Q: What is the meaning of the status "With managing editor search"?
I submitted an article to Botanica Marina and the status "With managing editor search" has not changed for more than a month now. What does this mean?
Larger journals have managing editors who are responsible for different subject areas. Once a manuscript is submitted, it goes to the managing editor who assigns it to a suitable Associate Editor(AE).
It is not uncommon for a manuscript to remain with the managing editor for a month. This is because the managing editor may be having difficulties in finding a suitable AE for your paper. Another possibility is that the AE who has the expertise to deal with your paper is already overloaded. In that case, the managing editor will have to wait till the AE is done with processing some of the papers that he/she is currently handling.
However, since it has already been a month since submission, you can send an email inquiry to the managing editor asking by when you can expect to see the next status change.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage