Sharing Tacit Knowledge of Academic Publishing: How to Respond to Reviewer Comments

Abstract

Abstract: Navigating academic publishing is trying and complicated for both junior and established scholars. Some of the demands from the process come from the hidden curriculum within academic culture which is exacerbated by the tacit knowledge that only some folks possess. In this editorial, I explain some of my personal struggles with academic publishing as a First in the Family (FiF)/First Generation Student (FGS). I utilize my understanding as a way to frame an issue within academic publishing that I have personally experienced and observed in my CJNSE editorship: responding to reviewer comments. I then outline the components academic authors must include when replying to their peers’ assessments of their manuscripts, and provide an example of a method of how to do so. Fittingly, the work of the authors, Review Mentors (graduate student peer mentors), and Senior Review Editors (PhDs with publishing experience) in this issue highlights the mentoring qualities of CJNSE and how tacit knowledge can be shared in this publishing environment. The topics discussed in this issue include the shortcomings within English language learning courses for immigrants and refugees to Canada (Lam); the different qualities and emotional intelligence required of department chairs (Cowley); the need for curricula change to include death, dying, and grief in elementary curricula (Durant); querying the principalship as a democratic process (Kendrick); questioning the idea of universal values for education policy educators (Hankey); the tensions between Deweyan and Confucian educational philosophies in English language learning in China (Peng); the factors that mediate a language teacher's corrective feedback decision (Chen); the factors that affect an individual’s likelihood of reporting sexual assault on a post-secondary campus (MacKenzie); the ways in which washback and curriculum agreement are interconnected methods of classroom instruction (Sultana); the limitations and utility of Kimberly Maich & Carmen Hall’s “Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Ontario Context: An Introduction,” and explaining the importance of Jen Gilbert’s “Sexuality in School: The Limits of Education” to educators, particularly those in Canada (Virani-Murji).