Q: Can I withdraw and resubmit a manuscript to the same journal?
When making the peer review changes, one of my family members passed away. So, there has not been enough time to make the revisions. I asked the journal editor for postponing the deadline, but they did not allow additional time as this was the second extension. Incidentally, one of the reviewers had suggested a major revision, while the other reviewer had no comment. In this situation, can I withdraw the manuscript and submit it to the same journal again?
Firstly, sorry to know about your loss. This must no doubt be a challenging time for you (and your family), and it’s entirely understandable that it could affect your effort and ability in completing the revisions.
To respond to your query, you haven’t mentioned whether you wrote to the editor about your loss. I am fairly certain they would have understood your situation and allowed you the extension. However, they may also have their own timelines to work around. So, although respectful of your situation, they would have insisted on the timeline. Perhaps for the same reason, they allowed you an extension once, but are not in a position to do it again.
If on the other hand, you haven’t told the editor of your loss, you should write to them again about this. I am sure they will understand your situation and grant you the extension. If however you have done so earlier or when you do so now, they don’t extend the timeline, you could check with them if you can submit it as a new submission later. If so, you could also check with them for the exact process of doing so. In case they do not allow you to submit it as a new manuscript later, you can withdraw and submit it to another journal later. In that case, during submission, do inform the other journal of the history of the manuscript.
Finally, in case you are still finding it challenging to deal with your family member’s loss, it may help to put aside the revisions for now, deal with the loss to the best extent possible, and then come back to the manuscript. Sometime ago, we made a similar suggestion to another researcher, who was finding it difficult to get started with their writing on a multidisciplinary study. A break can really help in such situations.
All the best – in every way possible.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage