Q: why does the status of my manuscript switch to "with editor" after being "out for review" for one day?
I submitted my manuscript more than a month ago. I can follow the process on two platforms Taylor and Francis' Author Dashboard and ScholarOne. On Taylor and Francis, I see that my paper passed the first screening, then it went from "with editor " to "out for review" after a few days. However only one day after being "out for review" it changed again to "with editor" and has been like this for 3 weeks. On the other platform (ScholarOne), the status has remained "Under Review" since it passed the initial screening. How shall I interpret these changes and differences?
Dear Author,
The difference in status between these 2 platforms could mean that one of the 2 has not updated their status. Once a manuscript has been sent out for review, it usually takes some time for the peer reviewer/s to get back with their comments. In this case, the status changing from "out for review" to "with editor" in a day could either mean that the peer review has actually happened that fast or that the manuscript has been returned without a review possibly because the peer reviewer is unable to review the paper for some reason (unavailability, content, etc.). However, since the status is still "under review" on one of the platforms, I would recommend contacting the journal to find out what has happened, as it is best we do not make assumptions based on one status or the other. The journal should be able to get back to you with details on the actual status of your manuscript.
You may also want to take up this course to understand journal status better.
I wish you all the very best with your research.
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage