Subbed over a year ago - no answer

It's probably a rejection, to be honest. Although, saying that, I've had an acceptance from a magazine I sent an article to after two years, so you never know. Mostly, if you don't hear from a mag, then it's a no. More than a few don't bother sending out a rejection. But, if it says they do on their sub guidelines, then nudging is okay. Once, and by mistake, I sent the same article to a mag a year after I had sent the original. Didn't hear anything from the first time I sent it, but got an acceptance four days after sending it the second time.

Maythe said:

If I sub it elsewhere do you think I should drop the first magazine an email? Or just get on with it and deal with a clash in the vanishingly unlikely situation that it occurs.

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^ This one.

(My 2c worth)

No, don't bother sending them an email, just carry on sending elsewhere.

Before doing anything else, even before subbing to a mag, you need to know what that mag's rejection policy is. The answer should be somewhere in the guidelines. It should say whetehr they return rejected stories, whether they only reply if it's an acceptance, and how long you should wait before assuming it is a rejection.

Without knowing the rejection policy, you;re operating in the dark. If you can't find teh answer anywhere, call the magazine and ask. A receptionist, or someone similar, will answer the phone, so don't worry about bothering an editor. Explain that you couldn't find the answer in any of the magazine's guidelines, and you should get a polite and definitive answer.

Without knowing teh policy, you can wait too long, or you can cut the wait off far too short. I once waited just over two years for a top magazine to respond, and when they did it was with an acceptance letter, and soon thereafter, with a contract, and one of the largest checks I'd received up to that time.

You might have already done this, but I always check the average, shortest, longest, and most recent response times reported on Duotrope and Submission Grinder. Not perfect, but good indicators of whether it's way past time to move on. One top mystery market (for example) can take two years to respond and hardly ever replies to queries.