How to respond to journal suggestion we get a native-speaker editor when writing seems reasonable and one author is a native English speaker?

While one should avoid antagonizing editors where possible, I think it would be reasonable for you and your coauthors to respond with a matter-of-fact email that includes the following points:

(1) one of the authors, namely yourself, is a native English speaker;

(2) said author has re-read the revised manuscript, and did not find obvious defects in the grammar or idiom;

(3) it would be greatly appreciated if the editors or the referees could point out the exact places in the revised manuscript, where it is felt that further correction is needed to meet the desired standards.

If they are being picky in good faith, point (3) should not cause a problem. If they stall or ignore point (3), then at this point it might be worth asking other people in your field or related ones if they have had similar experiences with this journal or its editors.

In some cases reviewers have nothing to say about the content of the manuscript, so they request general language editing. In other cases the language you choose may be grammatically correct, but very distracting. I've read papers with perfect grammar, but the word choice was so bizarre that it distracted from the idea.

In this case you should:

1. Re-read the paper yourself - fix any problems you see (there must be some)
2. Have another, non-author, academic read the paper.
   • If your colleague could understand the work, and the language was not distracting, then email the editor for clarification. For example "My work has been reviewed by native English speakers, and no major issues were found. Can you please elaborate on what changes you would like to see to this manuscript."
   • If your colleague could not understand the work, rewrite or use an editing service.

It could be that the second quotation is simply boilerplate that is sent to every submission. In particular, it is written in the abstract "We recommend that authors", rather than "you" or "the authors". The journal may find it easier to send this to everyone rather than trying to work out the native languages of the authors.

The first quotation is more direct, and may indicate that there are issues of style (perhaps relating that particular journal's house style), rather than a problem with the level of English.