What happen if the status of a submission is unknown

Question

Nowadays, most journals have good submission websites that assign each submission with an ID. Some even allow you to track the review process.

However, there are exceptions. I find that one journal handles submissions very badly. It does not have a submission website. To submit a paper to it, I need to attach the paper in an email to the managing editor. After the submission, I never received anything from the journal. As the result, I know nothing about the status of the paper, whether it is under review or not. I also sent emails to editors of the journal to check the status but heard nothing from them as well.

I am really upset with the practice of the journal handling submissions. But I do not know what to do in this situation. For example, if I submit it elsewhere, what happen if it is accepted by this journal later?

Answer 1

I'm assuming that the journal you submitted to is not predatory.

Handling submissions by email is not uncommon. You should visit the journal's website and check the instructions for authors. Usually, there is an indication on whether you will receive a confirmation or not. For instance you'll find If we do not confirm that your manuscript was received (within two weeks), please send it again to the same email address. See the instructions to authors for more information.

If this is not the case and the journal has no indication on whether the submitting author will receive a confirmation or not. Then, my advise is that this journal is not worth the effort. Although note that this is August, and usually everyone are still on holidays. So, you could wait two weeks and then if you don't receive anything, you can notify the editor in chief that you are withdrawing your manuscript from their journal.

After that, you are free to submit your manuscript anywhere and the journal has no right to process your manuscript further.