revise and resubmit w/ no increase in the word count?

[perplexed]

So I'm wondering how usual or unusual it is to get a revise and resubmit, but be asked not to increase the size of the manuscript at all.

I'm certain that with the first several articles I published it was assumed the manuscript would increase in size a bit upon revision, and I don't remember the new length ever being an issue.

But lately this seems to have changed.
The last thing I published came with five reviews and strict directions not to increase the size of the piece. That was really difficult but it was in a journal that specializes in shorter essays and came with some feedback from the editors about what to prioritize, so I managed.

Now I just got my second revise and resubmit from a longer manuscript out to a more traditional journal. The new comments are basically that the reviewers are completely satisfied, but the editor requests that I cut the word count all the way back to the original submission (that's cutting 1,000 + words). That despite the fact that the editors never mentioned this in any of our prior interactions. Is this normal and I just never realized it? Because it seems crazy to expect someone to make substantial revisions and not add to the length of the piece as well. But maybe my prior experiences were just idiosyncratic and not representative of how R & Rs tend to go.

So what are your thoughts and experiences with R&Rs and word counts?

[not unusual]

Not unusual at all.

In fact, your experience is fairly typical- requests from the editor to shorten the manuscript are made toward the end of the process, because it is not a substantive issue, and you are not asked to deal with word counts until they have some idea that your paper is likely to be accepted.

I agree it can be frustrating to add content without increasing the length of the manuscript, but faculty have assured me it becomes easier over time, as you become a more efficient writer, and learn to interpret reviewers' comments as "rewrite your paper to emphasize topic X more" instead of "add new sections that emphasize topic X to your paper."

[agreed]

It's a great opportunity to hack the added material you had to add to satisfy reviewers with off-base comments!

[perplexed]

Thanks, I asked around offline too and I guess it is pretty common. So strange that I never ran into this before.

[perplexed]

Thanks, I asked around offline too and I guess it is pretty common. So strange that I never ran into this before.

[masonjones5711]

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