I have submitted my paper in a journal of Springer on 09 August 2016. The status of my paper as on 22 December 2016 is still “with editor”.
I have sent many reminder mail to the editor and they finally replied with:
Your paper is presently being reviewed by the Editorial Board and will be sent to the chosen reviewer for a formal report. Please be assured that your submitted paper is under process. We will keep in communication with you.
Please guide me how to proceed now. Is this is normal time period (more than four months) for an editor to review the paper?