Hi everyone, I submitted my manuscript for publication in a journal in November last year. The paper underwent the initial screening by the editor and was sent to reviewers to be reviewed. I haven't heard from the journal since my paper's status went to "under peer review" in December last year, so I decided to go check the paper's status and it had changed to "Review Overdue." I reached out to the Editor through a discussion forum on the journals website and through email to ask for clarifications on what this new status meant. I am presuming my paper has been forgotten, it's been 7 months and no information from them.

It's been 3 weeks and I have still not receive any communication from the journal. So now I am deciding on writing to the editor to cancel my submission so I can submit elsewhere. I need advice on this matter as it sounds unethical to me but given the circumstances I honestly believe this is the only way if I want to publish my work. Should I proceed by withdrawing my paper or I should wait some more? If it helps, the journal recently published an issue and their previous issue was published 2 months after I had submitted my paper.

Thanks in advance.