The Decision to Reconsider, Major Revisions
(Revise and Resubmit)

 

It is important to distinguish between papers that are rejected (and which, if submitted again after substantial reworking, would be considered new papers) and papers for which the editorial decision is to "reconsider after major revision." In the former case, the paper has clearly been rejected and any future resubmission would have to be significantly enough revised to effectively constitute a new paper; a different set of referees and even a different Editor may be chosen for the paper. Such papers should be resubmitted using the online tool as a new submission. In the "reconsider after major revision" case, an accept or reject decision is neither made nor implied. However the intention is to continue with the same Editor and usually the same reviewers.

If your decision is to "resubmit after major revision," the email will ask that the manuscript be revised taking into account the comments provided. The tool also requests that an author prepare a separate input detailing how the points raised by the referees and by you have been addressed (and if not, why not) in the revised manuscript. The author is also allowed to provide comments intended only for the Editor.

Finally, it is our editorial goal to try to reach a final editorial decision to either reject or accept a paper (perhaps with minor revisions) after two rounds of reviews.