The publishing delay in scholarly peer-reviewed journals

Abstract

Abstract:Publishing in scholarly peer reviewed journals usually entails long delays from submission to publication. In part this is due to the length of the peer review process and in part because of the dominating tradition of publication in issues, earlier a necessity of paper-based publishing, which creates backlogs of manuscripts waiting in line. The delays slow the dissemination of scholarship and can provide a significant burden on the academic careers of authors.

Do you speak open science? Resources and tips to learn the language

“…Open access is a term coined for the first time at the Open Access Budapest Initiative, and it refers to an unrestricted online access to scholarly research, primarily intended for scholarly journal articles 9 . The case for open access has been extensively reported in the literature [14,16,[31][32][33] 10 .…”

“…A considerable number of articles have appeared in various journals that question the process, and how it is employed [38][39][40][41]. Most of these articles have raised issues with the consistency of review, its definition, ethics, cost, and the speed of the process [9].…”

“…In his review of Michael Neilsen's book "Reinventing Discovery" [3], Timo Hannay describes science as "self-serving" and "uncooperative", "replete with examples of secrecy and resistance to change", and furthermore defines the natural state of researchers as "one of extreme possessiveness" [4]. Hannay might have a point: the majority of research papers are behind a paywall [5], researchers still fail at making data and metadata available [6], reproducibility is hampered by the lack of appropriate reporting of methodologies [7], software is often not released [8], and peer-review is anonymous and slow [9].…”

JCHIMP 7th anniversary

“…It is much faster and less expensive to produce. From the beginning, under Dr Solomon’s guidance, we have stayed with this approach [3]. Although some in the electronic medium recommend immediate publication of accepted manuscripts [4] as soon as they are type set, we maintain ‘issue publications’.…”

Current and Evolving Models of Peer Review

“…The typical length of the publishing process -which is not too compatible with the rhythms in the development of knowledge in some scientific disciplines-along with perceived inefficiencies of the scientific review process (Björk and Solomon 2013;Mulligan and Hall 2013) can also be seen as contributing to discontent with the scholarly communication system.…”