
What Does My MDPI Manuscript Status Mean?
Manuscript status can be a little bit confusing at times. Submitting your manuscript to an MDPI journal involves hours of research, drafting, and formatting, before finally finishing with a paper that you’re happy with and ready to publish.
Once you do submit, it’s likely that you’ll have questions about when your paper will be published.
As MDPI is processing your manuscript, it will be assigned different statuses. You can log in to MDPI’s in-house electronic submission system SuSy to track your manuscript status.
In this article, we will first discuss the overall publishing process, and then describe each manuscript status in detail. This should give you all the answers you’re looking for and put you at ease if you find yourself worried about your paper.
What You Can Do to Speed Up Your Manuscript Status
As an author, you will receive email updates when you need to take action. The Assistant Editor for your paper will also update you via email about decisions they make.
You can speed up the publishing process by responding to requests for action as soon as you can. However, we know that authors have multiple responsibilities as researchers, and we aim to be flexible as part of our high-quality publishing service experience.
If you know that you won’t be able to make a deadline, you should contact the Assistant Editor (Editorial Office) to ask for more time.
However, we may ask you to withdraw your paper if a round of revisions will take longer than a month. If this happens, you are more than welcome to resubmit your paper at a later date.
Reasons for Potential Delays
It’s important to mention that every manuscript is unique. Although some papers pass through the process and hit all the time estimates, others may take longer, for many different reasons.
Sometimes, delays occur when waiting for feedback from reviewers and Academic Editors. As an academic publisher, we rely on members of the research community to make important decisions about author submissions.
However, MDPI carries out most of the publishing steps, from submission to online publication. Our dedicated in-house team completes the administrative work. They offer high-quality administrative support and allow Academic Editors to instead focus on the scientific quality of the manuscripts. Any delays from us are extremely short, allowing MDPI to maintain high publishing speeds.
Publishing times also differ depending on the journal. This is because authors, reviewers, and Academic Editors in different fields of research have their own needs and expectations. In general, social sciences journals have slightly more time-consuming publishing processes than natural sciences journals.
You can find the median publishing pipeline times for each journal in the section “Rapid Publication” on the journal’s webpage.
You can also find this information in the “Journal Statistics” section, accessible via the left-hand menu.
Once the journal has accepted your manuscript for publication, the final steps will be completed. The median average for these steps is four days (2021).
Rejection Explained
Something that authors often worry about is manuscript rejection. There are many different reasons why a paper might be rejected during the publication process.
Rejections occur at various stages:
- Desk rejection (rejection upon submission)
- Rejection before peer review by the Academic Editor
- Rejection after peer review
The rejection letter from the Editorial Office will contain important information and instructions for you to follow.
How to Get in Touch About Your Manuscript Status
You can get in touch with the Assistant Editor assigned to your manuscript if you’re unsure about the status of your paper. In addition, you can email the Editorial Office if you haven’t received feedback from the Assistant Editor in the expected time frame.
However, please be assured that Assistant Editors keep a close eye on submissions and will inform and advise you about your manuscript status.
Click on ‘Editorial Office’ as shown to find their contact details.
Submission Statuses
Here are the MDPI submission statuses that you might encounter on the SuSy platform.
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Pending review
The Editorial Office has received the manuscript and it is being pre-checked.
It usually takes 1–5 days. Delays may be a bit longer if the Managing Editor needs to double-check any information. Please contact the Editorial Office if it has been five business days and an Assistant Editor has not yet been assigned to your submission.
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Under review
This manuscript status indicates that a paper has been pre-checked and is now being peer-reviewed. This status also applies to second review rounds (revised version reviews).
The first round of reviews usually takes around two to three weeks. At MDPI, we try to find 2–3 professional and efficient reviewers within the first week of sending out invitations. Our agreed reviewer time ranges from one to two weeks (depending on the journal), but we are flexible if reviewers require more time.
Because this step is out of MDPI’s hands, delays can sometimes be slightly longer. However, the Assistant Editor will continue to contact reviewer candidates until enough reviewers agree. Our editors are trained to find quality review candidates. Assistant Editors also communicate with reviewers and Academic Editors to see if they can recommend a colleague who would make a good reviewer. The Assistant Editor will also ensure that reports are collected as agreed and will inform authors if any delays are expected.
Revised reviews will be completed in around three working days, considering that reviewers are already familiar with the content of your paper, but we are flexible if reviewers require more time.
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Pending decision
This manuscript status means that the Academic Editor is assessing the peer review process.
It usually takes 1–2 days. It may take longer than expected if the Academic Editor has a particularly high workload. If you find yourself waiting for more than a week, it’s best to contact the Assistant Editor for an update.
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Pending major or minor revisions
The Editorial Office is waiting for your revised manuscript. As an author, this manuscript status means that it’s time to review your manuscript and edit it using the comments provided.
We expect to receive revisions within 5 days (for minor revisions) or within 10 days (for major revisions). This is inclusive of weekends and holidays. If you cannot return the edited manuscript and/or responses within the agreed time, you can get in touch with the Assistant Editor, who may be able to grant you an extension.
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Pending editor decision
The Academic Editor is making a final decision about your paper. They will consider the latest version of the manuscript, as well as the completed peer review process.
This manuscript status usually lasts around 1–2 business days. There may be delays based on the Academic Editor’s workload and availability upon a decision request. If you find yourself waiting for more than a week, you may wish to contact the Assistant Editor.
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Paper accepted
This manuscript status means that your manuscript has officially been accepted for publication. Congratulations! A professional Layout Editor is now working on the formatting.
Around 1–2 days. This may take a bit longer if Layout Editors are busier than usual, however we have measures in place to avoid delays—even if any editors on the team are on leave.
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English correction done
The paper has been edited by a native English Editor. This is a mandatory step in the final stages of each paper, with no additional fee.
Around 1–2 business days. If you find yourself waiting for more than two days, please contact the Assistant Editor, who will investigate the status of your paper and invite an English editor to proofread it.
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Author proofreading
Language and layout edits, including typography, abbreviations, image quality, and referencing order edits have been made by the Editorial Office for you to review and confirm. This is your very last chance to edit the paper.
We have a 24-hour window for this step. However, we will allow extra time if you need it. Please contact the Assistant Editor if you require an extension. Otherwise, we will send all co-authors a daily reminder.
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Author proofreading – resubmitted
Thank you for submitting your proofread manuscript. The Assistant Editor will accept the final changes and double-check that everything is correct before the paper is published.
This takes priority for Assistant Editors. They aim to complete it in 12–24 hours. If it takes any longer than 24 hours, the Assistant Editor will contact you to let you know. Any pending edits or misunderstandings will be addressed via email before the paper is published to avoid post-publication edits.
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pdf2xml / Pending conversion
This stage refers to an internal process. Every MPDI manuscript is converted into different formats, ready for publication. This takes around 24 working hours, but can vary depending on staff schedules.
We hope that this breakdown helped you to understand your manuscript status. If you have any questions specific to your paper, please reach out to the Assistant Editor assigned to your manuscript. You can find their details on SuSy.
Dear Editor,
I submitted my manuscript to the special issue of Diagnostics on February 27th. I received an email from you on March 2st asking me to submit some signed documents regarding the ethical approval of my experiment. I did so promptly and since then my manuscript status has been under review. I read on your website that the average review time for this journal is about two weeks. However, it has been more than two weeks since I submitted my manuscript and I have not received any further updates. Could you please kindly inform me of the current status of my manuscript and the expected time for a decision? I appreciate your attention and assistance.
Sincerely,
Miles
Hi Miles, thanks for the comment.
You can reach out to the Diagnostics Editorial Office. They will be able to provide you with more details regarding this.
Hi
i submitted my article to MDPI . 3 reviwer gave the commnets, one of the reviwer rejects and two accepted . what will be chance of publication?
Hi Sanjay. Thank you for the comment.
Each manuscript is unique in this respect. It comes down to the Academic Editor to decide whether or not a manuscript is published. You can reach out to them for further details.
Dear Ms/Mrs. Katherine Bosworth,
My name is Patni Ninghardjanti, I submitted my manuscript on sustainability journal, with ID sustainability-2165383. The status is still on “Pending editor decision”. Furthermore, from your latest information, it usually takes 1-2 days, however, the status of my submission is still on that stage for almost a week. could you please help me to tell the editor about this?. Thank You for your help and understanding.
Best regards,
Patni Ninghardjanti
Hi Patni, thanks for the comment.
I understand you have been waiting longer than expected, and I am following this up for you.
Is it possible to do edits after the publication extremely necessary one, for example a mistake in formula on which the results are based? If it is missed during the proof read? How can it be done?
Hi Tufail. Thanks for the comment.
MDPI has an expert team of editors who detect English errors and house style issues in the proof-reading stage.
However, if this is related to an error in your formula, then take a look at this detailed policy regarding corrections and retractions. Once you’re clear on the ins and outs, get in touch with the Editorial Office, and they’ll process your request.
Dear Katherine,
We have submitted our manuscript to Cancers and got major revision. After submitting the revised version and getting back the 3 reviewers comments (Round 2), the current status is now “pending decision” since 10 days. Should we reach out to the assistant editor? Or is the academic editor hiring a fourth reviewer? Or should we just wait?
Thanks for your help.
All the best,
Edvin
Hi Edvin,
I recommend contacting the Assistant Editor about this issue. The ‘Pending decision’ status usually takes 1-2 days.
hello sir, i submitted a research article to applied sciences. its a original research about sealers used in endodontics, but i dont know why its rejected. can you please tell me the reason why it has been rejected, so that i can correct it and resubmit it.
Hi Prashanth, thank you for the comment.
You can find this information on MDPI’s SuSy platform. Once you are logged in, you can access your manuscript submission. Please reach out to the Editorial Office if anything there is unclear.
Hi, good morning!
I submitted an article to microorganisms. It has been two weeks since the status “Revised version review”. What might have happened?
Hi Gustavo, thank you for your comment.
In rare cases, reviewers do need a bit more time to assess the manuscript and make changes. You can get in touch with the editor assigned to your manuscript for specific details.
Hi! I submitted a manuscript last month and it was under review and then pending editor decision. Four reviewers gave good reviews and recommended the manuscript for publication. However, the editors decision was reject and decline submission. Reasons added to the comment section by the editor was that the paper isn’t ready for publication.
What could be the reason behind this? Is it common for reviewers and editor to not agree? Shouldn’t the editor have allowed for “pending minor or major revisions”?
Hi Zulu, thanks for getting in touch.
You can find out more about the specifics by contacting the Editorial Office directly.
Hello Katherine,
My status of the manuscript says “”Conversion Skipped”. What does it mean?
Hi Piter, thanks for getting in touch.
Your paper should currently appear as a PDF online. In the near future, XML and HTML versions will also be made available.
Excuse me, I am having a concern.
I submitted my manuscript to the Economies on December 30th 20222. The status changed from “Pending review” to “Under review” on January 5th and the Assistant Editor was also assigned on that day.
It is already more than three weeks since my manuscript was submitted, but there is still no feedback from editorial office and the status is still “Under review”.
Could you please advise me how to deal with this situation? If possible, could you help to reach editorial office on my behalf.
Thank you very much
Your kind help is appreciated!
Hi Adit, thanks for getting in touch.
Please could you take a look at the ‘Under review’ section of this article? This will give you a better idea of the time frame you can expect. The journal staff aim to find suitable reviewers in one week, but this depends on the research field and the availability of reviewers at that time. Reviewers then have up to two weeks to return their comments, but reviewers may request more time.
You can keep up with updates to your manuscript by logging onto MDPI’s SuSy.
Dear Katherine,
We have waited for more than five days. My manuscript has been submitted to Remote Sensing “remotesensing-2204341” on January 21, 2023. The status is still “Pending Review.” I have contacted with the editorial office but I did not get response.
Could you help us contacting the editorial office on our behalf.
Best regards,
Waheeb
Hi Waheeb, thanks for the comment.
I fully understand that it can be nerve-wracking to wait for updates on a manuscript. I’d recommend waiting until Tuesday next week. If you still don’t notice any updates, please get back in touch.
Dear Katherine,
My manuscript has been submitted to Remote Sensing “remotesensing-2204341” on January 21, 2023. The status is still “Pending Review.” I have contacted with the editorial office but I did not get response.
Could you help us contacting the editorial office on our behalf.
Best regards,
Waheeb
Hi Waheeb, thanks for getting in touch.
The ‘Pending review’ stage usually takes about five working days maximum. However, it can take slightly longer in some circumstances. Please do get back in touch if you find yourself waiting any longer than this.
Hello,
I submitted my paper on Deecmber 19th and after one month of review , the status is showing as pending decions since more than 5 days after one round of review. I can see the reviewer report is not very encouraging. Any feedback will be helpful.
Hi Teza. Thank you for getting in touch.
I would encourage you to contact the Academic Editor for any missed updates. They will advise you of the decision and any action that you need to take.
Dear Katherine,
The manuscript was submitted on January 17, 2023. The status is now “Pending Review.” Therefore, kindly check and take the steps. We have been waiting for over five days. We forward hearing from you soon.
With regards,
Raja Venkatesan.
Hi Raja, thanks for getting in touch.
The journal’s Editorial Office will be able to provide you with an update. You can find their details on the journal webpage. Click ‘Editorial Office’ on the left-hand side.
Hello Katherine,
I submitted my manuscript dentistry-2179056 to Dentistry journal 7/1/2023. It appears online as under review. However, there is an editor comment saying that the manuscript lacks novelty and has limited significance. Our manuscript is a cross sectional survey that analyses response of dentists regarding their practice in certain restorations. How can any one expect novelty in a survey study of this kind. Regarding the significance, our survey is very important for dentists to find out shortages and limitations of Thiet practice and try to correct and improve. Moreover, it significantly contributes to knowledge and guides dentists to evidence based recommendations in the practice. I have written to the editorial office to provide us with detailed peer review report since the status is under review. I hope we can receive a detailed peer review report.
Professor, Moataz Elgezawi
Dear Prof. Elgezawi,
The Editorial Office will certainly be able to provide further details. You can then apply the feedback to your manuscript and submit the corrections.
Hi,
Is it possible to make publication in MDPI with full waiver for least developed countries?
If not why MDPI did not make publication free of charge as of elsevier and other reputable journals?
Hi Yohannes, thank you for the comment.
MDPI provides waivers and discounts to scholars around the world. In fact, in 2022, the average waiver rate across all MDPI journals was 35%.
Please could you reach out to the journal’s Editorial Office? They will be able to advise on any waivers and/or discounts available to you.
Hello Ms. Katherine!
Thank you very much for answering my previous comment.
Anyways, I thought that the assigned assistant editor or editorial office should have replied my e-mail when I was inquiring about the progress of my manuscript.
Do you think how long probably I should keep waiting?
Thanks.
Hello Sopheap, thank you for the comment.
They should respond within 1-2 working days. This does depend on their schedules.
Hello! Excuse me, I am having a concern.
I submitted my manuscript to the journal of Materials (materials-2126601) on December 13th. The status changed from “Pending review” to “Under review” on December 15th and the Assistant Editor was also assigned on that day.
It is already more than three weeks since my manuscript was submitted, but there is still no feedback from editorial office and the status is still “Under review”. I try to inquire assistant editor and editorial office by e-mail, but still no feedback from them.
Could you please advise me how to deal with this situation? If possible, could you help to reach editorial office on my behalf?
Your kind help is appreciated!
Hi Sopheap. Thanks for getting in touch.
I encourage you to take a look at the ‘Under review’ section in this article. This will tell you all you need to know about this status. The journal staff aim to find expert reviewers within a week, but it can sometimes take longer to find the right match. Furthermore, the reviewers then have 1-2 weeks to provide their comments. Occasionally, they may need more time.
hi,
the manuscript has the ID number of jrfm-1985894
It has is under the status of pending conversion and it waited for two weeks still now? what should I do?
Hi Yohannes, thank you for the comment!
Please get in touch with the journal’s Editorial Office. This is highly unusual and can likely be quickly resolved.
Hi,
My manuscript in Pharmaceutics pharmaceutics-2107259, was uploaded on 3rd of Dec, on the 5th of Dec, Special Issue Guest Editor not qualified the manuscript to this issue, but my work has been still under review. Today, manuscript is again pending review. What does it mean?
I contact with assigned editor, but I did not got response.
Hello Arek,
We have reached out to the editorial office on your behalf and you should hear back from them soon. Thanks for reaching out.
I haven’t checked my status for two weeks since it was “Under Review”. Today I checked as its changed to “Pending decision” and I see peer reviewers comments. Please I have only two question I really appreciate if I got the answer:
1- Did my status changed to “Pending major or miner decision” before that I don’t know because I didn’t check my status
2- Did I receive email if the current status change to “Pending major or miner”
Best Wishes
Hi Sarmamy, thanks for getting in touch!
1. ‘Under review’ implies that peer review is taking place. Peer review can take place at different points in the overall process, depending on the manuscript.
2. You’ll only receive emails if you need to take action. Otherwise, you can keep up to date with the status of your paper by checking SuSy, MDPI’s submission system.
Hi,
I submitted paper to agriculture journal number of article is 1972147 and I finished two rounds of major revisions. The status of paper is pending decision for 33 days. It is first time for me to face this issue in MDPI as I published a lot of papers in MDPI journals and the decision was take after 2days
Hi Mohamed, thanks for reaching out.
Sorry you’ve been waiting longer than expected. Please could you contact the Agriculture Editorial Office? They will be able to provide you with further details on the delay and any action that needs to be taken.
Hi everyone I’ve submitted my paper long time ago it’s been two years years now since my status remains under review, what should I do at this moment I’ve been trying sending an enquiries but there was know response
Hi Mdumiseni, thanks for the comment.
This is very surprising to hear. I have contacted you privately about this matter; please check your spam and junk folders. We’re conducting an investigation into how this happened.
My manuscript is (Pending a decision). Still, I haven’t gotten any requests for minor or major changes. What does it mean?
Hi Bodour, thanks for the comment.
The Academic Editor is currently reviewing the peer review findings. You can expect to receive information about changes soon.
Dear Sir
so how to upload the revised proposed paper?
regards
Hello Jasem,
You can upload your revised manuscript by logging in to SuSy, MDPI’s manuscript submission system. This is done in much the same way as when you initially uploaded your paper. Take a look at our ‘How to navigate SuSy‘ video for guidance.
Dear Sir
how can I find my submitted paper reviewers’ emails?
please advise
regards
Hi Jasem, thank you for the comment!
In most cases, the MDPI peer review process is single-blind, meaning that authors don’t know who the reviewers are.
Hello,
Is it possible to request for a second author’s proof?
If yes then how should we go about it?
Hi Amit, thanks for the comment!
Please get in touch with the editor assigned to your manuscript about this issue. You can simply email them back, in the same thread where they provided you with the first proofreading.
Hello Katherine,
My current status of the manuscript says “”Conversion Skipped”. What does it mean? Does it have to go through the process of editing again by the MDPI editorial team? Kindly shed some light.
Thank you.
Hi Prof Arif, thank you for the comment!
Your manuscript is now being made available as a PDF on the MDPI site. Very soon, it will be converted to XML and HTML.
Hi
I have an inquiry, I submitted my research article on 27/ 9 / 2022. But there is no update from the editor or journal. This is the second paper that I published in sustainability.
Tq
Hi Nawal, thanks for the comment! And thank you for being an MDPI author.
Please could you get in touch with the Sustainability Editorial Office for further information?
I’d like to ask about the status of “Pending Editorial Decision” which has lasted for more than 10 days. What should I do?
Thanks a lot
Dear Torres, thank you for your comment. We always try to provide a decision as soon as possible, but we rely on external academic editors for that. They usually have a busy schedule. Hopefully, you will get a decision very soon. If you need more details about your case, in particular, the assistant editor assigned to your manuscript can help with that.
Best regards,
MDPI Team
If the status says “xml2pdf done” after that how much time it takes for online publication of article ??
Hi Zain, thanks for the comment.
Your paper will be published in under 24 hours.
I am going to submit my academic paper for my PhD degree. How can i do that, madam/sir
Hi Ham, you could start by selecting the most appropriate journal from the list at https://www.mdpi.com/ and submitting your academic paper to your chosen journal. Hope this helps!