2.9 Implement ideas for eliciting fast feedback from your co-authors

One of the most effective strategies I’ve seen for eliciting timely feedback from co-authors on a draft paper is to drop a gentle ultimatum, and be prepared to walk away if the ultimatum offer is rejected. Below is an example.

Dear [co-author name],

I’ve been working on the attached draft of our paper on [Topic X], and I think it’s nearing the stage of being ready for for submission to a peer review journal.

I’m planning to submit this paper to the [Journal of X] on [target day ddd mmm yyyy], and I’d like to receive all feedback for integration into the final version by [(current day ddd mmm yyyy) + X days (X = 7 to 14 days is a reasonable option)].

If you are happy to be a co-author on this paper, please let me know by return email, as well as any edits you see fit for the paper. If you need more time to review/edit the paper, please let me know.

Thanking you in advance,

[Your name]

In this way, if you don’t hear back from the emailees, you have implicit permission to delete their name from the author list and to submit the paper without their contributions.

Note that this strategy is a bit dangerous: if you don’t hear back from a co-author, you need to be prepared to travel the journey to publication without them. This can be treacherous without the key co-authors on your paper.

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