How to deal with revisions?

It is very uncommon for manuscripts submitted to peer-reviewed journals to be accepted directly, without a request for revision. Most submitted manuscripts go through a meticulous review process by several reviewers who are experts in the given subject; these reviewers may request major or minor revisions or even reject the manuscript. The revision of a manuscript is a crucial step in the publication process, particularly for medical research, as it can considerably improve the quality of the paper and its suitability for publication. Therefore, authors need to be well-prepared for handling returned manuscripts and dealing with comments from the editor and reviewers proficiently. The editor’s decision requesting the revision of a manuscript can be classified into two categories—minor and major revisions—although the specific terminology used may vary across journals [1,2]. When minor revisions are required, the reviewers have provisionally determined the manuscript to be appropriate for publication and have asked for only a few modifications, such as providing additional information or a deeper discussion, deleting redundant material, changing the style and/or format of the manuscript, and editing the language for clarity and grammaticality. These are generally not significant issues. Major revisions, in contrast, require a more fundamental reworking of the manuscript. The reasons for major revisions are diverse, including inconsistencies among different parts of the manuscript, an unclear presentation of the novelty of the findings, faulty deductions, a defective statistical analysis, irrelevant interpretations, and faulty relationships among the hypothesis, study design, and conclusions. Major revisions may require simply moving parts of the text around, or they may require the authors to reanalyze the data and rewrite the whole manuscript. Such revisions necessitate conceptual reorganization, proper judgment, and the investment of considerable time and serious effort by the author. Herein, the author presents general considerations and several tips that can facilitate manuscript revision.