I am trying to help a friend resolve a problem I have never encountered as an author or as a journal editor.

The manuscript was transferred to a journal belonging to Elsevier in December 2018. It went through three rounds of review with a total of six reviewers and several rounds of editorial comments. As late as March 2020 the manuscript status changed to "reviewer invited," the author sent an inquiry, and the support team forwarded the matter to the editorial team. Three months later, the status changed to "Editor declined invitation." I never heard of that!

After the first revision, the following two rounds were largely if not entirely positive, with recommendations for acceptance. The editorial comments were dealt with properly, but sometimes the journal repeated them after some months. In March Once, they not only repeated the editorial comments, but also raised them on another manuscript belonging to someone else. A recent inquiry from the author resulted in a response to wait for the editor.

My friend's graduation is at jeopardy and she wants to withdraw the manuscript and submit elsewhere. But as she cannot do that until she received confirmation of withdrawal, that can leave her in limbo. Also, submission elsewhere is risky in terms of time and outcome. I cannot find anywhere where at the journal office or Elsevier complaints of this type.

Any suggestions on how top proceed?