Q: What is the meaning of the Under Review status for a minor revision?

Detailed Question -

Hello.

I submitted my paper to a Springer journal. After two months, I received minor revision as the decision. The statement was: ‘Your paper was found acceptable pending revision.’ I submitted the revised version, and now, the status is Under Review. What does this mean? And normally how long does this round of review take?

Kind regards.

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Hello to you too.

So, great, you have received a conditional acceptance. Which is usually the case if the first decision is a minor revision. And it’s even greater as this is a Springer journal. You can almost begin celebrating, but of course, it may be more pragmatic to hold on until you hear the final ‘accept.’ :-)

To respond to your queries until then, it’s a bit unusual that the revised manuscript (for a minor revision decision) has gone to Under Review, which mostly means that the peer reviewer/s need/s to look at your changes. This may be the case if one/some of the changes they asked for are very technical. Otherwise, the Associate Editor (AE) or Managing Editor (ME) – basically, whoever is handling your paper – is happy to look at the minor revisions and give the clearance (acceptance decision) themselves. In some cases, by Under Review, the journal may mean either the second peer review or the second AE/ME review. However, this is a minor thing, and not something that you need to worry about (hopefully).

To answer your second question, this shouldn’t take long, as it’s a provisional acceptance. So, say about two weeks. But as this probably involves the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) giving their final nod and we are finding that presently manuscripts are getting ‘stuck’ at this stage, in a worst-case scenario, you can give about four weeks in all for the final decision. In case you don’t hear from them by then, as you may know, you may send them a mail seeking an update.

For now, to be pragmatic on our own, we are holding on to the congrats too. So, will just say a ‘pre-congrats!’ :-)

And to help you for the stage after acceptance, which is proofing, here are some resources that you may find helpful.

All the best in taking your manuscript toward final acceptance and publication!

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