Q: When should I send a second inquiry about my manuscript’s status to the journal editorial office?
I submitted a paper to a journal, and I made an inquiry to the editorial office about the status of my paper since it has remained “Under Review” for more than 6 months. I got a reply saying that the peer review was still going on and it was unknown when it would be finished. I want to send a reminder sometime from now, but wanted to know what frequency would be polite for the journal editorial office?
Six months does seem like a long time for an article to be "Under Review" unless you belong to a field like mathematics or economics where the review times are unusually high. Also, going by the journal's response, there seems to be no clear end date for the peer review. It is likely the journal has had challenges finding the right peer reviewer for the article. You can write to them two to three weeks after your last communication. However, this time, apart from asking for an update, also share your anxiety about the time being taken. If you still don’t receive a positive or definite response, in a later mail, you could consider withdrawing the article from their journal and submitting to another journal.
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