Q: What does it mean if there are 25 reviewers invited?

Detailed Question -

I have submitted my paper almost a month ago. So far, the status from the journal is (Springer Nature journal): 25 reviewers invited. What does this mean? Does it mean that the reviewers are not interested in my paper so they keep declining the invitation to be a reviewer?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Thank you for this interesting question! The status “25 reviewers invited” implies that your manuscript has cleared the initial screening and your paper has been sent for peer review. The journal editor has possibly identified and sent out invitations to 25 potential reviewers for your paper and is waiting for their response. Finding reviewers generally takes some time as reviewers are busy researchers themselves. Therefore, it is absolutely normal for the manuscript status to remain “reviewer invited” for a few weeks.

Also, potential reviewers may decline the invitation, in which case the journal editor will have to begin looking for more reviewers. Once the requisite number of reviewers has been assigned, the status will change to “under review.” Because the status of your paper has not changed since a month, you can write an email to the journal editor inquiring about your manuscript.

We also have a few related resources on this topic, including a useful handbook curated by our sister brand, R Upskill.

I wish you the very best for your publication!

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