Q: What does a change from "awaiting editorial decision" back to "under review" mean?
Hi everyone, I am a bit confused and wanted to bug you about something. I submitted my manuscript via ScholarOne and within 2 days my status went from "editor assigned" to "under review". Then in 3 weeks it was "awaiting reviewer reports" and yesterday finally "awaiting editorial decision". I was thrilled because I thought that might mean I'll get an answer quite soon. Unfortunately I looked today and it says "under review" again. I read this as a fairly bad sign: I feel I must have got at least one bad review and the editor decided to send it out to a third reviewer or wants to review it him/herself as the reviewers have given different opinions. Nevertheless, I wanted to ask whether anyone has experience with this, and what the outcome was. Thank you!!!
This is a fairly common scenario in the journal review process. The fact that the editor decided to send your paper to another reviewer isn't really a bad sign: in fact, it shows that your editor doesn't want to take a hasty decision and is trying to ensure that your manuscript gets a fair judgment. Generally, a manuscript is sent for an additional review if one of the reviews received is weak or if the reviewers have contraditory opinions on your manuscript. However, this does not reflect on the quality of your manuscript: in fact, it might reflect on the quality of the review (in case of a weak review). So don't worry, it is good for you that the editor wants to be really sure before taking a decision on your paper.
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Hello,
I am in a similar situation. Just curious to know what was the final outcome for your manuscript?
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage