The following message is being delivered on behalf of Interamerican Journal of Psychology.<br />
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Dr Tracy A. McFarlane:<br />
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We have reached a decision regarding your submission to Revista Interamericana de Psicologia/Interamerican Journal of Psychology, "Gender Rules: Discrimination and Tradition Among Caribbean-Born Women in US Colleges".<br />
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Our decision is to: Rewrite and resubmit <br />
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Dr. Edil Torres Rivera<br />
Universidad del Valle, Guatemala<br />
etorresrivera@gmail.com<br />
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Reviewer A:<br />
It is an important study -- It seems a little too long given the restrictions of pages for most generalist journal. Also, does not have an abstract in Spanish or a title in Spanish. Overall a good study that deserves publication. However as it stands is not ready for publication.<br />
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Reviewer B:<br />
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Enclosed you’ll find my comments regarding the manuscript titled Gender Rules: Discrimination and Tradition Among Caribbean-Born Women in US Colleges.  Although this manuscript has it merits, it is this reviewer’s assertion that the document needs revisions in order to be considered for publication in the Interamerican Journal of Psychology.  In the following sections I will be providing my rationale along with suggestions for improvement. <br />
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(1) Originality. The manuscript offers a timely, new and significant contribution to the Interamerican psychology. <br />
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The paper expands the theoretical, empirical, and practice understanding of the topic.<br />
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In this article the author underlines the complex influence of intersecting identities such as gender, class, race, and nationality operate in Caribbean immigrant women’s experiences of being college students. This article adds to current literature regarding the experiences of women of color in academic settings since it focuses, specifically on a sample of Caribbean born women. Even though, the author provides an account of the lived experiences of these women in the context of their college careers the piece I am missing is the direct connection to psychology. Although the author mentions terms such as “resilience” and discusses the challenges related to navigating the different intersecting identities in diverse social context, a discussion of psychological consequences or implication of these issues in the college experience is totally overlooked. The author is encouraged to provide an analysis of this psychological dimension on the article in order to fulfill one of the primary missions of this journal.<br />
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(2) Research [if applicable].  If the paper is based upon empirical evidence, does the quantitative or qualitative methodology fit the research question(s). Are the sampling techniques, systematic data collection, and data analysis appropriate for the study? Do the data support the findings? Are findings contextualized in light of previous literature?<br />
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The article used a qualitative methodology-focus groups-in order to understand the lived experiences of Caribbean born women as they negotiate their multiple social demands and their pursuit of a college degree. However, the author provided no information related to the rationale of using focus groups vs. individual interviews. Another major flaw of this article is the omission of a discussion on how data was analyzed. Although the author provided a description of the sample (that information could be summarized in table format or organizational purposes) and how participants were recruited, it is this reviewer’s opinion the author should expand on the methods section so the readers could have a clear understanding of how the study was designed.<br />
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It was also noted the author clearly identified where the sample was collected (CUNY system) and even included demographic data on the university system. This clearly places at risk both the confidentiality and privacy of participants (which is in violation of research ethical codes). The amount of information included on this article could be used to trace participants’ identities considering the number of Caribbean born students that attend the CUNY system. Author is advised to remove that information and simply stating, “participants were recruited from universities in the northeastern part of the US”.     <br />
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In addition, it was noted this article was rather lengthy (40 pages). The author is encouraged to be more strategic regarding how findings are presented and discussed. It seems to this reviewer that the author included very lengthy quotes or excerpts of focus group dialogues. Author is encouraged to consult other sources regarding how best present the data in order to compress the article. It also seems to me that this article could be easily converted into two separate ones considering the amount of data that came out from the focus groups. Furthermore, this reviewer would advise the author to separate the discussion from the results section. At times, it was difficult to follow the train of thought of the article. Also it appears that the author included a great amount of reflection or opinions regarding the data that emerged from the focus groups. While reflecting and including personal impressions is customary in qualitative research, the author is encouraged to separate it from the discussion or at least, making sure findings are clearly linked to relevant literature.<br />
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(3) Theory [if applicable]. This paper is based upon a systematic and reflective examination of one or more literatures of theoretical or conceptual perspectives.<br />
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Although this article mentions two theories: William Cross Black Identity Model and Patricia Hill Collins Back Feminist Thought, none of the theories are described in detail in the literature review nor are utilized very effectively to explain the findings. I am also wondering if the author considered other theories such as Critical Race Theory or other Gender Construction Theories to explain the findings. It is this reviewer’s opinion that this article could be strengthen if the author would use these theoretical frameworks to inform/discuss the findings and more specifically how these theories or models apply to Caribbean born women. Lastly, elaborating on my comments on section 1, the connection to psychology is very limited.  The author is encouraged to look at theories such as resilience and coping to further explain the findings.<br />
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(4) Practice [if applicable]. The manuscript provides information that will be useful in the practice of psychology by a targeted audience and/or the interdisciplinary readership of the journal. The content may include but is not limited to case studies, narratives of supervision, or demonstration projects. Implications for supervision practice in clinical, organizational, and educational settings are discussed.<br />
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Although the information derived from this study will be helpful to the practice of psychology, the author neglected to include a section on Implications to Psychology. Considering the article was submitted to a journal targeting Interamerican psychology, the fact this section was omitted represents a big flaw. Author is encouraged to include a section related to implications for practice. Some of the ones come to mind are for example a discussion on how college campus could offer support services to these students; what are the coping strategies these women utilize why negotiating multiple intersectionalities? what make these women resilient? How this could inform strength-based psychological approaches?<br />
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Lastly, it was noted that the discussion section lacks a section discussing limitations and future research. Although length of manuscript might be an issue the fact these sections were omitted from this section is also consider a flaw on this manuscript. Author is encouraged to add a section in which these topics can be addressed in lieu of current findings.<br />
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(5) Literature Review.  Author(s) critically review relevant literature and demonstrate understanding of current knowledge related to the topic. Author(s) build on existing literature in formulating ideas for this submission.<br />
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Although the author presents literature tied back to the focus of the study. It was noted the literature was outdated. The most recent article was Collins (2000). It is hard to believe that in 16 years no articles have been published on a widely studied topic such as gender, racial, social construction and the experience of college women. Even though, literature on Caribbean born women might be limited, the author is encouraged to provided more updated research on these topics. Author is encouraged to add a section in which an overview on Caribbean history or gender issues is provided (this is a good way to place the study within a framework). As previously stated, theories should be further developed in the literature review as well as including literature specially addressing psychological issues impacting Caribbean born women college students. Moreover, adding subheadings that clearly differentiate the variables under study will be extremely helpful. Lastly, it was noted that reference list mostly included books and not many research articles that includes up to date literature in the field. Also it was noted that the author did not include any articles that have been published in the Interamerican Journal of Psychology. The author is encouraged to cite articles that have been published in the journal, if applicable.<br />
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(6) Writing. Is the manuscript well written, grammatically correct, free of spelling errors, cohesive, and logically organized? Are conclusions stated clearly? Do the author(s) appropriately reference primary and secondary sources using the APA publication manual?<br />
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There were a significant amount of grammatical errors and editorial issues related to APA style. The author needs to make sure to edit the paper for these errors before submission, as it distracts from the content. <br />
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_____________________________________________________________<br />
Edil Torres Rivera, Ph.D., Editor<br />
Interamerican Journal of Psychology<br />
http://journal.sipsych.org/index.php/IJP