Q: What can I do if the journal is not responding since eight months?
I submitted a manuscript to the journal "Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME)" in September 2016. The status is "Under Review" till date. I wrote several emails to the editor inquiring about the status of my paper. But there is no response. In April-2017, I lost patience and I wrote to the editor, clearly mentioning that this email should be considered as confirmation of "withdrawal." For that email also, there is no reply. Few days back, I sent a fax. Again no response. Can I submit the manuscript to another journal?
You should send a final email to the journal stating that since all your efforts at contacting the journal have failed (mention the details of the email and fax that you had sent), and since the journal has not given you a confirmation of withdrawal, you are considering your manuscript "unsubmitted" from this journal. Once you have sent this email to the journal, you can submit your paper to another journal. However, make sure you preserve a copy of all your emails/fax to the previous journal. In case there is any problem in the future, you can always produce these documents as evidence of your efforts to contact the journal.
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This content belongs to the Journal submission & peer review Stage