Q: What should I do if one of the original reviewers is not likely to proceed with the second review?
I submitted my manuscript to Scientific Reports. I sent the revised manuscript after peer review, and the status changed to ‘The original 2 reviewers were invited.’ Later, the status changed to ‘One reviewer responded.’ However, the status has not changed since then (for over a week). I assume the second reviewer will not be proceeding with the second review. What should I do?
Hello Keigo – Welcome to the forum! So, it may be that the second reviewer is busy with other reviews or with other work. As it has been about two weeks since you resubmitted, you could wait another week or so to see if there’s a change. If not, you could write to the editor to know what alternatives they may be considering. If your paper belongs to a niche field, you may have fewer options for reviewers. In cases like these, at times, the Associate Editor (AE) may act as a reviewer too. Alternatively, they may refer to only the single reviewer presently available. Hopefully, the situation will clear up once you write to them.
In case you need help writing to the AE, you may find the following resources useful:
- How do I write an inquiry to the editor about my manuscript's current status?
- Is it impolite if I send an inquiry to the editor about review status?
- A practical handbook of templates for communicating with the journal [Handbook]
Hope that helps. All the best with the next steps!
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage