Q: What does it mean for an Elsevier journal if the status is showing "With editor" for 3 months since submission?
I submitted my paper to an Elsevier journal on 11th Jan. But till date (it's been 3 months) my status is "With editor." Also I did not receive any response from them. Is that normal??
Many Elsevier journals show the status "With editor" right from sumission till the time it is sent for peer review. The interim statuses are not displayed; therefore there is no way to know whether your paper is still undergoing admin check, or waiting for the Editor-in-chief to assign an editor or if has already been assigned to an Associate Editor. It is best that you write to the journal immediately requesting a status update and asking by when you can see the next status change.
From your question, it seems that you had written to the journal but received no response. If that is the case, please keep following up every 2-3 weeks. If there is no response even after sending multiple emails, you can consider withdrawing your paper and submitting it to another journal.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage