Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 14:43:46 -0700
From: "Adonis K. Moschovakis" <moschov_danae.med.uoc.gr>
To: Yehouda Harpaz <yeh_harlequin.co.uk>
Subject: Re: #AM98029 revised version


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------FBFCEDF5A040F5CEFD3A36A0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Dear Mr. Harpaz,
thank you for your letter of April 17 regarding AM98029R. In response to
it I should let you know that the material you enclose can not be sent
out to referees. What I can send out to referees is a re-revised version
of your manuscript. Such a revised version should address the concerns
raised by previous referees. I do not think that your comments
accomplish this goal. I can also assure you that referree #1 is an
eminent professional neurobiologist.
If you were to allow me to offer a suggestion I would say that the
referee in question seems to me much less hostile towards your paper
than you think. My interpretation of his comments is that he would want
you to rephrase your statements (admittedly several of them). He seems
to say that the author (meaning yourself) claims that connections in the
brain are stochastic. Further he seems to say that the author does not
offer any evidence in favor of his claim but that is O.K. The author
should simply refer to some previous work where such evidence is
provided (meaning previous papers by experimentalists which should be
included in the list of references). Failing this the author should
simply state his claim as an assumption and proceed from there. If I may
say so, what he proposes is standard practice when it comes to
scientific papers.
As I said before I expect to receive your revised manuscript within 6
months. If I do not hear from you before then I will withdraw your paper
and any later submission will be considered a new submission.
Sincerely,
A.K. Moschovakis, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Physiology