Q: What does a change in status from 'Under Review' to 'Under Editor Evaluation' mean?
I submitted a manuscript to an Elsevier journal and it was ‘Under Review’ for 20 days. Now, the status has changed to ‘Under Editor Evaluation.’ What does it mean?
This means that the peer review for your manuscript is complete and the Associate Editor (AE) is now making a decision based on the review. Next, the AE will probably communicate their decision as a recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC), who makes the final decision. Once the AE's recommendation has been sent to the EIC, the status will change to 'Decision in Process.' This status may be displayed for a a few weeks before the decision is shared with you. In some cases, the AE may decide to send the paper for another round of peer review, in which case the status will change back to 'Under Review.' You may wait for another week, and if there is still no status change, you could write to the journal requesting an update.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage