

An Informative Literature Review

• Provide a basis for doing the study that is reported.

• Synthesize studies, creating more than a listing or summary of existing studies.

• Include credible sources (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles) rather than drawing exclusively on project reports and unpublished works. Address results of previous research along with pertinent policy documents.

• Cite from a source accurately and reflect what was published in the original source.

• Include pertinent international research literature rather than limiting the review to that of a single country.

• Cite a variety of pertinent studies, not just your own work or that of your colleagues and collaborators.

• Include important works that support and ground the research such as current research in mathematics education, foundational research that is the basis for the study, and potential works outside of mathematics education as appropriate.

A Coherent Theoretical Framework

• The study is guided by a theoretical framework that influences the study’s design; its instrumentation, data collection, and data analysis; and the interpretation of its findings.

• The literature review connects to and supports the theoretical framework.

• Make it clear to the reader how the theoretical framework influenced decisions about the design and conduct of the study.

Clearly Described Research Methods^∗

• Include key elements of research methodology such as:

• From what population the subjects were drawn, how and why they were selected, and how many were included

• Information on the instructors and their backgrounds

• When and how often the subjects were interviewed or tested

• How many classrooms were included in the study

• How each variable was measured

• How research instruments were adapted or developed

• Examples of items from research instruments

• Descriptions of instructional approaches

• Examples from instructional materials

• Protocols used for classroom observation or interviews

• Details of the procedures used to analyze qualitative data

Sound Research Design and Methods^∗

• Employ research design and methods appropriate for answering the study’s research questions:

• Give validity and reliability data for the instruments used.

• Use appropriate statistical procedures and meet their assumptions.

• Use instruments appropriate to the study’s subjects to measure outcome variables.

• Address threats to trustworthiness.

• Describe discrepant events.

• Use member checking when appropriate.

Claims About Results and Implications That Are Supported by Data^∗

• Provide supporting data for each claim that is made.

• Do not draw conclusions or suggest implications that inappropriately extend beyond what is reasonable based on the data.

• Interpret and contextualize the study’s results.

Contribution to the Field of Mathematics Education

• The study examines some aspect of the teaching and learning of mathematics and offers new results or new insights to mathematics education that extend beyond what has been reported in prior studies.

• The study moves the field beyond current methods, instruments, and/or theories.

• Focus goals on understanding a phenomenon deeply rather than investigating any particular classroom, student, lesson, or content.

Clearly Explained and Appropriately Used Terms

• Clearly define terms that are likely not to be understood by many readers (e.g., educational terminology unique to a particular country or region).

• If using familiar terms in nonstandard ways, provide explanations for doing so.

• When using terms that have several possible interpretations, clearly identify which interpretation is intended.

• Avoid using terms interchangeably that have different meanings (e.g., proof, reasoning, argumentation, and justification).

• Do not treat multidimensional entities as if they were one-dimensional (e.g., “reform curricula” are not a singular entity and “reform” involves changes in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, not just in curriculum).

High-Quality Writing

• Provide helpful transitions so the manuscript flows well from one section to another.

• Develop ideas rather than listing collections of thoughts in paragraph form.

• Ask colleagues or employ editors to correct errors in grammar, spelling, and sentence structure.

• One additional issue is that international authors may have language issues; although we do thorough copy editing, in the early stages when we are sending for review, we recommend that international authors for whom English is a second language use a native speaker as editor (use language from decision letters).

Mathematical Accuracy

• Use mathematical terms correctly in conceptualizing their research.

• Use correct mathematics content in instructional materials, interview protocols, and written instruments.

*These items may not be applicable to manuscripts that primarily address theoretical issues.

Appendix 2: MTE’s Manuscript Writing Template

Identify shared MTE problem	Situating problem in literature
What important problem or issue in the practice of mathematics teacher educators does the manuscript describe?	To which existing knowledge base in mathematics teacher education does the manuscript connect? In which theory and/or on which previously published articles is the manuscript grounded?
Description and argument for the innovation (solution/intervention/tool)
What argument does the manuscript make for the innovation that addresses the identified problem? What details does the manuscript provide to allow for replication or modification of the innovation by subsequent authors?
Details of the research on the innovation (solution/intervention/tool)
What description of how the results of the innovation were studied and documented does the manuscript contain? What details does the manuscript provide to allow for verification of how the innovation was researched?
Provide evidence for claims (and consider limitations)
Beyond simply describing an innovation, what evidence does the manuscript provide of the effectiveness of the solution/intervention/tool? What warrants does the manuscript provide so that recommendations for policy and practice can be constructed or justified?
New contribution to knowledge and practices of MTEs
What specific new contribution to our knowledge does the manuscript make explicit? What discussion does the manuscript contain about how this study can inform or influence the shared problem of MTEs’ practice?