What was it like to have an older brother who was a giant in academia?
Perhaps that still was not quite accurate. Maybe it should have been phrased differently—what was it like to have an older brother who had won both a Nobel Prize and a Fields Medal?
If this question appeared on Bihu, Xiao Tong felt that she would definitely be the most qualified person to answer it.
Staring wide-eyed at the email from the reviewer in her inbox, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
After confirming that she had not misread it, she gripped her mouse and opened the email, then read the reviewer's comments carefully from beginning to end with incredulous excitement.
Her surprise was inevitable.
This was Econometrica, one of the nine top economics journals! In comparison, it was like Mathematical Annals in Mathematics or Physics Quick Review (PRL) in Physics.
Even for her advisor, Professor Foster, publishing a paper in a top journal like this was no easy task. After all, macroeconomics was not a field where results came easily, and it was not particularly competitive in comprehensive economics journals.
Yet the paper she had submitted on the third day after Christmas had received a reply from a reviewer just after the New Year holiday ended. In all her past submission experiences, this was practically unprecedented.
For a newcomer like her, it was even more unimaginable!
Usually, reviewers were volunteers. Aside from adding to their academic credentials, there was no direct benefit for them.
Especially for scholars who had already made a name for themselves, they no longer needed to build academic capital through reviewing papers. They would likely only pull up a manuscript to glance through when they had plenty of free time.
Before this, Xiao Tong had even prepared herself to wait until