How many days reviewers get to review minor revisions?

Question

I sent my research work to an sci indexed journal. However, it was under review for 5 months.. So we sent query to the editor. After sending the query, the reviewers' comments came just within 4 days suggesting a minor revision.

We sent the manuscript with minor revision but now it is again under revision for 15 days. Now, from my earlier experience, I am worried uf they again take 5 months to review a minor revision, or suggest something else (like a major revision after a long time). I have to leave the institute within 2 months. So, if they suggest anything like that it might not be possible for me to do additional experiments by then.

My questions are- (i) How many months do reviewers get to review a manuscript with minor revision? (ii) Do the reviewers get reminders from the editor every week? is it possible that the editor's email go to spam and the reviewer cannot notice it?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 17 '22 at 07:23

3

Depends on the journal. For one of the journals I used to handle for example, all revisions (minor or major) had the same reviewer deadline of 21 days.

answered Feb 17 '22 at 07:23

Allure

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Thanks. Do the editors send reminders to the reviewers within 21 days? do they send the reminders every week? – Lishachulisha Magenta Feb 18 '22 at 04:46
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@Magenta it again depends on journal. Sending these reminders is automated by the EMS, and for the journal in the answer, there's one reminder sent a week before the deadline. – Allure Feb 18 '22 at 04:56
@user1 https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55665/what-does-the-typical-workflow-of-a-journal-look-like-how-should-i-interpret-a Does that answer your question? – Allure Oct 28 '22 at 05:54
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/169784/awaiting-reviewer-scoresafter-minor-revision What about this then? @user1 – Allure Oct 28 '22 at 08:53

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 17 '22 at 08:41

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From the author's perspective, the formal review timelines are not something to count on, because both reviewers and editors can mess up. A rather recent example: We yesterday received the acceptance for a minor revision we submitted 5 1/2 months ago. Apparently our assigned editor was unreliable in their communication to the journal and reviewers, and was finally replaced with the EiC.

For you this means:

I have to leave the institute within 2 months. So, if they suggest anything like that it might not be possible for me to do additional experiments by then.

You should start preparing a contingency plan in any way. Some other person in the lab (potentially some PhD student or post-doc) should be familiar enough with the setup to continue your experiments, if required.

answered Feb 17 '22 at 08:41

lighthouse keeper

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"We are not able to do additional experiments because of XYZ" is also a fine answer to a concern. – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 17 '22 at 16:19
@AzorAhai-him- Potentially risky. Navigating reviewer demands is an art in itself, but if there is one reviewer who requests one specific experiment to be executed before they can accept the paper, then they might be inclined to recommend rejection upon such an answer. – lighthouse keeper Feb 17 '22 at 18:03
Thank you. But, actually, it is important for me to get the paper published to apply for post doc. I don't know if mentioning the work as "under review manuscript" in my resume will give the same impact or not. – Lishachulisha Magenta Feb 18 '22 at 04:44
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@Magenta We have a question about that, too: How "submitted", "to appear", "accepted" papers are evaluated in a CV? – lighthouse keeper Feb 18 '22 at 07:50

How many days reviewers get to review minor revisions?

2 Answers2