Q: What does a change of status from 'Under Review' to 'Editor Assigned' mean for a Springer journal?

Detailed Question -

I had submitted a manuscript to a Springer journal. The manuscript was under review for a duration of 2 months. However, suddenly the status of the manuscript changed from 'Under Review' to ' Editor Assigned'. What does this mean? Are the reviews complete?

3 Answers to this question
Answer:

You have not mentioned whether there were any other statuses before "Under review." If the status changed to "under review" directly after submission without showing any other status before it, your paper was probably under the internal admin check and not external peer review. The status "Editor Assigned" typically indicates that an Associate Editor (AE) has been assigned for your paper. The AE is responsible for processing your paper from initial editorial screening to the final decision. It is the AE's responsibility to send your paper for peer review. Since the AE has just been assigned, it is clear that the paper has not yet been sent for peer review. 

I think that for this journal, the status "under review" is used for both internal and external review. So basically, your paper has cleared the admin check and has just been assigned to an AE. The AE will conduct the initial editorial screening to check the scientific value and relevance of the manuscript to the journal. Your paper will be sent for peer review only once it clears this screening.

Related reading:

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Answer:

This is exactly the same with my case. I had submitted a manuscript in March 2019.after two months being in the status of editor assigned, it finally went under review about a month ago. Today the status suddenly changed from under review (being one month in this status) to editor assigned again! . Any ideas what should I expect now? 

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Answer:

@Anahita Khd: This could mean that the peer review of your paper is complete and the reviewer comments have come in. The editor will now make a decision based on the reviews. If this is the case, the status will change to "Evaluating recommendation" or "Decision in process." another possibility is that one of the reviewers discovered a conflict of interest while reviewing your paper and has therefore declined the invitation. If this is the case, the editor will have to look for another reviewer and the status will go back to "Under review."

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