Message Sent to PIT Participants

 Dear PIT Journal participant,

The submission window for the first edition of the journal has closed. Now it’s time for the reviewing and revising process to begin. We think the review and revision stage will be an exciting opportunity for you to learn more about the work of your peers and to help one another develop your submissions. As you may know, the PIT Journal strives to foster and celebrate peer review. Once the review process is complete, we will be inviting the best readers to publish responses in the journal. And we will be giving prizes to respondents who submit the strongest reviews. We want the journal to focus on and promote not just strong writing, but also excellent reading. To meet this goal, the PIT editors are now asking for your continued participation. Here is a breakdown of some of our thinking and what it means to you:

· PIT operates on a modified “write one, read one” paradigm. All submitters are also expected to act as reviewers. In order for a submission to move forward, its author must have reviewed at least four submissions of others. Participants should complete at least two reviews by Friday, March 19th and at least four reviews by Monday, March 22nd.

· PIT also believes that there is more to reading a submission than offering a quick rating and a cursory comment. Instead, participants should view the review process more as a partnership through which authors and readers work to make submissions stronger. Three implications follow from this philosophy:

1. Comments should be constructive. This does not mean reviewers should give authors a virtual pat on the back. Instead, comments should point out areas that can be strengthened, highlight what might be working well, and offer concrete suggestions for improving a submission. Yes, this takes time. The investment will be returned through the feedback you receive on your own submissions. You can find more information about submitting constructive comments at http://siteslab.org/pitjournalv1/help/review_help_two/peer-review-help

2. Reviewers enter into a longer-term relationship with a submission. After you submit a review, monitor that submission in your dashboard and use the link provided there to access the submission as authors update their work in response to your feedback.. Ideally authors will incorporate your feedback into their revisions and you will sustain your relationship and provide guidance as the piece evolves.

3. Reviewers should focus mainly on the content of submissions. Submissions that move forward will be copy edited and polished by their authors and editors. The most helpful comments at this stage will focus on the big picture, working to strengthen the submissions as a whole.

· The submissions and comments posted through the PIT publishing process are public. Most submissions are autonomous, but all materials can be viewed by members of the PIT community, and the community is open. As submissions are revised some of the activity may be moved toward more public venues. You should take ownership of your submissions and comments, expecting others to view and learn from them.

We hope that these tenets function not as requirements but as encouragement for participating in the next stages of the PIT process in ways that appeal to your sense of what it means to be a member of a writing community. As always, if you wish to join with members of the PIT team to share in the development of the journal and its philosophy, we welcome your participation.