Q: Why has the status of our revised manuscript submission to Science changed from 'To review' to 'Under evaluation' to 'To review' again?

Detailed Question -

Hi. We had submitted our paper and got three relatively positive reviews, [only] one reviewer asking for a few additional experiments. After sending our revised manuscript to the editor, the status changed to ‘To review’ and then to ‘Under evaluation.’ However, it has now changed to ‘To review’ again. I am a bit worried now. Does this mean the reviewers were not convinced and they needed a fourth reviewer? Or could it be that something is missing from the revisions?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Firstly, note that we have made some edits to the question for a more accurate understanding. For instance, we have changed the very last word from ‘reviewers’ to ‘revisions.’

Now, let’s get to your query. We understand your concern in a scenario such as this. However, there are two possibilities, one at each end of the spectrum.

The milder one first. The change back to ‘To review’ could simply mean that the editor sent the revised manuscript to all the three reviewers, but one (or more) is presently not available. So, either the editor will wait from them to be free, or in a rare case, look for a new reviewer. They will then re-update the status accordingly.

And now, the more ‘extreme’ one. So, your assumption may be accurate, especially considering that the editor decided to call in three reviewers to begin with. (Most journals manage with two.) However, even here, things may not be too serious; they could simply be seeking a new perspective, perhaps around the new experiments. [For an insight into when the review process can get really fraught (without hopefully getting you more worried), you may wish to go through this recent similar question shared by another researcher.] From what we can sense of your situation though, you may not have too much cause for worry, as you shared that most of the initial reviews were relatively positive.

Hope that helps. For further insights into journal decision-making, you may wish to go through these resources.

Also, as you mentioned the need for making certain levels of changes, you may wish to know more about both our experimental design service and our scientific editing service. The latter, apart from language and style editing, provides an in-depth technical editing of your paper, helping improve its chances of acceptance significantly. You may learn more about the two services here:

Finally, all the best for the next update, which hopefully takes your manuscript closer to publication. Fingers crossed! :)

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