The response letter

Your response to reviewers goes back with the revised paper. It is often read before the paper. A clear, complete, polite response can turn a hesitant reviewer into a supporter.

The format

For every comment:

1. Quote the reviewer's comment (in italics or a box).
2. Reply: thank them where genuine, then answer directly.
3. Say what changed, and where: "We added a comparison with X (Section 4.2, Table 3, lines 210–225)."

Number everything (R1.1, R1.2, R2.1...) so the editor can track it.

Rules from Noble's "Ten simple rules"

• Respond to every point, even small ones.
• Make it easy: quote the new text in the response, so reviewers don't have to hunt.
• Do what's asked when you can. It's often faster to do the extra analysis than to argue.
• Be polite and grateful, even if the comment was rude.
• Be complete but concise.

A good reply

ExampleR2.3: "The authors only test on one dataset; results may not generalise." Reply: "We agree this is an important concern. We have added experiments on two additional datasets (PlantDoc and a new set of 1,200 images from Kerala). The main effect holds on both (new Table 4; Section 5.3, lines 301–322). We have also added this as a limitation for other crops (Discussion, lines 410–414)."

RememberQuote every comment, answer it directly, and say exactly what changed and where.