Hey folks,
So I’m probably just overthinking this, but I figured I’d ask the hive mind before spiraling further. I recently submitted major revisions on a paper (my first first-author paper!), and it’s already been re-reviewed. The status changed to “Required Reviews Completed” about 5 days ago and hasn’t moved since — it hasn’t gone to “With Editor” or “Decision in Process”.
Is this normal? Is the editor just not working this week? Is there a vacation period I don’t know about in the US right now? Or am I just being impatient (very possible lol)?
Also, side question: once it does move to “With Editor” or “Decision in Process,” how long does that part usually take?
Sorry if this sounds naive — this is my first publication and I’m just super keen to see it through. Appreciate any insight, reassurance, or timelines from folks who’ve been through this! 🙏
Comments
It’s been five days, wait a bit.
I’ve had the “reviews are done, so why is the decision taking so long?” thing happen to me two times, and in both cases, one reviewer was very unhappy with my paper while the others loved it.
In one case, the editor even wrote in the decision letter that things took so long because the reviewers had such different opinions that they had to talk it out during an online meeting to reach some kind of consensus.
In both cases, the decision was to revise the paper.
Buuuut – my wait was like 2 months long.
5 days is not that long, really.
It won’t be faster just because you stress about the timeline. Editors are people, and very busy people too. Try to be patient, they’ll get back to you as soon as they can. Plus, I don’t know where your editors are located and what’s common in the US, but in Europe lots of people are on leave this week because it’s Easter this weekend and schools in some countries are closed as well.
A few weeks without any communication is perfectly normal. The whole system is inundated with waaaay more submissions than available reviewers so editors are swamped.
Source: me, am part of a journal team and also run a journal hosting system