Please allow me two weeks (i.e., 10 business days) to provide feedback on any writing, posters, or other material that you send to me. Letters of recommendation also require two weeks’ notice. You’ll need to plan in advance, because it essentially means that the hard deadline for any proposals, abstracts, etc is actually two weeks prior to the external submission deadline. In reality, you should plan on sending me your materials more than two weeks in advance, because you’ll likely need time to make revisions in response to feedback. This kind of advance planning can be difficult at first, but it’s a good practice to develop early in your career. Once you’re an independent researcher, you’ll find that you need to give your collaborators and co-authors at least two weeks to provide comments on grants and manuscripts. In addition, universities require researchers to submit their grant applications to them for internal review and approval prior to submission to the grant agency; this process usually requires two weeks.
I might make exceptions to the two week requirement under a couple of conditions. First, if something serious and unforeseeable occurs that delays you, then please ask me if I am in a position to provide feedback sooner than usual. This should only be used in rare occasions, however. Second, if the item is short, like an abstract, then I can probably give feedback within a week. Again, it’s good to check with me first.
Why is the two week turnaround time required? It’s because I have to balance the needs of all the lab members, plus my former students, collaborators, colleagues, editors, program officers, and all the other people I interact with. I am often working under hard deadlines myself, so I need to plan at least two weeks in advance to schedule the time required to evaluate your work. In addition, I may be out of town for up to a week, and likely won’t have time during my travels to give feedback. Please keep in mind that other lab members may also be applying to the same program that you are, so if everyone gives their work to me to evaluate right before the program’s deadline, it will be difficult for me to provide useful comments. By giving me your work at least two weeks ahead, you ensure that I have the time to provide the best feedback I can.