Q: What is the meaning of , "Awaiting scores" after the paper has been accepted by all the reviewers with minor corrections?
The paper was accepted with minor corrections after 3 rounds of peer review by all the reviewers, however, in the last review concerns regarding the grammar and running sentences were raised by one of the reviewers. Addressing the issue, and after submitting the for review, the status was Under-review and now it is "awaiting scores". I am a bit concerned about the final result. Is it normal to have such a status after the acceptance from peer reviewers? Hope someone can shed some light on it. Thank you
Dear Author, I understand your concern regarding the status of your manuscript. As you know "awaiting scores" means that your manuscript is undergoing peer review and the journal is waiting to hear back from the peer reviewer/s. Since you mentioned that after your last round of corrections, the status changed from "under review" to "awaiting scores" again, it most likely means that the final round of corrections that you submitted has been sent to the peer reviewers to be rechecked. Since your paper has already been accepted, I don't believe this to be a cause for concern; the journal accepted the paper with the condition that you would make the minor corrections that are needed, and now that you've done that, I recommend that you wait to hear back from the journal. You can choose to follow up with the journal editor if you do not hear back after a few weeks.
Congratulations on the acceptance of your paper and all the best with the publication.
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage