Q: What can we say about the decision of other reviewers when only one reviewer has commented on the manuscript?
I recently submitted a paper to an Elsevier journal. The status of the manuscript is ‘Revise’ and ‘Major revision’. There is only one reviewer's comments asking some questions and making some suggestions for improvement. Now, the question is, what can I say about the other reviewers? (I think there were 3 reviewers.) Have they accepted, rejected, or is it unknown?
Elsevier usually has two or three peer reviewers looking at one manuscript, although it is also quite common for only one reviewer to get back with comments as the other reviewers may have been too busy or unavailable. However, the journal editor would have looked at the manuscript too. Also, as it’s a Major Revision, after you make the changes and resubmit, the editor is likely to send it for another round of review. So, you can go ahead and make the changes by the one reviewer without worrying about the other reviewers’ lack of comments. In a rare case, the others may respond with some comments in the second round, but these are likely to be minor. If you are really keen, you could write to the editor checking on this. But I really think you are quite fine presently.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage