Q: How can I get an acceptance letter for my paper?
I got a letter from a journal editor telling me that my paper will be published in their journal, "Dear ---! This is an official notification that your paper titled “---” will be published in our Journal." The editor asked me to fill in the copyright transfer forms and then upload the final version of the manuscript. Although this letter sounds very positive to me, I am still a bit wary and anxious (after all, this is still not a formal acceptance letter). I resubmitted the final version of the paper with the requested copyright transfer form. It has been one month since I heard from the editor and resubmitted the final files. How long should I wait to write back to the editor and ask for a formal acceptance letter (or is it even appropriate to do this?). Can you please suggest how to write an email to the editor requesting my acceptance letter?
Did you receive this letter after submission and peer review of your manuscript? If that was the case, you can perhaps consider the editor’s letter as an acceptance letter. However, if you received this letter before submitting your paper, that is, if this was an invitation to submit your paper, then there is definitely some cause of concern. Reputable journals do not make promises to publish a paper even before they have seen it. If that is the case, I’m afraid, there is a strong possibility that the journal is a predatory or fake one. Unfortunately, there are several questionable journals that offer authors guaranteed publication while charging exorbitant fees, and unwitting authors fall prey to these unethical practices. I hope you have checked the journal website carefully and consulted your colleagues about the reputation of the journal before submission. If you have not, please do so immediately. Be completely sure of the reputation of the journal before you give them the permission to publish. If you feel that the journal is not reliable, it is best to withdraw your paper.
However, if you are sure that the journal is reliable, you can write to the editor and ask whether the peer review is complete and when you can expect the final decision.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage