Q: How can I politely ask the editor about the progress of my manuscript?
I submitted a manuscript to a journal that mentions that they would respond about one month after submission. However, I have not received any response even half a year after submission. I was feeling anxious, so made an inquiry, but was told that they haven’t found any suitable reviewer yet. I would like them to find a suitable reviewer and have my manuscript reviewed soon, but I’m not sure how long I should wait. Please advise me on how to communicate my request and concerns politely.
Six months is a bit long for the journal not to have still found a reviewer. So, you could do a few things. You could wait for some more time, say, a month. If they still haven’t found a reviewer by then, you could consider withdrawing the manuscript and submitting elsewhere. Alternatively, if you happen to know any reviewers yourself and the journal allows this, you may suggest some reviewers to them. In case you don’t know anyone, as suggested above, you may opt to withdraw the manuscript. For the actions involved in manuscript withdrawal, you may refer to this previous query: Should I withdraw my paper if the journal is taking unusually long to process?
Over the next month, what you can also do is to send a presubmission inquiry to some other journals about your manuscript and the present situation. In case one of them expresses an interest and the present journal is eventually not able to find reviewers, you can submit to them. You would have saved some precious time by doing this. Of course, when submitting to the next journal, see if you need to make some updates to your paper as some things may have changed in these six-seven months.
About sharing your concerns with the editor, you needn’t worry. As it has been over six months, the editor should understand and allow you to withdraw, if indeed that is what you decide. And in case they do not respond to your withdrawal request later, you may then refer to the points in this other query: What can I do if the editor does not confirm my withdrawal request?
As further help and also because the suggested actions may involve a fair amount of communication (such as to the present editor and to the next set of editors), you may find this handbook helpful: A practical handbook of templates for communicating with the journal The handbook provides several email templates for various publication scenarios, including delays and withdrawals, as discussed in our response. [Note: The handbook is available from R Upskill, a sister brand providing learning programs for various aspects of a researcher’s work. For a limited period, the programs are available for free. So, do try it out!]
Hope all that helps. All the best for taking speedy, positive actions next!
This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage