After submission, 'Editorial Manager' (the submission and tracking portal that this journal uses) updated the status from 'Awaiting Assignment' to 'With Editor' in one day. However, the article then remained with the editor for 5 weeks, and despite two polite emails to the editor, we did not hear back about whether or not the article would even be sent to peer review. On calling the editorial office (this is acceptable in India, though probably not in many other places) the editor told us that the next several issues were full and we'd have to wait at least another month before he could make a decision on whether or not to even send it out for peer review. 9 weeks for a potential desk rejection seemed like a lot, so we withdrew.
