Surely it isn't that expensive to post copies using the Royal Mail? I send things overseas for eBay all the time. It's not that expensive at all. If they are the best journals you should aim for them.

You don't need to send it by courier or anything like that. Just normal post. Preferably airmail, but surface mail if need be. And it will qualify for printed papers rate.

Hi everyone...

Thank u so much for your replies. It's comforting to get/read all these.

I submitted a paper from one of my PhD thesis chapters to a journal about 10 weeks ago and still have not get any reply from the editor. The status in the journal website/system says that the paper is still 'with the editor'. This means that it has not even been reviewed by the reviewers yet (as far as I know the paper is first checked for its format, then it will be evaluated by the editor for its scientific assessment and finally sent to the reviewers). I wanted to email the editor to ask about this but I'm so afraid. My friend told me that previously she had sent a paper to the same publisher (but different journal). After not receiving any reply, 9-10 weeks later she emailed the editor to inquire about it and finally was informed that her paper was rejected. Besides that, from my own experience, I received a quick response to make corrections (not rejected) when I submitted a paper from my masters thesis about 2 years ago (but the paper was submitted to a different journal). So, I am pretty worried and scared to email the editor. But, I think I'll wait for 2 more weeks, in the mean time finish the part/work that I'm doing right now and then send an email to the editor to ask about the paper.

Sorry if I sound so weak/ pathetic, with the current situation of my work, this earthquake, tsunami and radiation, there are so many things in my mind right now. But I feel better after reading your replies. At least, for the journal paper...

there is still hope... there is still hope... there is still hope...

Hopefully all of our papers will be accepted for journal publication...

The length of time taken depends on both the length of your paper and the other commitments of the selected referees. The duration has no bearing on the likelihood of acceptance or rejection. As I've also refereed papers, the standard of the English can be a hinderance too.

I've had papers take anywhere between 2 and 10 months to be processed. One that required major corrections came back quickly and one that was accepted with minor edits accounted for the ten month one.

From a refereeing point of view, I normally take two weeks though one was done in 48 hours.

The best time to submit is late June as the academic year is ending and exams are out the way.

Journals are finding it very hard to find people to referee due to time commitments of people with the necessary technical background.

just got my referees comments.... :-)
after a 3 month wait - now I have 1 month do do revisions!

I'm still waiting on mine - it still says reviews received -awaiting decision. How long can it take to say "yes" or "no"

:-s

Well I was supposed to hear a final decision on one of mine by end of last week. Nope. Still waiting.

A friend of mine whoe submitted her journal later than me has already received the result. Her paper is accepted for publication. I'm so stressed!!!:-s:-s:-s

I wouldn't worry about that Huhu. It depends largely on the commitments of the reviewers. I submitted a paper recently and was told in advance that it would take longer than the usual month for reviewer comments because the editor struggled to find someone and the third person he asked couldn't do it until May. Nothing to do with the actual paper itself.