Q: What is the meaning of the status "evaluation recommendation"?
5 days after submitting my paper the status for the paper changed to ‘with editor’ and one week after it showed as ‘under review’. It’s been 20 days after this stage and as of today the status is ‘evaluation recommendation.’ As far as I know from my past experience, ‘under review’ can be considered as ‘peer review.’ So my question is what exactly is ‘evaluation recommendation’? Is this the stage where an editor decides rejection or revision? Or then, did ‘under review’ mean the initial editorial screening, and the editor is currently looking for a peer reviewer? Or was the first peer review done and the editor wants an additional review? I am wondering what the exact meaning of the stage is.
From the status descriptions and time frames that you have mentioned, it looks like the peer review of your paper is done and the completed reviews have come in. The Associate Editor (AE) will now evaluate your paper based on the reviews and decide whether the paper should be accepted, rejected, or revised. The stage is called “evaluation recommendation” because the AE can only give his recommendation to the Editor-in-chief (EiC) in this matter. The final decision is taken by the EiC. You will be informed of the decision only after the EiC’s approval.
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage