I submitted a 24 pages paper to a good journal – say usually in the top 10-20 – of pure maths, and after 14 months from the submission I haven't received any report. The last news I had from the editor date last may. Then I tried to contact him in september but no answer. What would you do? Wait? Write again? Withdraw the paper?
It is not a VERY TOP journal (top 5 for instance), hence I think a rejection would be pretty difficult to accept after such a long time.
Best Answer
One general advise. When you submit to a "VERY TOP" journal, you should be ready for the worst: that they will keep it for 2 years and then reject without clear explanation of the reason.
The reason is simple: the journals which are considered "very top" have too many papers submitted. Some famous papers which later became classical, where initially rejected.
If you do not like this, just do not submit to "very top journals". It is not the journal that makes your paper good, but the other way around:-) And there are plenty of "good journals" around. And editors who reply every e-mail in a day or two.