Q: Should I expect a desk rejection based on my manuscript's status?

Detailed Question -

My paper was submitted to a ScholarOne journal and the submission status changed in the following way: "Awaiting review assignment" for 2 weeks, "Awaiting AE recommendation" for 1 week, and now it is "Awaiting SE decision." Should I expect a desk rejection?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

The exact course of steps after the submission depends on the process flow of different submission systems and often varies from journal to journal. The organization of the editorial workflow depends on how a journal is managed and how it is structured.

As per the steps you've mentioned, peer reviewers were invited to review the manuscript. Two weeks later, the paper went to the Associate Editor (AE) for his/her recommendations, and then to the Editor in Chief or Section Editor (SE). It is likely that the submission is currently waiting for the Section Editor’s decision on the manuscript’s chance of further revision.

Usually, if a submission is not a good fit for a specific journal or falls short of its standards, a decision of desk rejection is communicated to the author. In such cases, the manuscript is not sent for peer review.

Since it appears that the peer reviewers were contacted for review, it is possible that the manuscript is not desk-rejected. However, since the exact editorial workflow for the given journal is not known, we suggest you may wait for another couple of weeks. If the status is still not clear, you may write to the Editorial Office requesting a clarification regarding the status.

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