Q: What does the manuscript status “with journal office” mean? How much time should a manuscript remain at “with journal office”?
I submitted my paper 50 days ago and now the status of the paper is ‘With journal office'. My manuscript has not been revised since the time I submitted and this is the first notice that has been on the submission system ever since. What is the meaning of this status?
Answer: The status ‘With journal office’ means that your manuscript is undergoing initial screening and administrative checks by the journal staff, such as for plagiarism, formatting, whether you've included the necessary ethics declarations, etc. This screening is done before a manuscript is sent for peer review. The amount of time taken for this evaluation depends on how busy the journal staff are. During the summer in many Western countries, journal offices can get short-staffed. Also, the journal may have received a large number of submissions in a short period, which slows up screening. Since it has been 50 days after submission, I would suggest that you write to the journal’s editor to inquire about the status of your manuscript and request the editor to let you know by when you can expect to receive a decision. Accordingly, you can take the next steps and even consider withdrawing your paper if you feel it's going to take too long. Please read some of the links given below to know more about how to contact/write to a journal editor.
Related reading:
- How to proceed if my paper is not assigned to an editor?
- What should I do if my paper is showing "With editor" for two months?
- What is the meaning of the status "With managing editor search"?
- Can I inquire with the editorial office if my manuscript's status hasn't changed for 5 months?
- How to communicate with the journal editor
