Q: Can I withdraw a paper submitted to a journal after signing the copyright form?

Based on the details you have provided, the journal’s actions sound odd and even questionable. It is odd that they haven’t mentioned their article processing charge (APC) on the site, and the APC also seems high. Then, they had you sign the copyright form before accepting the article for publishing (in fact, while the review is still on). Finally, while the journal seemed to have been indexed on either Scopus or Thomson Reuters (now known as Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List) or both, it no longer is. You haven’t written how frequently you have corresponded with them and how responsive they have been, but from all that you have mentioned, the journal seems to be a predatory journal. In this scenario, it may not be easy withdrawing your article for two reasons:

• You have signed the copyright transfer form.
• The journal (if it indeed is a predatory journal) will now attempt various tactics to prevent you from withdrawing the article, including using the fact that the copyright is now theirs.

Nevertheless, here are a few things you can do.

• Write to the journal requesting a withdrawal. You can give reasons such as the long time being taken for the review (and how the delay is impacting your dissertation timeline) and the high APC (if you haven’t yet paid the APC). [It would not be a good idea to mention that you suspect they might be a bogus journal, for they may then use further coercive tactics.] Keep following up with them, adding that if you don’t hear from them within a certain timeline, you will consider the article withdrawn.
• Do not pay the APC (if you haven’t already). Again, you can give the reason of it being too high for you.
• You may need to pay a certain withdrawal fee. While this is normally not the case, this may be a possibility in this situation as you have signed the copyright (and may have to pay to get it back) and also because this seems a bogus publisher. At the most, you could pay a certain portion of the withdrawal amount they quote, again giving the reason of unaffordability.
• Be sure to keep a copy of all correspondence with the journal, more so from this point onward. You will need it especially if you wish to submit the paper to another journal.
• If the journal allows you to withdraw the paper, given that your dissertation is up very soon, you may consider the following options for having your paper published:
  • Approach a rapid publication journal, where the publishing timelines are faster.
  • Submit to a preprint repository. While this is not the same as publishing in a journal, it will provide some academic credentials, especially if the findings of your study are quite novel.
• When doing the above and also going forward, please go through the author guidelines for each journal and also check each journal for its authenticity across various databases. You can also use this checklist to identify a predatory journal: 10 Point checklist to identify predatory publishers
• When submitting to a new journal, be honest and let them know of the previous situation.
• If for some reason the present journal chooses to go ahead and publish your paper, there is nothing much you can do thereafter, as listing a paper published in a predatory journal in your CV can hamper your credentials. You will have to simply treat this as a learning experience and let it go.
• Do consult your professor/supervisor for alternative actions in these various scenarios.

Good luck with this and also your dissertation.

Related reading:

• 4 Common reasons for manuscript withdrawal
• How to withdraw a manuscript submitted to a predatory journal?
• Can I submit an accepted paper from a predatory to a reputable journal without a confirmation of withdrawal?