Reply of journal manager and actions of handling editor doesn't match

Question

I have submitted my manuscript (computer science field) to an Elsevier-published journal. It has been "with editor" for a month (after getting the manuscript number). Two weeks after submission I had mailed the journal manager to get an update about any developments. The manager acknowledged that it was unusual to remain in the "with editor" status for so long (two weeks) and said he had written a mail to the handling editor to take quick action and invite reviewers for my paper. Two weeks elapsed after this (total one month after submission), and the status still remained "with editor".

I mailed again requesting for an update. The reply again acknowledged that this situation is unusual. The journal manager notified the situation to handling editor and editor in chief, and assured that quick action will be taken.

Four days have passed since then, things remain the same.

The journal manager talked of "unusual" and "quick action", but the handling editor appears to be not responding.

What is the opinion of this community on the situation, what may be the future course of action, is it a cause for concern ?

Please have some kind of understanding. Currently, there have been 229,358,215 Covid cases and 4,706,953 deaths due to it in the whole world.. Maybe the editor have problems finding reviewers, maybe the editor themself is sick. There are all kinds of possibilities. Please be patient. After all, it has been only one month so far — Nobody, Sep 20 '21 at 11:19
Does this answer your question? What does the typical workflow of a journal look like? — henning, Sep 20 '21 at 18:21

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 20 '21 at 11:20

What is the opinion of this community on the situation

Maybe the handling editor is tardy, or they are sick, or on vacation. Alternatively, the handling editor is giving it their best shot, but it is difficult to find qualified reviewers for your submission. If you have never been editor before it's difficult to appreciate how annoyingly time-consuming it can be to find good reviewers, especially for submissions outside of your core expertise. Nobody is happy about this, but sometimes it simply takes a month or longer to assemble the three reviewers most reviewing procedures expect.

what may be the future course of action

There isn't much you can do but wait. You are of course free to withdraw, but if I'm being honest a month of wait time really isn't all that long in computer science. If you submit to an Elsevier journal you are normally expecting that the first review round will take 4-6 months all in all.

For the same reason I would also not recommend starting to write emails after a delay of only two weeks (or, even worse, a few days), even if "prompt action" has been promised to you. It's easy to come across as unusually pushy and demanding.

is it a cause for concern ?

Not really. I could imagine that there is a world where a journal eventually "gives up" and desk-rejects a paper after trying to find reviewers for the submission for a long time, but I don't think I have ever heard of this.

It's much more likely that your editor will eventually assign reviewers, or that the Editor-in-Chief steps in and assigns a new handling editor.

Reply of journal manager and actions of handling editor doesn't match

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