Reviewer #1 calls it “well-written, well-researched, clear and compelling.” They say it’s “good to go.” Reviewer #2 says that the “ideas are evasive and not well developed.” The verdict is Revise&Resubmit— that is, rejection with encouragement to resubmit with “major revisions.”
I’m stymied.
I deliberately haven’t provided identifying information here, because this isn’t a gripe about this particular paper or this particular journal. This kind of outcome is not unusual. Sometimes I can see a thread through the eye of it, and it turns out OK. Sometimes I think I see a thread, there’s a back and forth, and eventually the journal unconditionally rejects the paper. Sometimes I pass on the offer to resubmit and send the paper somewhere else.
This time? Not sure yet.