Editor's Note: Expression of Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 in Lung Tissue during Cardiopulmonary Bypass-Induced Lung Injury in Dogs by Wang et al. (epub ahead of print)

This manuscript has an interesting history. It was first submitted July 18th 2012 and sent to two reviewers who both voted for major revisions, giving the authors detailed suggestions and asking for language editing. The paper was then returned August 23rd and re-reviewed. The authors had incorporated many of the suggestions and answered open questions. The language, however, remained a problem making it very hard to understand the argument. The editor then decided that the corrections needed were beyond the scope of the language “polishers” routinely provided by the publisher and rejected the manuscript, giving the option of re-submission after appropriate editing.

The manuscript came back September 9th 2012, a lot had been done to it, and it was returned to the more critical one of the previous reviewers. Then something remarkable happened. This person printed out the pdf, sat down and manually corrected the manuscript word-by-word, converting it into the version which you see before you today. All his changes were related to language, the content was not touched. The authors readily accepted and implemented his suggestions, and thus the editor could finally accept the manuscript.

In our modern world in which importance is measured by download speed in Mbits per second it seems worth remembering that sometimes a little more time is all it takes. In societies where knowledge of English is not a matter of course, valuable research is being done which deserves international publication.[1] The colleagues there often need a helping hand to get their message across. The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon is glad that in this instance we could be of help, “we” meaning the reviewer. Thank you very much, Tom Bilfinger (SUNY at Stony Brook, New York, USA, and member of our International Board) – you deserve a “Dedicated Peer Reward”.

DOI of the original article: DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1331574.

• Reference

• 1 Heinemann MK. From Bygones to Perspectives. Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2012; 60: 1-2