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I sent a manuscript to a refereed journal and got no response three months after submission. The journal doesn't specify how much a review lasts, or when should I expect to hear back from them. Manuscripts are sent via e-mail to any member of the editorial board. After sending the manuscript I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail from the editors, so I'm worried that my submission got lost between other emails in the inbox.

Given that I had no response after three months, is it reasonable to send the manuscript to another member of the editorial committee?

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  • Note that sometimes journals specify exactly how long you should wait before you contact the editor.
    – Yanko
    Sep 26, 2022 at 23:40

3 Answers 3

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It seems likely that your submission was lost with nothing back for three months. Rather than send it again, send a request for confirmation that it was received. Send it to the same person, but also to a lead editor if you can identify them, or at least one other member in any case.

You should get some sort of response quickly and it might be to submit again. Bad things can happen to email.

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  • I sent a follow-up and got no response back. An acquaintance of mine has published there so I'll ask him if it's something normal. Thank you for your response.
    – Ash
    Oct 18, 2022 at 11:26
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I think it depends on the journal but in general it is not uncommon to take many months. It definitely would not be okay to submit elsewhere without withdrawing, and note that some reviewers may already have finished (so withdrawing wastes their effort). As another answer said, you can always check with them .. but I think it is early to do so.

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    Review timelines depend very much on the field, and there are certainly fields out there where three months is an unreasonably long review process. So I don't think it's fair to say that it's early to check without knowing which field this is.
    – David Z
    Sep 26, 2022 at 18:18
  • @DavidZ The field is economics, and it isn't a big journal.
    – Ash
    Sep 27, 2022 at 9:00
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    @DavidZ is right, the timeline is field-dependent. The idea of simply submitting elsewhere without withdrawing seems wrong in any field, and the idea of withdrawing without some discussion also seems wrong. Maybe it is not too early to check.
    – Fred Douglis
    Sep 30, 2022 at 14:52
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It is quite common for an editor to send an article out to reviewers and give them 90 days to review it. Additionally, a reviewer may ask for an additional 90 days so six month period is a common turnaround time for first reviews.

As you did not receive a confirmation e-mail, then I would encourage you to send a follow-up e-mail to the original editor cc'ing additional members of the editorial board.

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