Content and communication: How can peer review provide helpful feedback about the writing?

Table 1 Native-English-speaking author's editors' perceptions of the usefulness of feedback from journal gatekeepers about the language. Questionnaire survey, October 2007. N = 25, response rate 40%.

Total number of manuscripts handled	Percentage of manuscripts with complaints about the language or writing	Percentage of correct comments or changes	Percentage of incorrect comments or changes
20	60	40	60
50	10	70	30
100	10–20	80–90	10–20
200	5	75	25
300	5–10	0	100
300	5	50	25
>300	<10	30	10
1200	2–3	75	25
3000	30	50	50
3000	<10	Occasional	0
Several thousand	Very common		Often^a
Range	5–60	0–90	0–100
Mean	15.5^b	46.2^c	32.3^d
Mode	10	50–75	25

^a Data from this respondent were not included in the descriptive statistical analysis.
^b <10 was entered as 10; the value midway between the two extremes was entered when a range of values was given.
^c Occasional was entered as 50, the value midway between the two extremes was entered when a range of values was given.
^d The value midway between the two extremes was entered when a range of values was given.

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