Q: My manuscript status has been "reviewer invited" for over a week. What should I do?

The status “reviewer invited” implies that your manuscript has cleared the initial screening and your paper will be sent for peer review. The journal editor has possibly identified and sent out invitations to potential reviewers for your paper and is waiting for their response. Finding reviewers usually takes some time as reviewers are busy researchers themselves. Therefore, it is absolutely normal for the manuscript status to remain “reviewer invited” for a few weeks.

Also, potential reviewers may decline the invitation, in which case the editor will have to begin looking for more reviewers. Once the requisite number of reviewers has been assigned, the status will change to “under review.” You can wait for some more time to see if the status changes. If there is no change even after a month, you can write an email to the journal editor inquiring about your manuscript.

Do read these articles to understand what goes on at the journal end after you have submitted your manuscript and how the editor assigns peer reviewers:

• Behind the scenes: A journal editor's insight into what happens post manuscript submission
• How to select peer reviewers: Advice from an expert journal editor

You will also find these posts useful:

• Why is the status of my submitted manuscript showing "reviewer invited" for 2 weeks?
• Why has my paper's status gone back to "Reviewer invited" after being under review over a month?