Q: Why did the status of my submitted manuscript change from 'Under Review' to 'Awaiting Referee Assignment' again?
My manuscript submission status in ManuscriptCentral changed from ‘Awaiting Referee Assignment’ to ‘Under Review’ after 15 days of submission. But after three days of this change, suddenly, the status changed back to ‘Awaiting Referee Assignment.’ It's been one month since this change happened and there is no update. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?
Hello Mohosin – Welcome to the forum!
Actually, this kind of a change is not uncommon. It basically happens because one or more of the reviewers initially assigned decides to back out for any of various reasons: conflict of interest, less-than-appropriate match with the subject area, or unavailability. The associate editor (AE), who is managing your manuscript, then has to look for one/more reviewer(s) again. The delay (one month) could be because they haven’t yet been able to find one. In case the journal allows you to suggest peer reviewers and you know of any, you should do so. You could also anyway write to the journal seeking an update. For more information on this scenario and statuses in general, you may refer to the following resources:
- What does a status change from "Awaiting reviewer score" back to "Awaiting reviewer assignment" mean?
- Why does my manuscript's status keep changing from "awaiting reviewer selection" to "awaiting reviewer assignment"?
- A guide to understanding journal statuses [Handbook]
All the best for this matter getting resolved and your manuscript indeed moving forward to the review!
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage