Question about Manuscript Central

[agdnj]

Hi,
I've noticed that more journals are using manuscript central to process submissions.
From what I can tell, there are four main stages that show up in the "status" section.

Awaiting Admin Processing
Awaiting Reviewer Assignment
Awaiting Viewer Scores
Awaiting Editor Decision

It seems that journals/editors seem to take different approaches to updating the "status" of an article.

My question is whether or not I should email the editor if my paper has said "awaiting admin processing" for about a month. If the editor just doesn't update the status, then its no big deal. But if it is still genuinely awaiting admin processing, I don't want to seem pushy. Any suggestions?

[sharp]

I wouldn't communicate with the editor until 4-5 months. Do your best to not check the website obsessively. Any decision will come to your inbox -- it's not as if something will get posted to MC and not get sent to you directly.

[kippers]

I second waiting. I never log in and check my papers that are in queue.

I did a review for JMF a few months ago and still haven't heard back from the editors. A lot of my friends who are submitting are finding a lot of their papers are moving a little slower than normal.

[drcompton]

Definitely wait!

I generally make note of the journal's review time (on most websites it says how many weeks-months they generally take) and then mark a later date in my calendar and forget about it until then. At that point, I think it is ok to email a "just checking email." I recently had a situation where it never appeared to move and then jumped to awaiting editor decision at the last hour--so clearly they hadnt updated, not that it wasnt in process). Also, recently had a piece at one journal for almost a year...finally we sent a request to resend the submission if it wasnt going to be moving along in the process...the editor then elaborated on the situation and turns out we got an accept. So sometimes patience is rewarded.

[aaron]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank those who replied to this thread. I found your comments to be very helpful. I was about to email the administrator about the status of my paper, but have decided to wait given others' experiences - what you've said makes perfect sense.