Q: R1 Manuscript reverted from “Decision in Process” to “With Editor” after inquiry. Is this normal?
I have a 19-month-old submission (R1 revision) with Heliyon that initially shifted to "Decision in Process" on January 18, 2026. After two weeks of silence, I sent an inquiry to support on February 4, and the status immediately reverted back to "With Editor" with a new date of February 5. It has now been sitting in this reverted state for a week; does this backward status change indicate the Editor is finally writing the decision letter, or did my inquiry accidentally reset my manuscript to the bottom of the queue?
Answer: Dear reader - It can be very unsettling to see the change of status that does not indicate the direction of the review process. You have rightly pointed out that it could have moved forward or perhaps taken a step back. There is no way of knowing. The fact that it is a 19-month old submission is something that concerns me more. I feel that you may want to write to the editor to understand what the status of the manuscript is and what they might suggest. At this point, you do have a lot at stake as you have been patient, you revised and resubmitted according to the recommendations of the reviewers, and you simply need to see the decision. So, I would not advise you to withdraw and submit elsewhere, simply because too much time and effort have already gone into submitting to this journal. I would also suggest looking at recently published articles in this journal to see how long the submission to publication turnaround time is. If they are similarly long, then perhaps you need to just wait it out. However, there still is nothing lost in contacting the editor for an update. Good luck!
