网上多数人认为,Required Reviews Completed 这个状态是审稿已经完成,编辑在做决定。实际上不完全是这样,那个状态只是有足够数目的审稿人回了审稿意见,这个数目编辑可以设置,也可以变,而且编辑经常多找了审稿人,也许还在等其他的审稿人意见。当然,给的期限到了,编辑会催审稿人,或直接做决定(做不了还会多找审稿人)。
一般而言,如果是Elsevier投稿系统,当所有审稿人的意见都返回了,系统会变成Required Reviews Completed,如果是Springer投稿系统,当有审稿人返回意见,则系统就会变成Required Reviews Completed。
Elsevier官网给出这样的解释:
The Editorial Office can set a specific number of reviews to be completed for a particular paper, for EES to automatically change the status to Required Reviews Completed.
This number of required reviews to be completed, may be lower than the number of actual Reviewers invited. This allows for EES to automatically process the paper for the Editor to take further action.
This does not necessarily mean an editorial decision will be made for the paper. The Editor will communicate with the Corresponding Author directly when a decision has been made.
还有,如果编辑先不做接收拒稿的决定,再多找审稿人,或把需要的审稿人数目增加,Required Reviews Complete 还会变回Under Review。
If a manuscript is at status Required Reviews Complete and the number of required reviews is changed, perhaps as a results of the Editor requesting additional reviews, the manuscript status will now return to Under Review.
下面是一封来自某Elsevier旗下杂志AE关于解释Required Reviews Complete这个状态的邮件:
Dear Dr ***
I am pleased to inform you that the status of your submission has now progressed to: 'Required reviews complete'.
This status means that I have received the minimum number of required reviews, which I will now evaluate in order to make a decision on your paper.
If the current reviews conflict with one another or are not detailed enough, I may need to seek the opinion of another reviewer to make a fair and informed conclusion about your paper. For this reason the status of your paper may change back to 'under review' for a short period of time.
As soon as the final editor's decision can be made, you will be notified via email.
I appreciate your understanding of the time required to provide you with a thorough decision and comments on your submission.
Kind regards,
***
所以,不要状态一变成Required Reviews Completed,就急或想催稿。除非杂志是很快的那种,最好不要半年内催稿,偏数学类的再多等等。