An old article of mine (a different one than my last post) was accepted
by a journal (no changes) over 2 and half months ago, and I got no word when he will publish it.
Is this typical? In the past, my articles were quickly published.
Background. I waited ten months before I emailed the editor twice and finally
was told that it will be accepted, then it IS accepted. Very slow to respond, reticent.
I actually contacted the assistant editor abroad, who is prompt.
An email bug? The journal publishes twice annually. Should I just wait?
That totally happens. I have a paper that was accepted last October but that I haven't heard a peep about yet. Meanwhile, I've already returned the proofs on one accepted in January.
Don't sweat it, it's normal. Just annoying.
Without knowing your field, it is impossible to say definitively.
In the fields I have published--history and literary studies--this is par for the course.
I have had articles take more than a year for peer review, and then more than a year to be published after being accepted. I just sent back the final proofs for an article that I submitted in 2022. Peer review takes a long time because of a shortage of quick, competent reviewers. Publication takes a long time because the editor has to figure out what issue to put the article in, not to mention actually get it prepared (copy edited, laid out, etc.) It is possible that the article might work better for an issue that is down the line than the next one.
You can always email the editor for clarification, but at this point, from my point of view, it doesn't seem that there is anything amiss.
Sometimes journals are slow, sometimes they are fast. I've waited a year or more for the accepted article to appear in print, but sometimes it is just a few weeks. I have rarely, if ever, gotten a publication date at the time of acceptance. Instead the proofs eventually arrive and then shortly thereafter the paper appears online first, and then in an issue.
Is there an online submission system or are you dealing with the editor via email? If the latter, then there is more possibility of it getting lost in the shuffle.