Q: Why has the status date changed while the status remains unchanged at "Editor Assigned"?

Detailed Question -

I submitted to the journal Parasites and Vectors on 24th November and the status stayed at "New Submission" for two days. I found some errors in the manuscript, so I used "send email" function in the system to request withdraw and resubmit. After editor agreed,  he did format screening and asked me to make all the corrections together. I resubmitted on 26th November. The status changed to "New Submission" immediately and then "Editor Assigned" on the 27th. However, it remained at "Editor Assigned" for two days, and the date changed on 29th November. What does it mean? I am in a hurry to graduate with this paper. I hope they can make decision soon if this is rejection.

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

It's been just a few days since you have submitted your manuscript. The journal review process is time-consuming and you will have to be more patient. I can understand that you need an early decision for your graduation, but you will have to wait for at least a few weeks for each status to change. Your manuscript's status currently is "Editor Assigned." When the paper is at this stage, the editor has quite a few tasks at hand. During this stage, he/she will have to: 

1. Conduct an initial editorial screening of the manuscript

2. If the paper clears this screening, look for peer reviewers

3. Send out review invitations

4. Wait for the reviewers to accept the invitations

5. If one or more reviewer does not accept the invitation, start looking for reviewers again

All this will definitely take a few weeks, especially since the Editor must be handling several manuscripts at the same time. The fact that the status date changed indicates that the editor accessed your manuscript from the backend. This means that he/she must be actively working on processing your manuscript. Therefore, please be patient and wait for a few weeks. If there is no status change even a month after submission, you can write to the editor.

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