accepted, rejected, or requests for changes in special issue
"Returned to authors with requests for changes" is a "revise" decision. That means the journal wants the authors to make certain changes (e.g., gather more data) before making a decision.

After a revise decision, my experience is that acceptance is the most likely final result. Certainly a paper that's returned to the authors for revision is not going to be desk rejected anymore. However, it's not a guarantee - you still have to convince the editors &amp; reviewers to accept your paper.