Notion Manuscript Revision Template

Revising paper manuscripts is a key part of academic writing and publishing, but it doesn't have to be painful! When I get reviewer comments back on an academic manuscript, the first thing I do is to put them all into a table. 

The template that I’ve created has columns where you can fill in the reviewer’s comment, which reviewer gave the comment, which section of the paper the comment is referring to, and the status of the revision. I also find it helpful to number the comments in the order that I received them, which can be a helpful shorthand when referring back to them. As you work on your revision, you can add in the page in your manuscript where you’ve made the revision, as well as a comment about your revision (or your response to the editor if you’ve elected not to make the revision).

This table has multiple views, which means that you can choose to view only comments that still need to be addressed, comments arranged by section of the paper, or all of the comments at once. You can also create custom views based on what you're working on at any given moment.

If you're collaborating with others to review a paper, you can add them as collaborators in the Notion table and assign specific comments to them.

This table also allows you to clearly mark which reviewer comments you're not accepting, flagging them so you can add an explanation or justification later on.

I’ve found that journal editors really appreciate getting these kinds of tables! Once you're ready to re-submit your paper, you can export it out of Notion into a .csv or Excel file and upload it with your revision.