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I submitted an article to Elsevier which even after one week its status is still "submitted to journal" and they didn't give me even the manuscript number. I have several past experiences with this publisher, where they gave me the manuscript number promptly, but this time after one week without even manuscript number seems a little bit odd.

Should I withdraw my article and submit it somewhere else, which probably their process may be faster? The reason why I'm asking this question is that I don't want to waste my time but on the other hand I don't want to make a bad reputation for potential future submissions by withdrawing my article because their journal is pretty famous in my field (computational physics).

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    Have you searched this site for questions about journal workflow? Because a week is not very long to wait. – Azor Ahai -him- Sep 13 '18 at 19:43
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    Besides what @AzorAhai said, can you tell us what field you’re in? Typical journal workflow timings vary widely between different fields. – PLL Sep 13 '18 at 19:58
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    How fast would be fast enough for you? – Jon Custer Sep 13 '18 at 21:11
  • @AzorAhai It's not about the workflow. The workflow is with editor -> under review -> result. But the problem is it's not even with editor after one week. I mean technically my manuscript even is not acknowledged as a submitted paper. –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:18
  • @PLL they described their workflow as well as their timeline clearly but my problem is that it seems it's not considered by their editor at all because it does not have even manuscript number to follow up! –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:19
  • @JonCuster I'm not kind of people whom complain about peer-review timeline but the problem is one week is too slow for a journal to at least confirm that actually they receive your paper. –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:20
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    The editor getting to your paper is part of the workflow. They don't look at every paper the moment it arrives in their inbox. The fact that it exists in their system means it's been received, does it not? – Azor Ahai -him- Sep 13 '18 at 21:21
  • Yes, but usually the journals will give you a manuscript number and that means it will be considered by their editor even if they want to reject you promptly they give you this manuscript number and after 5 minutes they will reject you. But my paper does not have that manuscript number yet. –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:23
  • I’m nominating this question for reopening, because the accepted answer of the proposed duplicate question doesn’t answer this question. Specifically, it doesn’t address the issue of “when should the author expect to be allocated a manuscript number?” – PLL Sep 13 '18 at 21:31
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    @MehrdadYousefi: Allocating a manuscript number is still part of the journal workflow (although it’s not addressed in answer of the linked question). In particular, it still varies widely between fields and journals. In my field (pure mathematics), there are plenty of reputable journals that don’t use a submission number at all (at least in correspondence with the author) — they just refer to the submission by title. Using a submission number is just part of how certain journals choose to organise things, not an immutable part of the process. So I wouldn’t be concerned, in your situation. – PLL Sep 13 '18 at 21:34
  • I know but I don't think I could mention the publisher's name here but in their system they will assign a manuscript number sometimes even promptly after submitting the paper. But in my case, because I have a lot of experience with this publisher, it looks odd that they didn't give me the number after one week. –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:36
  • I'm asking because I don't want to waste my time also on the other hand their journal is pretty famous in my field and I don't want to create a bad reputation by withdrawing my article. –  Sep 13 '18 at 21:40
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    @MehrdadYousefi I would vote to reopen if you added those details that you know this journal, and that you usually get a number immediately, as well as adding your field (or even the publisher). – Azor Ahai -him- Sep 13 '18 at 22:17
  • @AzorAhai I will add those details as well as my field but not the publisher's name. I don't think it would be appropriate to discuss a commercial publisher here. –  Sep 13 '18 at 22:21
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    I'm not sure why you think that, but no one will force you to. – Azor Ahai -him- Sep 13 '18 at 22:23
  • Because that doesn't help too much to just know the name of the publisher. I could simply withdraw it and maybe submit it somewhere else but I think withdrawing will create a bad reputation. I'm not sure I'm correct or not. –  Sep 13 '18 at 22:26
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    I mean, it very well could. Like PLL points out, not every publisher gives a manuscript number so knowing exactly who this is could mean someone knows "Oh yeah, Springer not giving a manuscript number in a week means there's a bug" or "Spring not giving a manuscript number means they are deciding whether to desk reject," etc. – Azor Ahai -him- Sep 13 '18 at 22:28
  • Ok, well, it's Elsevier. –  Sep 13 '18 at 22:29
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    With the additional info I've also voted to reopen; please make sure the info in comments makes it into the question, though. – Bryan Krause Sep 13 '18 at 22:33

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One week is not an especially long time. You write that you've had previous experience with this publisher and they gave you a manuscript number promptly, but you didn't write if it's the same journal. Different journals can have different workflows - for example I've seen a journal which processed new submissions once a week, i.e. if you're unfortunate enough to submit your manuscript the day after they process new submissions, you won't get a manuscript number until one week later either.

It's up to you whether or not to withdraw, but I'll say that I've never seen an author withdraw after one week. I have however seen authors write to the journal asking about the status after one week. If you're really concerned, I would do that.

Allure
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