Q: I haven't heard from the journal about my manuscript's status. What should I do?

Detailed Question -

Thank you for answering my question the other day.

As advised, I inquired with the journal about the current progress and also I said that I am in a hurry because the publication affects my graduation. Then I received the following reply.

I have followed-up with the image check concern team to expedite the process.

Please rest assured that your manuscript will be processed at the earliest.

Thank you very much.

However, I haven't heard from them for a month.

Actually I’m concerned about the situation and I have a feeling of distrust with them, since when I sent a revised manuscript at the review process, the same review comment was returned twice and requested correction was not done. Even so, the revised manuscript was accepted immediately after resubmission.

Should I send a reminder again? Your advice would be appreciated.

 

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

Dear Author,

Thank you for writing to us and providing us with the additional clarification we requested.

On checking the journal email we understand that the journal is currently investigating the manuscript on suspicion of fabricated data, and you have provided the required images and clarified that it was an oversight. We wish to inform you that this situation will take a bit longer to resolve than the regular manuscript in order to move to publication.

As per the process provided by COPE, the journal will now take a decision if your clarification is satisfactory or unsatisfactory. If the clarification is satisfactory, they will inform you and will proceed with the production process. However, if the clarification is unsatisfactory, they will inform you about the same. They will then get in touch with the regulatory body and your institution to open an investigation into the matter. The final decision (to accept or reject) will be taken based on the investigation results. Thus, this will take additional time.

Given that it’s already been a month since you replied to the journal, we recommend you email the journal to inquire about the status of the manuscript. You can also copy the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Stephen Tait Stephen.Tait@glasgow.ac.uk in this email (in case the previous email was sent only to the editorial team). We are unsure if the delay from the journal’s end is on account of unavailability of the reviewers/editors’ board members or some other external factors. We hope you receive a positive and prompt response from the journal.

Please let us know if you need any other clarification.

 

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