Q: Does a quick change from 'Awaiting ED decision' to 'Awaiting decision approval' mean desk rejection?

Detailed Question -

Hello, folks! I submitted my paper to IEEE EDL on September 6. The status showed as 'Awaiting ED decision.' However, just after a week (today, September 15), the status shows as 'Awaiting decision approval.' Does this signify that my manuscript has got desk-rejected?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

The journal Electron Device Letters (EDL), as the name suggests, is for publishing letters, that is, shorter articles – about four pages long (including references), going by the description on the journal site. This could be another reason for the swift movement from submission to the ED/EIC decision – as this is a shorter piece.

However, there are other possibilities for such a quick movement: they may ask you to reject and resubmit or to submit to another journal from IEEE. As IEED has many journals, they may feel the letter/article might fit better with another journal from the same publisher. In some cases, based on the quality of your manuscript, it might even be a direct accept, again, going by the shorter length of these articles. While we hope this could be the case, you would know your submission best and be in a better position to assess.

What we would suggest though is to simply wait to hear from them, as they seem to be quite prompt with their evaluation and decision-making. In the ‘worst’ case that this is indeed a reject, as you may know, you could make changes to the manuscript and submit to another journal.

Based on the points discussed above, you may find the following resources helpful:

All the best for the next update!