JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY

The first review rejected the manuscript and encouraged resubmission. After resubmission, the manuscript underwent major revisions, which were accepted by the reviewer after three rounds of review, taking nearly 5 months in total.

The main reason for the lengthy process was that one of the reviewers was a peer in the field, and their questions were very detailed and rigorous. It took a long time to satisfy this reviewer.

Additionally, the journal's status in the Author Area consistently showed "Under Review," and the specific status needed to be checked in the Submission History.

The review status initially showed "Under Peer Review," and then it changed to "Under Review" when it was returned to the editor.

It is possible to choose not to make the publication open access, which would eliminate publication fees.

I hope this information can help everyone. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will respond.

July 2022, submission deadline at the end of October, rejection with encouragement to resubmit (common practice for this journal).
Early December, resubmitting supplementary experiments. Received rejection letter on February 22nd. Same reviewer for the second round, one person was very satisfied, while the other raised new questions.
I got rejected by the editor because of the new questions raised by the second reviewer, which were not brought up during the initial review period...
I'm completely speechless... wasted over seven months.
If you're in a hurry, don't submit.
I'm really frustrated with this German editor.
It infuriates me... I hope the journal deteriorates.