Question Description:
I submitted my paper to a journal more than a month ago. The editor emailed me saying he cannot get in touch with the reviewers I recommended, so he asked me to suggest other reviewers. After I re-recommended reviewers, the status changed from "Under review" to "Evaluation recommendation." Does it mean the review is done and the editor is evaluating my paper? Is there any other possibility?
Answer:
Your current status definitely doesn't mean that the reviews are done. One possibile explanation of the status "Evaluation recommendation" could be that the editor is looking for reviewers for your paper. This could be done through an automated recommendation system, hence the term “evaluation recommendation.” Alternatively, it could mean that the editor is evaluating your list of suggested reviewers. This is done to ensure that your suggestion for reviewers is unbiased and objective. The editor will most probably send out invitations to reviewers within a few days. You can watch out for the next status update.