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Post by when to email on Jul 7, 2013 11:29:18 GMT -5
I submitted a journal article a little over a month ago, and just happened to check the status of the submission today. To my surprise it still says "Awaiting administrator processing" and "administrator not assigned" which is the exact same thing it said when I first submitted the article.
Should I email the journal about this? If yes, when is an appropriate time to email them? I've submitted two articles since this one (at different journals), and one is out for review, and the other that I submitted about a week ago is already "undergoing initial checking." It seems strange that a month after I submitted an article they still have not assigned an administrator or done the initial processing of my article. Or maybe some journals just don't update their online systems? I'm not sure what to think...
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Post by prof22 on Jul 7, 2013 11:41:46 GMT -5
There is already a thread assigned to this matter.
In general, yes, that seems a bit long.
It is possible they have not updated the status of your article.
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Post by samoth on Jul 7, 2013 12:45:33 GMT -5
It could be that the status doesn't accurately reflect the real disposition of your paper. I work as an editorial assistant at a journal and we sometimes go around the online system for various reasons, so the author may see a status such as "pending decision" when we're actually looking for a new reviewer, etc.
I'd wait a full 3 months before contacting the managing editor and asking where things stand.
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Post by nah on Jul 7, 2013 13:01:19 GMT -5
I'm going to disagree with the above poster and suggest the OP send that email now. Yes, it could be that the system isn't showing the actual status- if that's the case, the managing editor can tell you, and you don't have to worry about what the system says.
But it's not uncommon for some journals to take their time in processing submissions, and a polite email may speed up the process. If that's the case, then you don't want to wait three months for your paper to be sent for review.
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Post by silvestra on Jul 7, 2013 14:17:30 GMT -5
I second nah's post.
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Post by samoth on Jul 7, 2013 18:24:39 GMT -5
Sure--it'd never hurt to ask either way.
All I am saying is that journals have different workflows and different ways of naming each stage. So "administrative processing" could mean anything from checking the manuscript for proper anonymization to securing reviewers (which can easily take a month+).
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Post by never wait on Jul 8, 2013 8:20:30 GMT -5
waiting is a terrible idea
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Post by they understand on Jul 8, 2013 15:56:58 GMT -5
also, journal editors are aware that waiting can be costly for people getting ready to go on the market. i had an incident where i had to pull a paper because of timing, and the editors were *extremely* understanding/accommodating.
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Post by when to email? on Jul 17, 2013 12:14:32 GMT -5
Just an update, I waited another week and no change and then had a weird anxiety dream about the paper where they had rejected it because I did the footnotes wrong but forgot to tell me about it, so I just emailed them and heard back very quickly the main editor has been out of town without a reliable internet connection and so has not processed recent submissions, but that they are back and processing them now and if I my paper gets accepted they will try to hurry it through on the other end. Glad I emailed them so I can stop having dreams about it  |
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Post by samoth on Jul 18, 2013 6:10:06 GMT -5
glad to hear your dream was wrong!
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Post by egkim on Sept 26, 2017 14:50:15 GMT -5
if you are very curious about the status of your submission after a reasonable time, then just ask. The processing time varies and there is no rule saying that you have to wait 3 months.
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