Q: What does a status change from required reviews completed back to editor assigned indicate?

Detailed Question -

I've submitted my paper to a Springer journal. For the first week of submission, the status was "with editor" and then it changed to under review for one week. For the next two days, reviewers were assigned and then the status again changed to under review for 10 days, and then finally to "required reviews completed". The status "required reviews completed" was shown for one week and then it changed once more to with editor again. It has been this way for the last 10 days. Now my question is if rejection is the verdict, wouldn't the editor immediately send the rejection letter? Why is the editor taking so much time to decide? Is it a good sign or a bad one??

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Thank you for your question. The status change from "required reviews completed" to "assigned back to editor" indicates that the content review of the paper by the relevant academic reviewers is now complete and that the journal editor will now assess the reviews to make an overall, final decision.