There are three things we will not tell you about your paper's review, whoever asks and however the question is put.
Who your reviewers are. Not names, not initials, not their institution, not anything that would let you work it out.
Who was approached and what they said. Whether anyone was invited and said no, whether anyone was replaced, and the dates any of that happened.
How the decision is likely to go. Including a general impression of how it is going. We will not say the reports look encouraging, or discouraging.
This is not discretion applied case by case. There is no setting that turns any of it on, for anyone.
Why
Our journals use double-anonymous review. The reviewers do not know who you are, and you do not know who they are. That is what allows a reviewer to write honestly about a paper from a senior figure, or from a competing group, and it only works if it holds in both directions and in every case.
It also protects you. The same rule is why nobody is told that you are the author of the paper they are assessing.
What you can be told
- Where your manuscript is, and what happens next: this is what the status banner is for.
- Whether anything is needed from you.
- The round of review your manuscript is in.
- Depending on the journal, how many reviews have arrived so far.
If you ask us for more than that, we will tell you plainly that we cannot answer, rather than answering vaguely. An answer we have not verified is worse for you than no answer.
What you receive at the decision
When the editor decides, you receive a letter with the reviewers' comments on your manuscript. The comments are passed on as written, with the reviewers' identities removed.
The comments are the reviewers' assessment of the paper. The decision is the editor's, and the letter is where it is stated.
If you think a reviewer has a conflict of interest
Write to contact@asidejournals.com and say so, with the journal and the submission number. You do not need to name anyone, and you should not try to. Describe the concern and the editor handling your paper will consider it.