Q: Is it fine to inquire about a paper that's been under review for over 8 months?
I have submitted a paper in one of SIAM journals. The paper is under review for 8.5 months. I asked the editor 1 month ago about it, I was told that one review report has come and they are waiting for the other. Will it be ok if I politely inquire about it now (I have inquired 3 times till now after submission). How frequently I should inquire from now on so that it is not rude. Another question is that, is it the usual time taken for review in SIAM journals?
It would have helped to know your field mentioned your field. SIAM has quite a few mathematics journals. Typically, the review period is exceptionally long in te field of mathematics. So if you've submitted to a math journal, the review time of 8.5 months would be considered quite normal. However, even then, it would be a good idea to send an inquiry to the journal editor. This sometimes makes them take notice and might help speed up the process.
However, if your field is not mathematics, you definitely have reason to worry. In that case, you should be more proactively sending reminders to teh journal. You can write to the editor every two to three weeks requesting him/her to expedite the process. If you see that there is no change in status even after a month, you could consider withdrawing the paper and submitting it to a rapid publication journal. Perhaps you could also consider uploading your manuscript on a preprint server. That way, you will be able to establish precedence even if it takes time for your article to get published. You can read these articles to learn more about posting your paper on a preprint repository:
http://www.editage.com/insights/the-role-of-preprints-in-research-dissemination
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage