Q: The status of my revised paper is "Evaluating recommendation" for the last 3 weeks. What does it mean?
I submitted my paper last November (2018) and received feedback from two reviewers in mid-January. I made changes and re-submitted this February but the status turned to "evaluating recommendation" three weeks ago. What does this mean? I really want to get this paper published quickly. Shall I write to ask them to handle my submission more quickly? Will this make my submission get rejected? How long shall I wait before I get any further feedback?
The status "Evaluating recommendation" indicates that the reviews for your paper are complete and the Associate Editor (AE) is evaluating the reviewer suggestions to arrive at a decision about your paper.
However, in your case, it is not very clear whether your revised paper was sent for another round of peer review. In any case, it is clear that the AE is now going through your paper and evaluating it against the comments of the reviewers to arrive at a decision. The AE's decision, however, is not final. He/she will give his her recommendation about the decision to the Editor-in-Chief who will take the final call. Once this is done and the paper is with the Editor-in-Chief, the status will most likely change to "Decision in process."
Ideally, the status "Evaluating recommendation" should not take more than a few weeks. I don't think you should write to the journal immediately. Wait for a couple of weeks more. If there is still no status change, you can send a polite inquiry to the editor. I don't think the editor will be annoyed, especially since your paper is taking a long time to be processed. However, remember to be polite in your communication and not sound too pushy or impatient.
Related reading:
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage