We've submitted a paper to a well known journal, but it's been more than one year without a reply, despite multiple e-mails sent to the editors. We got a reply once, just pointing to another editor which did not answer our requests.
Just to clarify:
- aug/2014: paper submission;
- mar/2015: first e-mail sent to editor (no reply);
- may/2015: second e-mail sent to editor, which answered pointing to another sub-editor and saying that the delay might be caused by a late reviewer;
- jun/2015: e-mail sent to sub-editor asking for clarifications about the delay (no reply);
- aug/2015: e-mail sent to editor and sub-editor asking for news about our paper (no reply);
- oct/2015: again, another e-mail for both editors (no reply), and we even asked to confirm the receipt, without reply either.
What is the next thing we should do? I guess that withdraw our submission is the logical step, but we don't want to lose all this time of reviewing without any feedback and knowing that our paper was probably reviewed by one or two reviewers, and it could be near completion.