Q: What does the status change from "editorial assessment" to "under review" indicate?
I received “minor revision” for my paper and resubmitted the revised manuscript. After the resubmission was competed the status of the manuscript was finally changed to “under review” after “editorial assessment” after 6 months. For all subsequent follow ups I received the following reply “the responsible editor already decided to recommend, but the decision by a senior editor is still awaited”. I am assuming that “under review” stands for the review by the senior editor, but there has been no change on the status for 2 weeks as of now. Does this indicate that my manuscript was returned to the original editor, or to another new reviewer? I am anxious about this situation as it is taking a lot of time for the final decision. The first decision was “minor revision”, so I thought the decision would be just made by the editor. Should I ask the editorial office about this situation?”
I understand that you received minor revisions on your manuscript with an option to revise and resubmit. I wish to explain that even in the case of minor revisions the revised manuscript is usually reviewed by the reviewers after the initial editorial assessment. Based on the response from the reviewers the editor takes a final decision. Hence in your case the decision will be made by the editor after he receives the comments from the reviewers.
Since the present status of your manuscript is ‘under review,’ it is presently under review by a senior reviewer. This process can take time based on the availability of the reviewer and in some circumstances the editor may want to get the opinion of a new reviewer who has not previously reviewed your manuscript.
You can again send a follow up email to the journal or call the journal editor to have a clear picture of the progress. You should receive the final decision soon.
Related reading
Peer review process and editorial decision making at journals
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage