Q: What does it mean if my revised manuscript goes back to Under Review after being With Editor?

Hello Ahmed – Welcome to the forum! Don’t worry; this kind of ‘oscillation’ happens at times, both after the initial submission and after the revised submission. This may have happened because one of the reviewers wasn’t available for a while to check the revised manuscript, but now probably is. The handling editor may have updated the status – first to With Editor, when the reviewer wasn’t available, and then to Under Review, when they were available again – to reflect the accurate status of the manuscript. The editor was probably doing this out of diligence. All the same, you may continue to keep such a close eye on the manuscript. In case of further ‘unusual’ changes, you could write to the editor requesting clarification on the status.

For both writing to the editor and for a better understanding of journal statuses, you may find the following handbooks useful to invest in:

• Templates for communicating with the journal
• A guide to understanding journal statuses

Hope that helps. All the best for the next update!