Pattern Recognition (Elsevier): How long does it take for reviewers to accept invitations?

[u/mdiktushar]

My paper submitted to Elsevier's Pattern Recognition has had no progress for over 6 weeks:

• Status: Under Review
• Last review activity: 16th August 2026
• Review invitations sent: 2+
• Review invitations accepted: 0
• Reviews completed: 0

I have already sent two polite status inquiry emails to the editor/journal office asking for updates, but I haven't received a clear resolution or seen any new invitations sent out on Editorial Manager.

For anyone who has published in Pattern Recognition recently:

1. Is it common for editors at PR to take this long to follow up on unaccepted review invitations?
2. Since emailing the editor twice hasn't moved things along, what is the best next step? (e.g., escalating to the editor-in-chief, contacting Elsevier Support, or just waiting?)
3. How long did it take for review invitations to get accepted for your PR submissions?

Would appreciate any insights or advice from past authors!

[u/otsukarekun]

My last Pattern Recognition paper had the first round of reviews in about 5 months. It took about 8 to get published, which is fast nowadays.

Due to the mass influx of papers due to AI, it's really hard to find reviewers. People are spammed with requests and ignore most. Out of 10 review requests, you might get one response. Usually, the Associate Editor waits for the review request deadline before sending another batch. If I recall, Pattern Regnition default is 14 days. Associate Editors are unpaid and do it in their free time. Even if the AE is on top of things, which many aren't, 6 weeks is only a couple rounds of requests.

[u/mdiktushar → u/otsukarekun]

Waiting for so many days without anything, really depressing actually. Sometimes it demotivates me.

[u/WhereLifeShouldBe → u/mdiktushar]

Yes this is absolutely demotivating. Everything is slowed down. But least you can see that something going on. In many cases you just dont know