Q: What should I do if my paper has been under review since 5 months and the journal is unresponsive?

Detailed Question -

I submitted my research paper to the Journal of Web Engineering 5 months ago. It's a bi-monthly journal.The status is still "Under review." I wrote an email to the editor but didn't get a reply. What should I do? 

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

While delays in peer review are not uncommon, 5 months is quite a long time. Additionally, the fact that the journal is not reponding to your emails is somewhat worrying. I think you should send another inquiry to the journal. Keep following up every week till you get a reply. If you don't get a response even after sending 4-5 emails, you can consider withdrawing your paper.

Related reading: