On the day you get a decision letter it is NEVER wise to reply to an editor unless it is to thank them for an acceptance! Anything else, wait a week or two (or if you are like me a month) before responding. I guarantee that whatever response you send will be immeasurably better than that “great” response you crafted minutes after reading the Edith’s letter and the reviews.

As I have said many times in my Craft of Accounting workshop it is amazing how much more insightful I find Editor’s and reviewers to be after a month in my in box ( in the old days I had a special drawer in my desk for them). Lola Lopes, an excellent psychology professor, noticed this phenomenon in the early 1990’s and for a long time her cheat sheet that contained this advice among others was handed from psychology doctoral student to doctoral student (and by mistake or intent to a couple of BAR doctoral students at Michigan named steve and joan!).

So I repeat, NEVER hit that reply button on the day a decision letter arrives! I paid the price when I did it once at the dawn of the email age and you should learn from that mistake!