Q: Why is the status is always reviewer accepted?

Detailed Question -

I submitted the BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making at the end of Jan, and then modified the form as required by the editor. On 15th Feb the status changed to "Reviewer(s) Accepted".

Since then, it is updated every month at this time, but the status has not changed. During the period, I sent an email to ask about the progress, but the editor did not reply. It has been 5 months now. Do I need to continue to wait or withdraw the manuscript and submit it?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Thank you for your question. Currently, I believe your manuscript is still awaiting acceptance by peer reviewers. For most journals, the status updates to "1 reviewer accepted" or "2/3 reviewers accepted", depending on how many peer reviewers have agreed to review the manuscript.

We completely understand the nervousness and frustration associated with awaiting a status update! Depending on the topic of your manuscript and various other factors, it might sometimes be difficult for the journal to find peer reviewers for your paper. This can be quite time consuming as journals have to first wait for the peer reviewer's response and then send the manuscript to a different peer reviewer, if the first one isn't available. This back and forth can take quite long, especially if the peer reviewers do not respond promptly.

We suggest sending the journal another reminder email asking for an update on your manuscript. As it has been quite long, it might be best to ask the journal for a tentative timeline, and if that does not suit you, to withdraw the manuscript and submit elsewhere.

You may also find a few of these resources helpful:

We wish you all the very best!

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