Q: Should I just wait for the decision if told so by the editor?

This is a tricky situation. We can understand your dilemma, and may we say we added to it by not responding to you earlier. :-)

Anyway, let’s look at it in two ways, the journal’s and yours. Firstly, it’s an Elsevier journal. So, the decision (and the overall process) is going to take a while. But for the same reason (that it’s an Elsevier journal), it may be worth waiting (especially if the decision ends up being positive). Also, it seems like there may be some particular internal challenge here, because the final decision should not take this long. However, we should not speculate too much over this possibility.

Coming to you, while we understand that this may be challenging for you, we would suggest waiting the remaining month. You are so close here, and if you choose to withdraw now, you may lose a possible chance at acceptance, plus have to start the process all over again with another journal. If you haven’t replied to the editor’s mail (asking you to wait one more month), you could do so now, adding that in case you don’t hear from them after the month, you shall write to them again. And if a month later, you don’t hear from them or, in a worst case, if it’s a reject, you can begin submitting to another journal. We understand you may have to start the process all over again, but at least then, you will be sure of what the decision is with this journal.

In the meantime, you may consider writing presubmission inquiries to some other journals, just to be on the safer side. For that, you may refer to this resource: How to write a presubmission inquiry

And because we see a lot of communication in all these actions, you may consider investing in this resourceful handbook: A practical handbook of templates for communicating with the journal

Hope that helps. All the best for this one month – and after!