Seconded. I don’t think it’s a mystery why several journals in my field no longer have a backlog. There are several contributing factors, but one that deserves attention is how we are still in the wake of COVID impacts on scholarly pipelines. It’s been one 6-year t&p cycle if you started fall 2020
I sometimes think about the gender disparities that became apparent among academics amid the COVID Public Health Emergency. Men who weren't caregiving / had lower advising, teaching, and service loads were able to "focus" on research, while women were more likely to see slowed research productivity