Q: How to interpret 'Awaiting Editorial Office Processing' status for 3 weeks after submitting a minor-revisions manuscript?
I submitted a manuscript to a journal that uses the ScholarOne system. After six months, I received the reviews and was asked to do major revisions. I submitted the revised manuscript after one-and-a-half months. After another month, I got back the review, asking to work on minor revisions. These revisions were trivial, and so I resubmitted after one week. But now, three weeks have passed and the status is ‘Awaiting Editorial Office Processing.’ Is this cause for worry as 'major' to 'minor' took only a month but now things seem to stand still?
I don’t think you have much cause for worry as far as the status goes. Things seem to be moving slowly with this journal, but they do seem to be moving. For instance, the initial review took six months, which is a bit long, but you did finally receive the review. The minor revision request turnaround time (TAT) was comparatively shorter, but it is a minor revision request after all.
The present status of Awaiting Editorial Office Processing does seem a bit unusual after two revision requests, but this could depend on this particular journal’s workflow. Perhaps here, manuscripts at all stages need to first go through the editorial office (EO). Also, three weeks at the final stage isn’t all that long. There may also be challenges on the journal side that we can’t be privy to, such as the availability of the editor and/or peer reviewer(s). Nevertheless, you could wait a week or so, and then drop them a mail seeking an update. All the best!
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage