Each journal has a different review timeline for a manuscript review: as short as one month and as long as three months. It, however, is not uncommon that it takes several months or even longer than a year for an author to receive feedback from the journal editor (usually after an author has sent a few emails to a journal editor).
As you knew, tenure and promotion in many colleges and universities largely depend on a candidate’s publication records so that the delayed review process may adversely affect a faculty member’s tenure and promotion. For a graduate student, the publication can affect his or her employment in a university. Thus, it is important to prevent the unnecessarily delayed review process.
The delay may in part come from a poor management by a journal editor; more commonly it is related to a delayed feedback from one of reviewers. I have served a journal manuscript reviewer for several different journals, and I usually give my feedback within a month.
Given the discussion above, what may be the ways to prevent the significantly delayed review process?
Dear Vishnu,
First of all, thank you for input. I think that 5 to 10 days are way too short for a reviewer. Reviewers are usually university professors who have a few different obligations such as teaching, research, and services. They are silent workaholics. If reviewers are done with their reviews withing three months, I do not have a problem with it.
I am talking about a seriously delayed review that takes several months or even longer than a year.
Thank you again.
Don
Hi,
I think that the journals' reviewing issue should get more attention because it affects university researchers as was mentioned in the question by Dr. Don Soo Chon. The fact is that reviewers are asked to devote time for reviewing for free, while all others in the chain of journal's production are rewarded for their work. I do believe that incentives for reviewers' work could help in this respect.
Dear Avishag,
You have made a very good point. One possible way is that an author pays for review fee of a certain amount, which is likely to speed up review process. I submit articles for review and at the same time I serve as a reviewer, which will make it even. I believe that journals in some countries currently take fees from an author for the review process.
One possible issue may be for the graduate student author who does not have a chance to serve as a reviewer.
Thank you so much for your insight.
Don
- Do a good job the first time
- Check with the journal if they get to be way past their time of review as they put it
-Some journals offer fast processing options
This is a question I have thought about in the past. It can be frustrating waiting all year for feedback from journals on your manuscript, especially when the managing editor isn't responding promptly.
The ways I think this can be prevented are:
1. Managing editors be strict with review deadlines.
2. Only willing and available reviewers should be given papers to review.
3. Journals editors should make available certain incentives to motivate time-conscious reviewers.
I believe that communication among a reviewer, an editor, and an author is the most important to prevent a delayed review of the submitted manuscript.
A reviewer: I knew that you are the busiest person in the world when you are invited to review a manuscript for a prestigious journal. You have classes to teach, work on your research, and fulfill community service requirements. If you accept a reviewer invitation, however, try your best to complete a review within the time limit given by the editor. If something comes up and need more time, kindly ask for the extension of the review to the editor. If you are overwhelmed with many other kinds of stuff, and you are not sure if you complete the review by the deadline, do not accept the reviewer invitation so that the editor can get another person as a reviewer.
An editor: I knew that you are the busiest person in the world when you are serving as an editor of a prestigious journal. You have classes to teach, work on your research, and fulfill community service requirements. It is your responsibility, however, to contact a reviewer for a delayed review to find out what is going on. There is no excuse for poor management of a journal once you commit to serving as its editor. Nobody forces you to do it.
An author: I knew that you are the busiest person in the world when you submit your manuscript to a prestigious journal. You have classes to teach, work on your research, and fulfill community service requirements. If you ignore the delayed review, however, nobody will care about it as you are the one who submits the manuscript. If you do not get feedback from a journal editor by a deadline, politely contact the editor to check the status of your manuscript submission although you do not want to send flooding emails to the editor. You do not want to be rude to your editors either as most of them are not paid.
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