Q: How do I politely urge the editor to process the revised manuscript faster?

If you have completed a minor revision, that too, in the second round, that means your manuscript is fairly close to acceptance. :-) However, note that there is still some time for that. Now, the associate editor (AE) is having a final look at the revised manuscript. If fine, they will make a decision and communicate this to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC). The EiC will then consider the AE’s comments and make the final decision. All this may take at least two weeks more. So, if all goes well, you may get the decision (most probably, an accept) within the anticipated time of a month. However, if things get delayed here and there, it might come close to your deadline. So, I can understand your anxiety.

Actually, if you were aware of the need to have this published within a certain timeframe, you could have shared this in an earlier mail, perhaps when you were submitting the minor revision. However, it’s fine if you haven’t – perhaps you weren’t conscious of it earlier.

So, there are two things you can share in this mail. Firstly, when mailing them now, you need to provide a strong reason for getting to know of the potential acceptance soon. You haven’t mentioned the reason(s) here, but you could consider sharing it with the editor now. Without sharing the reason(s), they may not see the urgency to arrive at a decision sooner. Then, you need to demonstrate a bit of empathy with the editor. That is, you can talk about how you understand how pressured they are, especially now with the challenges imposed by COVID-19. You can say that while you understand their challenges, you have challenges of your own, and it would be great to keep this mind while going through (hopefully) the final review of the manuscript. Beyond this, it may not be wise to push it. Journals also need to follow their own processes and timelines. :-)

Hope that helps. You may also find the following resources relevant:

• How can I write a polite reminder to the journal editor for a decision on my manuscript?
• Is it impolite if I send an inquiry to the editor about review status?
• A practical handbook of templates for communicating with the journal [Handbook]

All the best for the mail and the final stages!