Q: The status of my manuscript changed from "Reviews completed" to "Editor assigned." What does this mean?
I had submitted a paper to a Springer journal on 29th may 2019. After subsequent changes in the status, finally it showed “Reviews completed” on 5th of July. Subsequently, the date of the status changed to 13th July while the status remained the same. Finally today, i.e. 18th of July, the status is showing “Editor assigned.” What does this mean?
The status “reviews completed” indicates that peer reviewers have finished evaluating your manuscript and the review reports have been sent to the journal. It seems that the journal uses “Editor assigned” whenever that the manuscript is with the Associate Editor(AE).
Since the manuscript has been sent back to the Associate Editor, the status changed to “Editor assigned.” The AE will now go through the reviewers’ comments and send his/her recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC). It is the EiC who will make a final decision on whether your paper will be accepted, rejected, or sent back for revisions. Once your paper is with the EiC, the status will change to “Decision in process” and you should then expect to hear from the journal soon.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage