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Hi Kairei, don’t worry as it seems like you followed the right steps as of now. However, I would suggest you wait a little more even if it is frustrating at times as you have already come so far and it’s almost the final step. Do send emails to the journal or editor directly every month to get an update.  I hope you hear good news. All the best.

Hello, I agree with what Chris said above. You obviously followed what the journal asked for. But yes, the minor revisions do not take more than 1-2 months from the editor’s end. So, if possible, mail the editor team directly and ask for an update.

I guess it is okay for the reputed journals to take 1-3 years as their editing team is busy with so many requests and also because they do a thorough check (I can say at least for the UK based journals). Don’t worry, it seems like your manuscript will get published if it has come to this point.

Replied 4 years ago

By Zack

Hi Saqib, I am sorry but I would like to disagree with what you said. Any review process shouldn’t take as long as years worth of time, especially the initial review. I have come across many peer reviewers and editors and according to what they told me, the initial review should be provided within a matter of 2-4 weeks.

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Replied 4 years ago

By Daniel

Hi Saqib, I would also like to say that this is surely not the case. I have worked with reputed journals which were a part of Elsevier, the ACS (American Chemical Society) and the RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry), and none of them had a long reviewing process. Infact, the time of review should be less with the renowned journals because they don’t have two years to be spent on one manuscript review.

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Hello Kairei, as I have already said that it is not okay for a journal to make the author wait for such a long time.  And yes, the peer review and editorial review differ from each other a s editorial review is not as strict as the peer review. It generally sticks with the publishing possibility and editor’s responsibility. However, I would like to agree with other comments above of waiting for a response and keep contacting the editing team meanwhile. I ho

This is really sad to know that the journal has made you wait for 2 years as it is really NOT OKAY on the journal’s part. In such a long time period, either the research gets outdated or other research gets published with the same purpose. I am myself a reviewer and we are given 2-3 weeks to provide a report on the research. I hardly saw a manuscript taking more than 6 months in getting published in my subject domain; chemistry.  I would advise you to contact the editor-in-chief directly and ask the reason behind this delay. If you don’t get any revert, it is better to send an email informing them about the withdrawal.  

Hello Kairei, I also agree with what Chris, John and Daniel said.

 Hi Kairei, although I agree with the suggestions of waiting a little more as the journal publication process is almost at the stage of completion. However, you need to decide based on the time and deadline as well. If you can wait, then please do. If you can because of your PhD program, then send a withdrawal email to the journal. Usually, the production team replies to these emails faster than usual. If they still don’t, feel free to withdraw your manuscript and submit it to some other journal where you think it can get published.

Replied 4 years ago

By amir

I agree with what Paula said. Focus on priority to decide what needs to be done.

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Hello Kairei, as explained by you, i can only give my wild guesses for the possible reasons of delay. It could be that the editor resigned or is on a long leave. The manuscript might have been sent to the same reviewers and they sidelined it or slept over it. Maybe the revised manuscript got misplaced during the transit. It could also be the case of the unfortunate death of the editor. I can say this as it happened with one of the editors I knew who died of a cardiac arrest the next day he brought the manuscript for review. Although even in that case, the family returned the manuscript to the journal after week realising the significance of the paper.

Well, that is such an unprofessional way of handling journals. It happened to me as well. You can consult the team at Chanakya Research, they helped me as well in finding another journal because I withdrew my manuscript after 19 months. It was so frustrating to wait for so long.

Hi Kairei, I just want to say that if you have already invested such a long time, then it’s nothing wrong waiting a little more. Just keep sending them mails demanding the progress status.

Usually the journals provide the expected waiting time but sometimes, the unforeseen circumstances can cause the delay. Still it doesn’t make sense to make an author wait for more than 2 years because if the information gets outdated, the manuscript will get rejected ultimately.

Hi Kairei, has the journal responded to you yet? I see that you posed this question in January and it’s been months.  If the issue has been sorted out, please let all the people involved in this thread know about the result as I see people are still giving their opinions.

 Hi Daniel, I am really sorry for the late response. I submitted the manuscript in January 2018 and received their responses in February 2020.  After the major and minor changes, they decided to reject it. The manuscript stayed under the “with editor” status for about 5 months and then it got rejected just like that.

Replied 4 years ago

By Stephen

So sorry to hear that. Please don’t lose hope.

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Replied 4 years ago

By Daniel

This is really an unfortunate update. Sorry to know that you have such poor experiences while working with a reputed journal. You can ask your supervisor to suggest some suitable journals or as mentioned by Rudolph above, you can try talking to these experts at Chanakya Research. I haven’t worked with them but I have heard of them from my assistant. I heard they help in editing as well, it might help.

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Replied 4 years ago

By Kairei

Thank you, Daniel. I am still waiting for the responses from the current journal. According to the response, I will see if I need external help or not. Thanks for your help though.

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The waiting period is too long. Email the chief editor and ask for a reason. If they don’t respond, go for another journal. Don’t waste your time on one journal, otherwise you might have to write another manuscript because of the outdated information.

The journal policies are really stupid at time. I also waited for 1 year and 4 months and then got rejected. There should be a better way to deal with such things when the editorial team doesn’t respond.

Hi everyone, thank you for your responses. I am sorry I couldn’t reply earlier. They sent me their decision in February, and the manuscript got rejected. For the reason, they just told me that the manuscript got rejected because it was in a latex document. I don’t even know what the revisions were for then, and why they didn’t tell me about this. 

I already had a bad experience with the same journal in the past. I feel so stupid to trust the journal again. 

I have submitted the manuscript to another journal after making the revisions. Let’s see how it goes.

Thank you once again for all the answers.

Replied 4 years ago

By Stephen

So sorry to hear that. Please don’t lose hope.

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Replied 4 years ago

By Daniel

This is really an unfortunate update. Sorry to know that you have such poor experiences while working with a reputed journal. You can ask your supervisor to suggest some suitable journals or as mentioned by Rudolph above, you can try talking to these experts at Chanakya Research. I haven’t worked with them but I have heard of them from my assistant. I heard they help in editing as well, it might help.

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Replied 4 years ago

By Kairei

Thank you, Daniel. I am still waiting for the responses from the current journal. According to the response, I will see if I need external help or not. Thanks for your help though.

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