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I Submitted a paper 2 months ago, the current status is "With Editor" and the status date of the manuscript (from With Editor to With Editor!) has been changed twice. What does it mean?

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I would not deduce anything from this. Most likely the system changes the date whenever the editor accesses the article (or the editor does not use the system in the way it was intended).

Also, it happens that the state is not accurate (e.g., in reality, the paper is already with the reviewers), but there is no way to know that.

Anyway, many journals have a processing time span that is much longer than two months. If after some time the state is still "with editor", you might politely contact the editor to inquire about the process.

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    I think it is more likely to be the first. Possibly, the editor is accessing the system to find suitable reviewers fro your article. It's possible that he/she is looking at the references section of your paper and shortlisting a few of those authors as reviewers for your paper.
    – Kakoli Majumder
    Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 8:21
  • Thanks Danny and Kakoli for your answer. Actually the metrics given on the journal website says that on average it takes 14.5 weeks for the first decision and 17 weeks to publish online. What does it mean? Whether 14.5 weeks required by editor to take a decision regarding start of review process or its the expected time to receive the reviewer's comments?
    – Mohaqiq
    Commented Aug 22, 2016 at 2:46
  • @Mohaqiq: Although this is an old question, I write my answer for the readers. The first decision time is computed by the summation of the time of the desk rejected papers and reviewed ones. if a journal rejects 100 papers immediately in one week without any review and review 20 papers in 12 weeks (with the decision to major revision/minor revision/reject/accept), the announced average first decision time would be (100 * 1+ 20* 12)/120. So, if the paper has gone under review, the actual time of review is often much more than the announced averaged time for the first decision.
    – m123
    Commented Sep 11, 2023 at 10:04
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This probably means the assigned editor changed. This can happen if, e.g., the first assigned editor declines to handle the paper.

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