Q: What to do if the journal is not responding since the last 7 months?

Before taking any decision, you should check the submission system again to see if there is a status update. Also, check your mailbox including the junk folder to ensure that you have not missed any mail from the journal.

If the journal indeed has not sent any update, you can choose to avoid wasting any more time and withdraw your paper immediately. In order to follow the best publication pratice, you should send a final email to the journal stating that since all your efforts at contacting the journal have failed (mention the details of the email that you had sent), you are considering your manuscript withdrawn if there is no reply within a specific period of time (set a deadline of a few weeks). You can then submit your manuscript to another journal if you receive no response within the stipulated time. However, make sure you preserve a copy of all your emails to the previous journal. In case there is any problem in the future, you can always produce these documents as evidence of your efforts to contact the journal.

You can refer to other similar questions on Editage Insights:

• How to withdraw a revised paper from a journal that is publishing irregularly?
• What can I do if the journal is not responding since eight months?