u/Ineedivorytower

I submitted a minor revision of a paper over 4 months ago, and since then its status in the tracking system hasn't changed at all: it looks like the handling editor hasn't touched it yet, or if he did, he didn't update the status in the system - in any case, I'm in the dark about what is happening. I tried contacting the editorial office several times, and later the managing editor of the journal, but I didn't receive any response. This is for a paper that's been submitted 18 months ago to a highly ranked humanities journal. Both reviews were very positive, with only small comments to address.

Would it be a breach of etiquette to politely contact the handling editor directly at this point, and ask about the status? My concern is that officially, all communication is supposed to go through the editorial office, and handling editor's contact was never explicitly mentioned - I'd have to cold email him through his institutional email (I only know his name from the "minor revision" decision sent by the editorial office). Should I perhaps be contacting the editor-in-chief instead?

I submitted a minor revision of a paper over 4 months ago, and since then its status in the tracking system hasn't changed at all: it looks like the handling editor hasn't touched it yet, or if he did, he didn't update the status in the system - in any case, I'm in the dark about what is happening. I tried contacting the editorial office several times, and later the managing editor of the journal, but I didn't receive any response. This is for a paper that's been submitted 18 months ago to a highly ranked humanities journal. Both reviews were very positive, with only small comments to address.

Would it be a breach of etiquette to politely contact the handling editor directly at this point, and ask about the status? My concern is that officially, all communication is supposed to go through the editorial office, and handling editor's contact was never explicitly mentioned - I'd have to cold email him through his institutional email (I only know his name from the "minor revision" decision sent by the editorial office). Should I perhaps be contacting the editor-in-chief instead?

I submitted a minor revision of a paper over 4 months ago, and since then its status in the tracking system hasn't changed at all: it looks like the handling editor hasn't touched it yet, or if he did, he didn't update the status in the system - in any case, I'm in the dark about what is happening. I tried contacting the editorial office several times, and later the managing editor of the journal, but I didn't receive any response. This is for a paper that's been submitted 18 months ago to a highly ranked humanities journal. Both reviews were very positive, with only small comments to address.

Would it be a breach of etiquette to politely contact the handling editor directly at this point, and ask about the status? My concern is that officially, all communication is supposed to go through the editorial office, and handling editor's contact was never explicitly mentioned - I'd have to cold email him through his institutional email (I only know his name from the "minor revision" decision sent by the editorial office). Should I perhaps be contacting the editor-in-chief instead?

Nearly 4 months ago I submitted a second minor revision for a manuscript that's been in review for 18 months at a good Q1 journal. Both reviews were very positive: one reviewer recommended publication, and another had some minor comments. The timeline between submission and publication for most papers in this journal appears to be approximately 7-12 months.

Since my submission, no status change has been noted in the tracking system, indicating that either the editor has not yet begun evaluating the revision, or has not made an update in the system: this would be unusual because in the past the status was always clearly up to date (I could see if reviewers were invited, etc.).

I sent a polite status inquiry to the editorial assistant after 2.5 months, to which I received a generic reply that "timelines to first decision are difficult to predict". I explained that this was not about a submission awaiting the first decision, and received an apology for the delay from the assistant, saying that the delay was due to them having "a hard time finding reviewers". This was confusing to me because it could mean that new reviewers are getting invited after 2 rounds of minor revisions, while one reviewer already said there's no need to send him any further revisions. I asked for clarification but received no reply. In summary, in over a month I've been unable to receive any real status clarification from the editorial assistant, and am getting anxious about this timeline.

I intend to follow up again, but if I don't get a status clarification, would it be a bad idea to politely email the editor-in-chief directly about the status? I also know the handling editor's name, but his contact is not disclosed and I don't want to cold contact him via university email.