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In an Elsevier journal, after some long time, I looked at the status of my paper on the tracking system and I realized that one of the two reviewers did not even accept the review invitation. One of the reviewer submitted the report.

Now, I see that the paper is in "Decision in process". Is that a bad sign? Can we say that the editor has seen the one negative report and decided to reject it?

Edit: I got a very harsh (and unjustified) referee report. This is why the editor decided with only one referee report.In this sense, the question was a logical one.

optimal control
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    Why do you need to know? – user2705196 Feb 27 '23 at 19:59
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    "Can we say that the editor has seen the one negative report" What is "the one negative report"? How do you know that the report that was submitted is negative? – Jochen Glueck Feb 27 '23 at 20:02
  • I'm an editor on an Elsevier journal, and their system does not allow me to make a decision unless I have two reviews. – Prof. Santa Claus Feb 27 '23 at 20:19
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    @VitaminE: This is certainly depends much more an the field than on the publisher. E.g. in pure maths it is very common to have only one reviewer. – Jochen Glueck Feb 27 '23 at 20:42
  • @user2705196 I am curious and there is nothing wrong with this I think. – optimal control Feb 27 '23 at 20:53
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    @JochenGlueck Well, my assumption is that Elsevier uses the same web application for all its journals. – Prof. Santa Claus Feb 27 '23 at 20:59
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    @VitaminE These systems are highly customizable, even though they have the same user interface. How many reviews are required depends on the journal. – Wolfgang Bangerth Feb 27 '23 at 21:07
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    @VitaminE: I'm not quite sure what makes you think that usage of the same software for each journal implies usage of the same configuration parameters. (As Wolfgang Bangerth points out, cumstomizability of software typically goes far beyond setting a few parameters.) Every article that I published in an Elsevier journal so far got reviewed by only one reviewer. – Jochen Glueck Feb 27 '23 at 21:28
  • Only one referee report? That's dodgy. Elsevier is not such a reputable publisher. I guess that's why they can get a way with one review. – Prof. Santa Claus Feb 27 '23 at 22:04
  • @JochenGlueck simple. I work for Elsevier as well!! – Prof. Santa Claus Feb 28 '23 at 06:42
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    @VitaminE if the system does not allow you to make a decision unless you have two reviews, what do you do if e.g. the first review comes back with "this paper is unpublishable because the result has already been derived in X", and on checking X you find that the reviewer is right? – Allure Mar 03 '23 at 09:30
  • @optimalcontrol you might be interested: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/153925/can-i-predict-the-fate-of-my-manuscript-from-information-other-than-a-decision – Allure Mar 03 '23 at 09:31

2 Answers2

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It is not uncommon to receive a decision based on a single reviewer report. I experienced this with several respectable publishers (e.g. Cambridge UP, SAGE). In your case all you need is patience.

Dr.M
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The editor has to make a decision and the decision has consequences for them as well as you. They don't have a lot of information on which to base a decision unless they happen to be knowledgeable in the field, which is certainly possible.

But with little information, they are likely to be a bit conservative in their decision making. If the one review is "meh" then it is a bad sign. If it is "marvelous", and they trust the reviewer, possibly having history with them, then it is a good sign.

Wait for a report back and respond appropriately when it does.

Even a paper with a "meh" review might be salvageable if the single reviewer suggests changes that would bring it up to something like "marvelous". Patience, grasshopper.

Buffy
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