How to Follow Up With a Journal Editor (Templates)

A status inquiry is a normal part of editorial work. Sent at the right moment, through the right channel, it takes the editor a minute to answer.

Guide · 10 min read · Directive Publications Editorial Team

A status inquiry is a normal request

Waiting on a journal decision is uncomfortable, and many early career authors avoid writing because they worry it will look impatient. It does not have to. Editorial offices answer status questions routinely, and the ICMJE Recommendations say plainly that "Journals should respond to authors' requests about the status of their manuscript in a timely manner."

Be realistic about what a follow-up email to a journal editor can do. It can confirm where your manuscript is, flush out an administrative problem such as a missing file or a stalled reviewer invitation, and give you a date to plan around. It cannot make reviewers write faster or change the substance of a decision. Write to get information, not to apply pressure.

If you are not yet sure what each submission status means, start with our guide to how long peer review takes in medical journals, which walks through the stages and the labels used in common submission systems. This post picks up where that one ends: the timing, channel and wording of the message itself.

How long to wait before contacting the editor

There is no universal waiting period, because review times vary between journals, fields and article types. The useful comparison is your manuscript against this journal's normal pace.

Find a benchmark in one of these places:

• The journal's own figures. Some publishers display average review times on journal homepages. Elsevier, for example, points authors to the review time shown on the journal homepage and says that if you are "waiting considerably longer to receive a decision from the Editor than the average review speed indicates, you can contact the Editor" (Elsevier support).
• Recent articles. Many journals print received, revised and accepted dates on each article. A handful of recent papers of your article type shows the typical spread.
• The journal's author instructions. Some state a target time to first decision.

Then match your situation to the right moment:

A status that moves backwards, for example from Required Reviews Completed to Under Review, usually means the editor is seeking another opinion. It is a reason to keep waiting, not a reason to write.

Before you write: the follow-up routine

A well-timed message with the right details gets answered faster. Work through these six steps in order.

1. Log the status history. Note each status and the date it appeared. "Under Review since 3 March" is a fact an editorial assistant can check; "it has been ages" is not.
2. Find the journal's benchmark. Use the sources above, and wait until you are clearly past it.
3. Agree with your co-authors. The corresponding author should write. Several authors writing separately about the same paper creates confusion and duplicate work for the office. Agree in advance what you will do if the reply is "still waiting for reviewers."
4. Choose the official channel. In Editorial Manager, Elsevier explains that corresponding authors can use the Send E-mail link in the Action column for the submission, pick a template, customise it and send it; the message then appears under the submission's Correspondence link (Elsevier support). Not every journal enables that function. Otherwise use the editorial office address on the journal website. Avoid an editor's personal or university email unless the journal tells you to use it.
5. Send a short, specific inquiry. Manuscript number, title, submission date, current status, one question. Use the templates below.
6. Remind once, then escalate. If nobody replies, send one reminder that quotes your first message. If that fails too, go up a level rather than repeating yourself.

Seven templates you can copy and adapt

Keep the subject line informative and the manuscript number in it, so the message can be matched to the file without opening it.

1. First status inquiry

2. Polite reminder after no reply

Quoting the first message saves the reader from searching for it and shows, without saying so, how long you have waited.

3. Revised manuscript submitted

If your revision has not yet been sent and you need more time, ask for an extension before the deadline rather than after it. Our guide to journal decision letters explains what major and minor revision requests usually expect.

4. A genuine deadline

Grant reports, thesis submissions and promotion files create real deadlines. Say so honestly, once, and accept that the journal may not be able to help.

Do not ask for lighter review, and do not imply the paper deserves priority because of your deadline.

5. Something has changed

Write promptly, at any stage, if you find an error in the data or analysis, post a preprint, or need to change the author list or corresponding author. Journals have their own procedures for authorship changes, so ask what they require rather than simply announcing the change.

6. After acceptance

Once a paper is accepted, questions usually move to a different team. Wiley, for example, tells authors to contact the journal's editorial office about review status before a decision, and their production editor about proofs, production processes and timelines after acceptance (Wiley Authors help). Check your acceptance email for the right contact.

7. Withdrawal request

You do not need to give a reason, though a brief one is courteous. Withdraw only with the agreement of every author.

What to leave out of a follow-up

Never contact someone you suspect is reviewing your paper. If you believe a reviewer has a conflict of interest, tell the editor, not the reviewer.

When follow-ups go unanswered

Silence after a reminder needs a different approach, not a third copy of the same email.

Go up one level. Write to the editor-in-chief, giving the manuscript number and the dates of your earlier messages. If that fails, contact the publisher, whose details are usually on the journal website. Check whether the journal publishes a complaints procedure; an unresponsive office is a legitimate subject for one.

Check the journal itself. If addresses bounce, the website has changed, or no one at the journal can be reached at all, reconsider whether it is the journal you thought it was. Compare the contact details in your submission confirmation with those on the publisher's own site.

Withdraw rather than double-submit. However long the silence, do not send the paper elsewhere while it is still under consideration. The ICMJE Recommendations, in their section on overlapping publications, state that "Authors should not submit the same manuscript, in the same or different languages, simultaneously to more than one journal." Send template 7 and keep a dated copy. The ICMJE page linked above adds that authors who request withdrawal in good faith "should consider the manuscript withdrawn even if they don't receive a confirmation from the journal."

Before withdrawing, weigh what you would give up. A paper sitting at Required Reviews Completed is close to a decision, and the reports may improve the paper whatever the outcome.

Do not treat a follow-up as an appeal. If the reply is a rejection you think is mistaken, that is a separate process with its own rules. See how to appeal a journal rejection before replying.

Keep a correspondence record

Every follow-up is easier when you keep a simple record for each submission:

1. Manuscript number, journal and submission date
2. Each status with the date it appeared
3. The journal's benchmark and where you found it
4. Every message sent and received, with dates
5. Co-author agreement for any withdrawal or authorship change

The record turns a vague feeling of delay into a dated timeline you can paste into an email, and it protects you if anyone later questions when a manuscript was withdrawn or why.

Directive Publications describes its peer review process on its website, and authors with questions about a submission can reach the editorial team through the contact page.