Q: What does a status change from "Awaiting reviewer assignment" to "Reviewers Invited" mean?
I submitted a manuscript to an "A" journal. After almost three weeks of "Awaiting Reviewer Assignment" the status changed to "Reviewers Invited". What does this mean?
The status "Awaiting reviewer assignment" means that your paper has cleared teh initial editorial screening and will be sent for peer review. During this time, the editor looks for suitable reviewers for your paper and sends out review invitations. The reason this status took three weeks is probably because finding suitable reviewers can be a challenging task for the editor. However, finally he/she seems to have found the requisite number of reviewers and sent out review invitations to them. Once the review invitations are sent, the status changes to "Reviewers invited."
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage