"Awaiting Decision" on a Manuscript

[shernjerner]

I recently resubmitted a revised manuscript to a journal. The status showed "awaiting reviewer assignment" for a week, and today, which is the eighth day, it changed to "awaiting decision." There were no intermediate updates, such as "reviewers assigned" or "under review." I'm wondering if such a jump within a week is normal. Can anybody guide me based on their experience as an author or possibly an editor/reviewer on what this could mean, and by when one can usually expect to hear from the Editor-in-Chief after this status is displayed? Does this mean the reviewers have finished reviewing the revised manuscript and have submitted their scores, or that they have returned the manuscript without reviewing? I'm sorry for so many questions, and I know one can't know for sure, but I'd appreciate any perspectives or insights you can share.

To add: I received this automated message moments after submitting the revised manuscript: "Your revised manuscript has been sent out for review for consideration for publication. The time in the peer review process is typically one to two months."

The timeline mentioned in this message seems to conflict with the status updates on my author portal, which makes me all the more curious.

Hi, OP -

You will get more responses if you have this moved to the University Staff Common Room board.

How many stages of review or refereeing does this journal use?

In my (STEM) field, a revised paper would go back to the primary reviewer(s). (If there had been a two stage review, that would be the second reviewer). There would be a reasonable expectation, but certainly no guarantee, that a suitably revised paper would meet the publication standard. Therefore some of the steps you mention are moot when revisions are submitted.

Unless the paper is very long, the time frame sounds optimistic but reasonable - the referee is already familiar with the paper.

How does this conflict with the status updates you see? Is it possible that these are generic and don’t reflect that the paper is a revision?

Hi @poetryandwine! Thank you for the very helpful suggestion; I'll go ahead and post this on the University Staff Common Room board.

This was my first round of revisions, and since they were major, I believe the Editor must have sent the paper back to both (or at least one) of the original reviewers. I'm not sure how many further rounds of revisions they might request, if they choose to continue with the paper.

I would consider my paper fairly long (about 7500 words), but as you noted, the reviewer(s) are already familiar with my work, so it's possible they were able to respond more quickly this time.

And you’re probably right—it may just be a standard email they send out for both first submissions and revised versions. Thanks again for helping me put this in perspective.

I’m a journal editor. In my journal, that would indicate the editor is ready to decide on the paper, possibly without further review. But you can’t really trust the status on the online systems. Just put the paper out of your mind and wait for an actual decision email.

Thank you. It's reassuring to hear this. I'll take your advice and try not to worry too much about the outcome until the decision arrives.